Adverbs

Adverbs: uses

Adverbs are one of the four major word classes, along with nouns, verbs and adjectives. We use adverbs to add more information about a verb, an adjective, another adverb, a clause or a whole sentence and, less commonly, about a noun phrase.

• Can you move it carefully? It’s fragile.
• Quickly*! We’re late.*
• She swims really well.
• Don’t go so fast.
• You have to turn it clockwise.
• Come over here.
• Actually*, I don’t know her.*
• I haven’t seen them recently.
• The bathroom’s upstairs on the left.

Adverbs: meanings and functions

Adverbs have many different meanings and functions. They are especially important for indicating the time, manner, place, degree and frequency of something.

time	I never get up early at the weekends.
manner	Walk across the road carefully!
place	When we got there, the tickets had sold out.
degree	It’s rather cold, isn’t it?
frequency	I’m always losing my keys.

See also

• Adverbs: types
• Adverb phrases