AdverbsWhat are adverbs?

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Adverbs are words that tell us more about verbs....they add information to the verb.(A verb is a 'doing' word or a 'being' word, e.g. 'walk', 'feel')

Using adverbs makes your sentences more interesting.

Any verb you use can have an adverb added.

The girl smiled nervously.The boy grinned sheepishly.The light shone feebly.

We use adverbs:

to say how something happens'The family walk (how?) quickly.'

to say where or when something happens'I met him (when?) yesterday.'

to say how often something happens'She gets the bus (how often?) daily.'

to make the meaning of an adjective, adverb or verb stronger or weaker 'Dave eats (degree?) more slowly than his wife.'

Adverbs are often created from adjectives (describing words that tell you more about nouns) by adding 'ly' to the end of the adjective.e.g. slow becomes slowly 'Joe is a slow person. He walks slowly.'

Certain words change when they become adverbs. If an adjective ends in a 'y' you need to change the 'y' to an 'i' before adding 'ly'.Happy becomes happily Heavy becomes heavily

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Position of adverbs

There are three places in the sentence where adverbs can come.

At the beginning of a sentence:'Suddenly I had earache.' 'Recently I had earache.'

In the middle of a sentence:'I suddenly had earache.' 'I recently had earache.'

At the end of a sentence:'I had earache suddenly.' 'I had earache recently.'

How do you know where the adverb goes? Most kinds of adverbs can go in 'mid-position' (before the verb) in a sentence: 'I'm usually working at weekends.' 'I never said I liked you.'

Other adverbs may fit more comfortably at the beginning or end of a sentence: 'Yesterday I went to the skate park.''I went to the skate park yesterday.'

The best way to know if the order is right is to say the sentence to yourself. Does it sound right?'She often is late.''She is often late.' This sounds better.

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Spotting adverbs

Adverbs are quite complicated. You cannot tell by the look of a word that it is an adverb. You can recognise it as an adverb only by the work it does in a sentence. A word may be an adverb in one sentence and a different part of speech in another sentence.

The job went well. Here well describes the verb 'went', so it is an adverb.

The well was drained by morning. Here well names something, so it is a noun.

The well water tasted disgusting. Here well is being used to name a type of 'water', so it is not describing a verb. It is not an adverb here.

'-ly' on the end of a word is a good clue that it's an adverb. Many adverbs are made by adding '-ly' to the end of adjectivesE.g. 'careful' (adjective) becomes 'carefully' (adverb) Sunita is very careful with her money. She spends her money carefully.

However, lots of other adverbs are irregular

BEWARE! Some words ending in '-ly' are never used as adverbsE.g. 'friendly', 'lovely', 'lonely'

Also, look out for adverbs that have the same form as adjectives.'Hard' and 'early' are both adjectives (used to describe people, places and things) AND adverbs (used to tell us more about the verb):

It's still early. (adjective) We arrived early. (adverb) He works very hard. (adverb) He's a hard man to know. (adjective)

Other adverbs with the same form as adjectives are fast, high, low, late and long.

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More about spotting adverbs

Adverbial phrases Adverbial phrases are small strings of words that do the same job as single-word adverbs:'I'll see him on Saturday.' 'She's in the kitchen.'''The thief ran down the road.' 'The mobile phones rang all at once.'

Other places to find adverbs... An adverb may also be used to describe another adverb or an adjective.

'The weekend passed very quickly.'

quickly describes the verb passed: quickly is an adverb. very describes the adverb quickly: very is also an adverb.

'That seemed an extremely interesting plan.'

interesting describes the noun plan: interesting is an adjective. extremely describes the adjective interesting: extremely is an adverb.

Adverbs can also qualify (describe) whole sentences:

'Hopefully the shoes will fit.''The dress, unfortunately, was ruined.'

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Adverbs - degrees of comparison

Adverbs are often used to make the meaning of a verb or other adverb stronger or weaker. This is known as 'degrees of comparison'.

What are they? The positive degree is the simple form of the adverb : slowly, early.e.g. 'He walked slowly.'

The comparative degree is used to compare two actions : slower, more slowly, earlier.e.g. 'Sarah walked more slowly than Ben.'

The superlative comparison is used to compare three or more : slowest, earliest.e.g. 'We all take our time, but I walk the slowest of all.'

How do you make them? Adverbs of one syllable usually form the comparative by adding - er and form the superlative by adding - est 'hard' (positive) - 'harder' (comparative) - 'hardest' (superlative)

Adverbs of two syllables or more generally form the comparative by adding more and the superlative by adding most.'quickly' (positive) - 'more quickly' (comparative) - 'most quickly' (superlative)

Watch out! Examples of exceptions badly: worse (comparative) - worst (superlative).well: better (comparative) - best (superlative).far: farther (comparative) - farthest (superlative).

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'Adverbs' tutor notes

The 'Adverbs' topic area aims to help learners to recognise and use adverbs.

How does this tie in with the curriculums?

England RS/L1.1 - Learners need to understand the use of adverbs and adverbial phrases.

Wales As England.

Northern Ireland As England.

Scotland See www.aloscotland.com for details of the Scottish curriculum.

In the Skillswise module you'll find:

Adverbs factsheets There are five factsheets for this module, each on 'print-out-and-keep' sheets. You'll find curriculum references on the top, right-hand corner of the factsheets.

Factsheet 1 - What are adverbs Factsheet 2 - Position of adverbs Factsheet 3 - How to spot an adverb Factsheet 4 - More about spotting adverbs Factsheet 5 - Degrees of comparison

Adverbs worksheets Six printable worksheets give the learner opportunities to identify adverbs, their purpose, degree of comparison and position in a sentence. They also give the learner the opportunity to select and use appropriate adverbs. You'll find curriculum references in the top right-hand corner of the worksheets. They are printable resources to carry on the work learners have done online.

Worksheet 1 - Find the adverbs Worksheet 2 - What are these adverbs doing Worksheet 3 - Using adverbs to compare

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/skillswise/words/grammar/interestsentences/adverbs/tutor.shtml/ext/_auto/-/http:/www.aloscotland.com/http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/skillswise/words/grammar/interestsentences/adverbs/tutor.shtml/ext/_auto/-/http:/www.dfes.gov.uk/curriculum_literacy/tree/reading/grammarpunc/l1/1/

Worksheet 4 - Positioning adverbs Worksheet 5 - Fill in the gaps Worksheet 6 - Changing meaning

Technical help:

If you are new to the web, why not try the BBC WebWise online course, Becoming WebWise? It's free, you can do it in your own time from any computer and it will take you through everything you need to know to use the web successfully in your teaching.Find out more about WebWise.

You can find out more about the technical requirements for Skillswise in our Help - Technical Information section.

Taking it further:

With Skillswise For adverbs practice, don't forget to visit 'Instructions' and 'Types of text'

With the web Here are a few suggestions of other places where you might find resources that you can use to help you with adverbs.

English language centre, University of Victoria, Canada In-depth review of adverbs with an exercise at the end.

Activities for ESL Students This site offers a good quiz that compares adjectives and adverbs.

Internet Grammar of English This site was created for university undergraduates, but their adverbs section is very good and offers a series of exercises at the end of their factsheet. Words quiz

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/skillswise/words/grammar/interestsentences/adverbs/tutor.shtml/ext/_auto/-/http:/www.ucl.ac.uk/internet-grammar/adverbs/adverbs.htmhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/go/skillswise/words/grammar/interestsentences/adverbs/tutor.shtml/ext/_auto/-/http:/a4esl.org/q/h/9901/gc-advadj.htmlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/go/skillswise/words/grammar/interestsentences/adverbs/tutor.shtml/ext/_auto/-/http:/web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/200/grammar/adjadv.htmhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/reading/typesoftext/index.shtmlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/grammar/texttypes/instructions/http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/help/tech/index.shtmlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/

ApostrophesApostrophes factsheet

Apostrophes have two uses:

1. Apostrophes show you that some letters have been taken out of a word to shorten it. Do not becomes don't.I will becomes I'll.Could have becomes could've.The apostrophe goes where the letters have been removed.You use apostrophes this way in informal writing. You should not shorten words when you are writing formal letters.NOTE - sometimes words are shortened in an irregular way. The apostrophe, however, is still used to show where letters are missing.E.G: Will not becomes won't.