What is an Adverb? | Adverb Form | Kinds of Adverbs | Adverb Position
What is an Adverb?
An adverb is a word that tells us more about a verb. It "qualifies" or "modifies" a verb (The man ran quickly). In the following examples, the adverb is in bold and the verb that it modifies is in italics.
John speaks loudly. (How does John speak?)
Afterwards she smoked a cigarette. (When did she smoke?)
Mary lives locally. (Where does Mary live?)
But adverbs can also modify adjectives (Tara is really beautiful), or even other adverbs (It works very well). Look at these examples:
Modify an adjective:
- He is really handsome. (How handsome is he?)
- That was extremely kind of you.
Modify another adverb:
- She drives incredibly slowly. (How slowly does she drive?)
- He drives extremely fast.
Note that adverbs have other functions, too. They can:
Modify a whole sentence: Obviously, I can't know everything.
Modify a prepositional phrase: It's immediately inside the door.