Types of Adverbs

There are three major types of Adverbs:

• Simple Adverbs
• Interrogative Adverbs
• Relative Adverbs

Let’s study them in more detail.

Simple Adverbs

There are various kinds of Simple Adverbs.

Adverbs of Place

Adverbs of Place – they answer the question ‘where’.

E.g. here, there, in, out, above, below, away, far, away, up, down, upstairs, downstairs, indoors, within, inside, outside, out, underneath, off, everywhere, backward.

Go there.
He follows me everywhere like a Hutch dog.
Peace lies within.
Come in.
The horse galloped away.

Adverbs of Time

Adverbs of Time – they answer the question ‘when’.

E.g. after, ago, early, before, late, lately, now, then, soon, daily, today, yesterday, tomorrow, already, never, formerly, since.

I have seen this before.
I missed my flight yesterday.
I have done it already.

Adverbs of place and time show a contrast with, or expansion on, a previous reference to time or place.

The last few months have been cold. (shows continuation over time)
Tomorrow the weather will be much hotter. (shows contrast with previous time)

On Vs. In

For particular day or date we use ‘on’, and for a long duration we use ‘in’.

• When we want to talk about a particular day:
  On + particular day
  E.g. On Monday

• When we want to talk about a particular date:
  On + particular date
  E.g. On 18th

• When we want to talk about a long duration:
  In + long duration (e.g. week, month, year, century, vacation etc)
  E.g. In August, in 1983, in summar vacation, in 19th century

Adverbs of Frequency

Adverbs of Frequency - they answer the question ‘how often’.

E.g. always, ever, usually, frequently, often, occasionally, sometimes, again, seldom, rarely, hardly, scarcely, barely, once, twice, never etc.

I have not seen her raise her voice once.
Picasso always tries to do his best.
He frequently comes to the office in informals.

Adverbs of Manner

Adverbs of Manner - they answer the question ‘how’ or ‘in what manner’.

E.g. well, slowly, clearly, bravely, hard, etc.

The soldiers of Mewar fought bravely.
This is a well written essay.
The boy works hard.

Adverbs of Degree or Quantity

Adverbs of Degree or Quantity - they answer the question ‘how much’, or ‘in what degree’ or ‘to what extent’.

We use them when we cannot count or measure something.

E.g. very, too, so, as, fairly, rather, quite, pretty, enough, a bit, somewhat, all, any, much, almost, fully, partly, altogether etc.

He was too good to be just a junior manager.
This man is almost dead.
He is good enough for this job.

Adverbs of Comment

Adverbs of Comment - they are used to ‘comment’.

To be precise they are used :

• to indicate our attitude to or opinion of what is said - astonishingly, frankly, generally, honestly, to be honest, interestingly (enough), luckily, naturally, in my opinion, personally, sadly, seriously, surprisingly, unbelievably.

• show our judgement of someone’s actions – bravely, carelessly, foolishly, generously, kindly, rightly, stupidly, wisely, wrongly.

• indicate how likely we think something is - apparently, certainly, clearly, definitely, in theory, obviously, presumably, probably, undoubtedly.

Phrases and clauses can also be used to indicate our attitude to, or opinion of, what is said (just as adverbs of comment do).

For example:

Surprisingly, he didn’t ask me where I was coming from. (surprisingly – adverb of comment)
To my surprise, he didn’t ask me where I was coming from. (To my surprise – preposition phrase working as an adverb phrase)

Adverbs of Viewpoint

Adverbs of Viewpoint - they are used to make our point of view clear.

E.g. financially, physically, biologically, chemically, environmentally, ideologically, logically, morally, outwardly, politically, technically, visually.

Politically, this action of yours is akin to hara-kiri.

The twins may be alike physically, but their sports performance differs a lot.

Phrases and clauses can also be used to indicate our viewpoint (just as adverbs of viewpoint do).

For example:

This business model should work technically. (technically – adverb of viewpoint)
This business model should work from a technical point of view. (from a technical point of view – preposition phrase working as an adverb phrase)

Adverbs of Affirmation and Negation

Adverbs of Affirmation

E.g. surely, certainly, truly, of course, at any cost, etc.

Yes - for short affirmative answer

Of course I will be there in your party.

She certainly went home.

Adverbs of Negation

E.g.: no, not, never, nowhere etc.

Not - after verb/auxiliary verb
No - for short negative answer

She did not reply to my call.

I have nowhere to go.

Adverbs of Focus

Adverbs of Focus – to focus on someone.

E.g. only, even, alone etc.

Only Neo can decipher the matrix.

Even dummies can solve this puzzle.

Adverbs of Reason

Adverbs of Reason - they answer the question ‘why’.

E.g. so, hence, therefore, on account of, consequently etc.

On account of his ill health, he won’t be playing in today’s match.

He therefore has been expelled from the school.

Adverbs of Purpose and Results

Adverbs of Purpose and Results – to talk about purpose.

Pattern: in order/so as + to-infinitive OR
Pattern: in order/so + that

He stayed at work late in order / so as to complete the project.
He stayed at work late in order that / so that he could complete the project.

Adverbs of Contrasts

Adverbs of Contrasts – to showcase an unexpected contrast between what happened in the main clause and what happened in the adverbial clause.

E.g. although, though, even though, even if, in spite of + Ving

Although/Though Mragank did not study much, he still cleared the exam.
(OR Mragank did not study much, but he still cleared the exam.)

‘in spite of + Ving‘ has a similar meaning as ‘although’:

In spite of playing with ten men, we won easily.
(OR Although we played with ten men, we won easily.)

We can use ‘even though’ (but not ‘even although’) to mean ‘despite the fact that’ and ‘even if’ to mean ‘whether or not’.

Interrogative Adverbs

Interrogative Adverbs - used in asking questions.

E.g. why, when, where, how.

How did you do it? (Interrogative Adverb of Manner)
How many bullets are there in your revolver? (Interrogative Adverb of Number)
How high is Sardar Patel’s statue in Gujrat? (Interrogative Adverb of Degree)
Where is Nicole? (Interrogative Adverb of Place)
When did he go? (Interrogative Adverb of Time)
Why are you here? (Interrogative Adverb of Reason)

Relative Adverbs

Relative Adverbs – they join sentences. They refer back to their antecedents (noun/pronoun) and denote place, reason or manner.

E.g. when, where, why and how.

Show me the house where (= in which) he was born.
This is the reason why I joined that team.
Do you know the time when the Rajdhani Express arrives?

Summary of Kinds of Adverbs

You may note that:

• A Simple adverb merely modifies some word.

• An Interrogative adverb not only modifies some word, but also introduces a question.

• A Relative adverb not only modifies some word, but also refers back to some antecedent.

Extra Books and Tools

If you prefer to learn via books, or want some good English Grammar books for reference purposes, you may read this article which enlists some of the books recommended by us.