Adverb and Its Types with Examples PDF: Rules in English Grammar | Adverb and Its Kind
What is an Adverb?
An adverb is a word used to add something to the meaning of a verb, adjective or another adverb. It is said to modify verbs, adjectives and adverbs. For example
(i) She is walking slowly.
(ii) She is very intelligent.
(iii) She is walking very slowly.
Kinds of Adverb
1. Adverb of time : Before, ago, lately, yet, now, soon, yesterday, already, never.
2. Adverb of frequency : Always, once, seldom, usually, rarely etc.
3. Adverb of place : Here, everywhere, down, near, away, backward, upward
4. Adverb of manner : Slowly, so, soundly, delightfully.
5. Adverb of affirmation and negation : Certainly, apparently, obviously, no, undoubtedly
6. Adverb of degree : Almost, fully, very, enough, rather, quite, too, really
7. Interrogative adverb : How, what, when, why
8. Relative adverb : When, where, why, how.
Relative adverbs are used to make an adjective clause.
He was born in the year when I left India. (‘in which/on which’)
He does not like to stay at the hotel where they are staying. (‘in which/at which’)
Don’t you know the reason why she did not marry? (‘for which’)
You are supposed to know the manner how they cheated you. (‘in which/by which’).
Rules of Adverb
Rule I
Adjective qualifies a noun and a pronoun whereas adverb modifies a verb, an adjective and an adverb. For example
(i) Her act was remarkable. (✓)
(ii) She acted remarkably to achieve success. (✓)
(iii) She ran quicker than I. (Say ‘more quickly’ for ‘quicker’)
(iv) She is a very skilful dancer. (✓)
(v) She dances very skilfully. (✓)
Rule II
Adverbs of time such as ‘Always, often, already, just, never, ever, sometimes, frequently, generally, recently, usually, seldom, hardly, rarely, normally etc are generally placed before the verb they modify. For example
(i) My brother comes often every Sunday. (Place ‘often’ before ‘comes’)
(ii) He goes usually to the movie every Friday. (Place ‘usually’ before ‘goes’)
(iii) He never talks ill of friends. (✓)
(iv) He is always satisfied. (✓)
Rule III
Adverbs of manners are placed only after the Intransitive verb. However, the adverb can be placed either before or after the transitive verb. For example
(i) He returned immediately. (✓)
(ii) He briefly narrated the incident to me. (✓)
(iii) He narrated to me the incident briefly. (✓)
(iv) He soundly slept last night. (Place ‘soundly’ after ‘slept’)
Rule IV
If the sentence is introduced by an adverb, inverted form of the verb is used for the sake of emphasis. e.g.
(i) Seldom he visits his parents. (☓)
(ii) Seldom does he visit his parents. (✓)
(iii) He seldom visits his parents.(✓)
(iv) Not seldom does he visit his parents. (✓)
(v) Never I’ll see her again. (✓)
(vi) Never will I see her again.
(vii) I’ll never see her again. (✓)
(viii) She no sooner reached the station than she met her friend. (✓)
(ix) No sooner did she reach the station than she met her friend. (✓)
(x) She had hardly reached the station when the train arrived. (✓)
(xi) Hardly/scarcely had she reached the station when the train arrived. (✓)
(xii) So quickly she ran that she overtook her rivals. (Use ‘so quickly did she run’).
Rule V : Use of Else and Other
‘Else‘ should be followed by ‘but‘.
‘Other‘ and ‘otherwise‘ are followed by ‘than’ e.g.
(i) It is nothing else than sheer madness. (Use ‘but’ in place of ‘than’)
(ii) She had no other alternative but stay here. (Use ‘than’ in place of ‘but’)
(iii) She has no one else to look after her except me. (Use ‘but’ in place of ‘except’)
Rule VI
Both ‘never‘ and ‘not‘ are adverbs. The use of ‘never’ for ‘not’ is incorrect. e.g.,
(i) I never went to Ooty last year. (Use ‘did not’ go in place of ‘never’)
(ii) I never remember to have said so. (Use ‘do not’ in place of ‘never’)
(iii) I remember never to have said so. (✓)
Or
I don’t remember to have said so.
(iv) I never allow my son to go out in dark. (Correct/habitual action)
Rule VII
Note the use of phrases.
‘Seldom or never’, ‘seldom, if ever’, ‘little or nothing’, ‘little, if anything’.
The phrases ‘seldom or ever’ and ‘little or anything’ are wrong in use. e.g.
(i) We seldom or ever meet our relatives these days. (☓)
(ii) We seldom or never (seldom, if ever) meet our relatives these days. (✓)
Rule VIII
Negative adverbs should not be used with the words negative in meaning. So two negative should be avoided.
‘Seldom, nowhere, never, nothing, hardly, scarcely, neither, barely, rarely’ are some of the adverbs expressing negative meaning. e.g.
(i) I rarely went to meet nobody across the road. (Use ‘anybody’ in place of ‘nobody’)
(ii) She hardly knows somebody in the town. (Say ‘anybody’ in place of ‘somebody’)
(iii) I hardly know somebody in the town. (Say ‘anybody’ in place of ‘somebody’)
(iv) He does nothing without never consulting me. (Use ‘ever’ for ‘never’)
(v) They do not seldom come here. (Remove ‘do not’)
(vi) This will not help him, nothing ever does. (Use ‘ever’ for ‘never’)
(vii) He does not write well and I do not write neither. (Say ‘either’)
Note : (I) Avoid the use of negative, with ‘deny, forbid’ and ‘both’.
(i) She denied that she had not given him books. (Delete ‘not’)
(ii) (a) Both of us are not going there. (☓)
(b) Neither of us is going there. (✓)
(II) Avoid the use of negative with Conjunctions – until, unless, lest
Rule IX
Given below are some of the examples of the words being treated as adverbs whereas they are adjectives or nouns. e.g.,
(A) Manly, masterly, slovenly, monthly, weekly, sickly, friendly, orderly, gentlemanly are adjectives and should not be confused with adverbs.
(B) Coward, miser, niggard are nouns.
‘Cowardly, miserly, niggardly’ are adjectives.
‘In a cowardly, miserly, niggardly manner’ are used as adverbs.
(C) Fast, straight, outright, direct, hard, hardly, late, light, high, safe, quiet etc are used both as an adjective and adverb.
(D) ‘Loudly‘ and ‘Aloud‘ are adverbs though different in meanings. ‘Loud’ is an adjective.
(E) Late, lately
Late is both an adjective & an adverb
Lately is an adverb. (Recently)
(F) Hard is both an adjective and adverb used in affirmative sense.
Hardly is an adverb used in negative meaning. e.g.
(i) A soldier is trained never to fight cowardly. (Use ‘in a cowardly manner’)
(ii) I have never come across a coward Indian soldier. (Use ‘cowardly’ in place of ‘coward’)
(iii) The darkness closed in even as she was returning home fastly. (Use ‘fast’ in place of ‘fastly’)
(iv) You must learn to behave manly in the face of danger. (Use ‘manfully’ in place of ‘manly’)
(v) He is earning five hundred rupees monthly. (Say ‘a month’)
(vi) She is doing this work good these days. (Say ‘well’ for ‘good’)
(vii) Rohit always comes lately to school. (Say ‘late’ for ‘lately’)
(viii) He is coward. (Use ‘a’ before ‘coward’)
(ix) The teacher asked the students to talk loudly. (Say ‘aloud’)
(x) We must try to preserve hardly won freedom. (Use ‘hard’ in place of ‘hardly’)
(xi) Please keep the things in the room orderly. (Use ‘in order’ or ‘in orderly manner’ in place of ‘orderly’)
(xii) She rejected my application outrightly. (Say ‘outright’)
(xiii) Outright rejection of my plan disappointed me. (✓)
Rule X
The use of ‘very, much, so, too, enough, rather’.
(A) ‘Very’ modifies present participle used as adjective, adverb and adjective in positive degree. ‘Much’ is used with comparative degree and past participle. e.g.,
(i) It is a much interesting picture. (Use ‘very’ in place of ‘much’)
(ii) I was very exhausted in the evening. (Use ‘much’ in place of ‘very’)
(iii) She did this work very quickly. (✓)
(iv) She is much wiser than her mother. (✓)
(v) She is very tired after a day’s work. (✓)
Note : Student should note the use of ‘very’ and ‘much’ in superlative degree. e.g.,
(i) She is the very best teacher in our school. (Here ‘very’ mean ‘really’)
(ii) She is much the best teacher in our school. (Here ‘much’ means ‘decidedly’)
(iii) She is by far the best teacher in our college. (‘by far’ means ‘to a large extent’)
(B) ‘So’ and ‘too’ should not be used without ‘that’ (Adverb clause) and ‘to’ (Infinitive) respectively.
‘Very’ and ‘much’ may be used in the place of so and too.
(i) My brother is so healthy. (Use ‘very’ in place of ‘so’)
(ii) She is very kind. (Here ‘very’ means ‘to a great extent’)
(iii) She is too poor to study further. (✓)
(iv) She is so poor that she cannot study further. (✓)
(v) She is too healthy. (Over healthy) say ‘very’ for too)
(vi) It is too bad. (✓)
(C) ‘Enough‘ is both an adjective and adverb. As an adverb, it is always placed after the adjective it modifies.
As an adjective it is placed before a noun. e.g.
(i) She is enough wise to allow her son to go. (Place ‘enough’ after ‘wise’)
(ii) He has enough money to spend. (✓)
(iii) She is too kind to help everybody. (Say ‘kind enough’ very kind in place of ‘too’ )
(iv) She is too weak to pass. (✓)
(D) The use of ‘rather’
(a) ‘Rather’ is an adverb of degree like ‘fairly, quite, pretty (to some degree)’. e.g.,
(i) She is rather intelligent.
(ii) He is walking rather slowly.
(b) ‘Rather’ can also be used before a noun.e.g.,
(i) It is rather a nuisance.
(ii) It is rather a good step. (or a rather good step)
Note : Article ‘a’, ‘an’ should be placed before a noun. If there is an adjective with a noun, articles ‘a’, ‘an’ may be placed either before or after ‘rather’.
(c) ‘Rather’ is also in case of preference- ‘would rather, had rather, rather than’ are used to express preference.
Rule XI
Note the difference between too, as well, also.
(a) ‘Too, as well, also’ are used in the sense of ‘besides’, ‘in addition to’ in affirmative sentences. But ‘also’ cannot be used at end position.
(i) She found her bag and money too/as well.
(ii) She plays the piano and the harmonium as well/too.
(iii) She found her bag and money also. (say ‘also money’)
(b) So + auxiliary + subject is used in affirmative sentences in relation to two persons doing one action.
(i) She won the prize and so did her sister. (win)
(ii) His wife plays piano and so does he. (play)
(c) Neither + auxiliary + subject is used in negative sentences in relation to two persons doing one action.
(i) He does not write well and neither do I. (write)
(ii) She will not lend money and neither will he. (lend)
Rule XII
While answering a question the adverb ‘yes’ or ‘no’ should be used according to the affirmative and negative answer. e.g.
(i) Have you taken food?
(ii) Yes, I have not taken so far? (Use ‘No’ in place of ‘Yes’)
Rule XIII
(A) Adverb ‘as‘ should be used to introduce predicative of the verbs ‘regard, describe, define, treat, view, know’.
(B) Adverb ‘as’ should be avoided to introduce predicative of the verbs ‘name, elect, think, consider, call, appoint, make, choose’ e.g.,
(i) I regard him my brother. (Add ‘as’ after ‘him’)
(ii) Science has been defined the study of nature. (Add ‘as’ after ‘defined’)
(iii) She is considered as the best dancer in the town. (Drop ‘as’ after ‘considered’)
(iv) The teacher called him as stupid. (Drop ‘as’)
(v) The principal appointed him as peon. (Remove ‘as’)
(vi) He thinks her as a fool. (Remove ‘as’)
(vii) He was elected as the secretary of our club. (Remove ‘as’)
Adverb and Its Types With Examples PDF
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