Adverb

Adverb is a compound word made by joining 'ad' and 'verb'. A word is therefore called adverb if it is placed 'towards a verb' or 'added to a verb'. Such a word is primarily used in a sentence before or after a verb to modify or qualify it. An adverb tells us about the time, place, manner, cause, circumstance or degree to which it modifies or qualifies the verb.

For example, He slowly went. He went slowly. In the first example, the emphasis is on 'slowly', the mode of the action 'went'. In the second example, emphasis is still on the action 'went' and the way of the action 'slowly' is placed predicatively.

All these means that an adverb can be used both attributively or predicatively in a sentence.

In grammar, a word is classified as an adverb if it functions as an adverb in a sentence. It means when the word refers primarily a verb to modify or qualify it. However, the function of an adverb is not limited to a verb, but also can apply to an adjective, a participle, a preposition, a conjunction, or an other adverb, or a set of words called a phrase, or a sentence.

An adverb enlarges or extends the meaning of a word and narrows its application; as,

(a) With verb - I much admire his industry.

(b) With adjective - He is deservedly successful.

(c) With preposition - The body floated partly above and partly below the water.

(d) With conjunction - He was despised, merely because he was poor.

(e) With other adverb - He writes remarkably well.


A phrase is called an 'adverb phrase' when it functions as an adverb, and when a clause in a sentence functions as an adverb it is called an 'adverb clause'.

Nearby pages
Adverbial, Adversarial, Adversarial Procedure, Adversary, Adversative