Time, place and manner adverbs (early, there, slowly)
Time adverbs
Time adverbstell us aboutwhensomething happens.
already | lately | still | tomorrow |
early | now | soon | yesterday |
finally | recently | today | yet |
Have you seen Laurietoday?
I’d prefer to leaveearly.
I went to the cinema on my ownrecently.
There’s been an increase in house burglarylately.
See also:
Adverb phrases
Already,stilloryet?
Place adverbs
Place adverbs tell us aboutwheresomething happens or where something is.
There was somebody standingnearby.
Is that your scarfthere?
You goupstairsand do your homework. I’ll come up in a minute.
Manner adverbs
Manner adverbs tell us aboutthe waysomething happens or is done.
accurately | beautifully | expertly | professionally |
anxiously | carefully | greedily | quickly |
badly | cautiously | loudly | quietly |
Manner adverbs are often formed from adjectives by adding-ly:
She spoke veryloudly. We could all hear what she was saying.
We waitedanxiouslyby the phone.
We walked up the stairs veryquietlybecause Mum and Dad were asleep.
Some common manner adverbs have the same form as adjectives and they have similar meanings (e.g.fast, right, wrong,straight, tight).
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Degree adverbs (slightly) and focusing adverbs (generally)
Degree and focusing adverbs are the most common types of modifiers of adjectives and other adverbs. Degree adverbs express degrees of qualities, properties, states, conditions and relations.Focusing adverbs point to something.
Degree adverbs
absolutely | enough | perfectly | somewhat |
a (little) bit | entirely | pretty | terribly |
a lot | extremely | quite | too |
almost | fairly | rather | totally |
awfully | highly | remarkably | utterly |
completely | lots | slightly | very |
Mary will be stayinga bit longer.(a bit longer= for a little more time)
It all happenedpretty quickly.
She wasquitesurprised they came,actually.
It was £3.52 if you want to betotallyaccurate.
Focusing adverbs
especially | just | mainly | particularly |
generally | largely | only | simply |
Ijustwanted to ask you what you thought.
I wouldn’tparticularlylike to move to a modern house.
See also:
Adverbs
Evaluative adverbs (surprisingly) and viewpoint adverbs (personally)
We put some adverbs outside the clause. They modify the whole sentence or utterance.Evaluative and viewpoint adverbs are good examples of this:
The electric car,surprisingly, does not really offer any advantages over petrol cars.(evaluative)
Personally, I think the show was great.(viewpoint)
Linking adverbs (then, however)
Linking adverbsshow a relationship between two clauses or sentences (e.g. a sequence in time, cause and effect, contrast between two things):
I left my house in the morning[sequence]thenI went to pick up Leanne at her house.
[cause]We talked until the early hoursand[effect]consequentlyI overslept the next morning.(the result of the late night is that I was late the next morning)
The sun will be shining in France.[contrast]However, heavy rain is expected in Spain.
We can usethenandconsequentlyto join clauses or sentences. We usually usebutnothoweverto connect two clauses in the same sentence:
There was no room for thembutthey got on the train.
There was no room for them.However, they got on the train.