Grammar for everyone part 11

Before learning about adverbs, students should: • understand the term ‘verb’ • be able to describe the function of a verb – What is a verb?. Adverbs are best understood as being of two k

A Answers are written to increase vocabulary and spelling ability.

a path

b footbridge

c soldier

d arrow

e tank

f monster

g model

h fox

i tale

j artist

5 Students find more meaningful words than ‘nice’ or ‘good’ for the following

a party

b boy

c person

d race

e house

f pear

g dog

h tune

i garden

They then find an adjective for each of these which means the opposite (i.e not good)

6 Students complete an adjectives flowchart

ADjEctivES

Descriptive

new

Proper

Ford (car)

Demonstrative

that (car)

Possessive

my (car)

comparative

newer

Superlative

newest

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Checklist: adjectives

The student should now be able to:

• give the meaning of the word adjective

• define the word adjective – what is an adjective?

• give examples of adjectives

• qualify given nouns with appropriate adjectives

• pick out adjectives from written material

• apply adjectives to nouns to make a sentence more meaningful

• explain the function of adjectives

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AdjectiVes

The way it’s done!

Definition: Remembering that the word ‘verb’ is derived from

Latin verbum meaning ‘word’ we see that adverb must mean

some-thing added to a word.

Before learning about adverbs, students should:

• understand the term ‘verb’

• be able to describe the function of a verb – What is a verb?

• be able to form simple sentences using a noun or pronoun together with a verb

An adverb is a word that adds meaning to any other word, except a noun or pronoun (that being the job of an adjective) Adverbs are best understood as being of two kinds, those that add to the meaning of a verb and those that add to the meaning of other parts of speech and other adverbs.

The English language includes an immense range of adverbs, and while flowery writing can result from an over-lavish use of either adjectives and adverbs, they do enable us to be wonderfully imaginative and subtly descriptive Henry James remarked in one

of his letters, ‘I’m glad you like adverbs – I adore them; they are the only qualifications I really much respect.’3

Adverbs are best taught first, as their function is readily under-stood by young children In order to establish a clear distinction between the functions of adverbs and adjectives it is preferable

to use a term other than ‘qualify’ for adverbs The term ‘limit’

3 Crystal, David & Crystal, Hilary 2000, Words on words: Quotations about

language and languages, Penguin Books, Middlesex, UK.

5

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can confuse young students by implying diminished meaning, although that, of course, it does in fact do For instance, if you

attribute one quality to a verb such as ‘He ran quickly’, you have denied it an opposing or conflicting quality – he did not run slowly

However, to avoid any confusion for learners we have chosen the term ‘modify’ for the function of adverbs.

While acknowledging that students may come up against kinds

of adverbs not mentioned here, the following are those commonly used and easy to comprehend Adverbs add meaning in a number

of different ways.

Adverbs of time (‘when’ adverbs)

These adverbs tell us when the action of the verb does or does not

occur.

For example:

tomorrow, never

The show is on tomorrow I have never been to the show.

Adverbs of place (‘where’ adverbs)

These tell us where the action of the verb does or does not

happen.

For example:

here, somewhere

It isn’t here It must be somewhere!

Adverbs of manner (‘how’ adverbs)

These tell us the way in which the action of the verb does or does

not happen.

For example:

well, rudely

You speak well That boy spoke rudely.

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AdVerbs

Interrogative adverbs (‘question’ adverbs)

These adverbs are the question words that apply to the verb in a sentence.

For example:

how, why, where

How did he escape?

Why did you leave the gate open?

Where can he be?

Comparative adverbs (‘comparing’ adverbs)

Adverbs of comparison follow a similar pattern to comparative adjectives while maintaining their function of modifying words.

For example:

fast, faster [comparing two], fastest [comparing more than two]

The cake disappeared fast

Your buns went faster

But the pizza went fastest!

In the case of longer adverbs we use more and most – again to

avoid clumsiness

What a colourful tie This one’s more colourful

But that one is most colourful.

Irregular adverbs of comparison

These irregular forms cause difficulty for some students who use

them wrongly and use an adjective instead (He did it good – or performed real bad).

It is a good idea to teach these and establish them in the minds

of students early Use a display, which can be made by the students themselves.

64 GrAMMAr for eVerYone

Adverbs comparative Superlative

As some of these words can also be adjectives, you may remind

students to think about their function in a sentence.

For example:

This is the worst firewood we have had [adjective qualifying the

noun ‘firewood’]

It burns worst in wet weather [adverb modifying the verb ‘burns’]

For adverbs modifying other parts of speech, see page 130.

5.1 Activities: kinds of adverbs

1 Some favourite activities involve acting Suggest an action, such

as lifting a heavy weight or chopping down a tree Then name an

adverb of manner The students do the action in the manner given

2 ‘In the manner of the word’ is another favourite One student

decides on an act they will perform, such as frying an egg, flying an

aeroplane, or being a police-officer recording details at the scene of

a crime (Speaking is permitted for this game.)

The other students in turn name an adjective of manner such as

‘happily’ The first student performs their act in the manner of that

word The others try to guess what the student is doing

It is difficult to forget what adverbs are after performing some of

these activities

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AdVerbs

A 3 Students have a list of verbs to which they add (or match) suitable

adverbs, for example:

dance (beautifully, clumsily) eat (greedily, daintily) get married (tomorrow, here) Encourage students to be adventurous in their choice

a singing f swallow

b swim g laughed

c cook h shouted

d read i will go

e drove j fell sick

4 Students are provided with a short passage to which they add appropriate adverbs Passages can be chosen at the students’ level,

for example young students might have a selection from Thomas

the Tank Engine or Harry Potter while older ones might have theirs

from Raiders of the Lost Ark or Wuthering Heights.

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My sister dances beautifully