week 6 ADVERBS

lesson 6, ctu, miss Hong

• Definition

• Classification

• Function

• Position

• Adverb Order

• Comparison

• Formation

• Use of some confused adverbs

I Definition : An adverb is a word which modifies the meaning of a Verb, an Adjective, another Adverb, a

Phrase, a Clause, or the whole Sentence

II Classification

1. Adverbs of Time: to show when the action happens - I have heard this before.

- Today he arrived late.

- Mr Brown formerly lived here.

2. Adverbs of Frequency: to show how often the action

happens

- ever, always, usually = normally/ generally, often =

frequently, occasionally, sometimes, rarely, seldom,

hardly ever, never, …

- I have told you twice about that.

- He often makes mistakes.

- They seldom come here.

- She always tries to do her best.

- Wasted time never returns.

3. Adverbs of Place: to show where the action happens - Please wait for me right here.

- The horses galloped away.

- Walk backward.

4. Adverbs of Manner: to show how the action happens - The teacher reads the text clearly.

- The beef steak is well prepared.

- They are working hard in the garden.

- You should not do so.

5. Adverbs of Degree or Quantity: to show how much,

in what degree, or to what extent the action happens

- little, much, extremely, very much, just, enough,

quite, only, merely, too, rather, nearly, almost, hardly,

scarcely,…

- He was too careless in his speech.

- These durians are almost ripe.

- I am fully prepared.

- He is good enough for my purpose.

- You are partly right.

- She speaks English pretty well.

6. Adverbs of Affirmation: certainly, naturally, surely, of

course, very well,

- Surely you are mistaken about that.

- I’ve definitely decided to go to California.

7. Adverbs of Negation: never, neither, nor, nowhere, at

not time, by no means, in no cases, in no way, under no

circumstances, on no account, in no occasion, not only,

no sooner…than, seldom, rarely, hardly, scarcely, little

- Food is scarcely found in this region.

- We never go out for dinner.

8. Adverbs of Possibility: maybe, perhaps, possibly,

probably

- The weather possibly turned cold.

- Maybe, they will be late again.

9. Interrogative Adverbs: to make questions - Where is he from?

- Why are they so late?

- When will they come?

10.Relative Adverbs: to introduce an Adjective Clause - We have visited the village where Nguyễn Du was

born

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Notes:

1. Several words are used sometimes as Adverbs and sometimes as Prepositions A word is a Preposition when it governs a noun or pronoun It is an Adverb when it does not

- Go and run about

- Has he come in?

- The wheel came off

- Don’t loiter about the street

- Is he in his room?

- The driver jumped off the car

2 Two adverbs sometimes go together, joined by the conjunction And

again and again Repeatedly

by and by before long(ngay bây giờ), presently(chẳng mấy chốc, ngay sau đó, hiện thời), after a time far and near/ far and wide in all directions, everywhere (khắp nơi, rộng khắp)

far and away/ out and away by a great deal, decidedly, beyond all comparison (bỏ xa, hơn hẳn, không thể ss được)

first and foremost first of all(trước tiên)

now and then from time to time, occasionally (thỉnh thoảng)

off and on not regularly, intermittently (chốc chốc, chập chờn lúc có lúc có không)

once (and) again on more than one occasion(thêm một lần nữa)

out and out decidedly(hoàn toàn, triệt để, dứt khoát)

over and above inaddition to, besides, as well as(đã thế lại còn…, lại còn…nữa)

through and through thoroughly, completely(hoàn toàn; trở đi trở lại)

to and pro backwards and forwards, up and down (tới lui)

III Function

1. A Verb - Tom runs quickly out of the house.

2. An Adjective - Those students are quite lazy.

3. Another Adverb - Our friends study very hard during the exam.

4. An Adverbial Phrase - I see a plane flying exactly over my house.

5. An Adverbial Clause - I like this house simply because it is near a supermarket.

6. A whole Sentence - Maybe, I’ll go with you.

IV Position

1. right before the Adjective

Adverb Preposition Conjunction

Exception : ENOUGH

- This shirt is too small.

- He speaks very slowly.

- They stand exactly behind me.

- I like an orange only when it is ripe.

- My coffee is not sweet enough.

- He didn’t drive fast enough.

2. Right after the Intransitive Verb - He sleeps soundly.

3. Before a Transitive Verb or After its Object - The father severely punished his son.

- The father punished his son severely.

4. Between auxiliary and main Verb - The wind had suddenly risen.

- He can surely do it.

- He is still living with his old parents.

5. Before or After an Infinitive - He seems really to understand.

6. At the beginning of the Sentence

- To modify a whole sentence

- To emphasize the Adverb itself

- To make an Exclamation (*Inversion if S is a N)

- Interrogative Adverb

- Fortunately, the injured man didn’t die.

- Never had I seen anything so dreadful.

- Here she comes!/ Here comes the bride!

- Away it flew!/ Away flew my hat!

- Where does it happen?

Inversion of S & V with Front-position Adverbs

2

Adv of Negation + Be + S

Auxiliary

Modal V

- Never have I heard such a sweet song.

- Seldom is she absent from school.

Adv of Place + V + S

- By his side sat his faithful dog.

(His faithful dog sat by his side.)

- In the heart of Hanoi City lies the ‘Lake of Restored Sword’.

- In front of the museum stands a memorial monument.

Only + Adv + Be + S

Auxiliary

Modal V

- Only then did they fully understand what he had meant.

- Only with the full agreement of everyone can we hope to succeed.

- Only by shouting was he able to make himself heard.

- Only when all attempts at negociation had failed, did the workers decide

to go on strike

So + Adj/Adv + Be + S

Auxiliary

Modal V

- So deafening was the noise that I could hardly hear myself speak.

The noise was so deafening that …

- So seriously was he injured that he was taken to the hospital.

He was injured so seriously that …

When other Adverbs begin a

sentence for Emphasis, Inversion is

NOT obligatory

- My great news comes now.

Now my great new comes.

Now comes my great news.

- He has given me presents many times.

Many times he has given me presents.

Many times has he given me presents.

- We would rather die than live under foreign domination.

Rather we would die than live under foreign domination.

Rather would we die than live under foreign domination.

- World wars have taken place twice within my life time.

Twice within my life time world wars have taken place.

Twice within my life time have world wars taken place.

V Order of Adverbs

1 Pattern One: ORDINARY VERB

2 Pattern Two: VERBS OF MOVEMENT

VI Comparison of Adverbs

Monosyllable Adverbs:

- Comparative: Adv + ER

- Superlative: Adv + EST

- He will arrive sooner next time.

- He worked hardest.

Long Adverbs:

- Comparative: MORE + Adv

- Superlative: MOST + Adv

- He drive more carefully than my friend.

- She sings most melodiously.

Note: THE is usually omitted in Superlative Degree of Adverb.

VII Formation of Adverbs

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Root + Suffix Example

N + ward eastwards, westward(s), skyward(s)

N + wise clockwise,

Adj + ly poorly, cheaply, shortly, easily

A + N away, aback (lùi lại), abed(ở trên giường), aboard, afire(cháy bừng bừng)

In + N indeed, indoors, inside

Out + N outside(ở phía ngoài), outdoors(ở ngoài trời), outwards(hướng ra ngoài, ở phía ngoài)

Al + Adj already, almost, altogether(nói chung, hoàn toàn, cả thảy)

Adv + Adv whenever(khi nào – trong câu ?chỉ sự ngạc nhiên), wherever(ở đâu – trong câu ? chỉ sự

ngạc nhiên), whereupon(và rồi thì, và thế là)

Adv + Prep therein(trong đó, về mặt ấy), hereupon(ngay sau đây, nhân thể, do đó), hereby(bằng cách

này, nhờ đó), herein(ở đây, ở điểm này, trong tài liệu này)

Some/Any/No + how somehow(0 hiểu sao; bằng cách này hay cách khác), anyhow(cẩu thả; dù sao đi nữa),

nohow(0 có cách nào, hẳn 0)

Some/Any/No + where somewhere, anywhere, nowhere

VIII Use of some confused Adverbs

TOO

ENOUGH

negative meaning positive meaning

- The tea is too hot to drink (Trà quá nóng đến nỗi không thể uống

được)

- He is old enough to drive a motorbike (Anh ấy đủ tuổi để lái xe)

RARELY

SCARCELY

not often not quite

- He rarely comes to see me.

- I scarcely finished my exercises.

OFTEN

USUALLY

ALWAYS

happens many times more often

without exception

- Bill is often late to class (3 times a week)

- Doris is usually late to class (Today she is early.)

- Tom is always late to class (He never comes early.)

EVER

NEVER

questions or affirmative statement (= always) negative statement

- Have you ever seen a tiger before?

- He is ever a generous man.

- I have never seen one.

VERY

TOO

acceptable not acceptable

- He arrived very late (We waited for him.)

- He arrived too late (We couldn’t wait.)

HARD

HARDLY

attentively nearly not

- He works very hard.

- It’s too dark here I can hardly see you.

CERTAINLY

SURELY

I know for a fact It is definite

I firmly believe/

I very much hope this to

be true./

It’s not certain, but I feel confident it will probably happen

- I’m certainly not going out in this rain.

- You’re surely not going out in this rain.

- I’m certainly going to see it.

- It’s worth going to see, surely.

FAIRLY

RATHER

to affirm some positive

or pleasant idea the idea is negative or unpleasant

- Your homework was fairly good this week.

- Your hands look rather dirty.

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