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Beating Problems with Adverbs |
For VOA Learning English, this is Everyday Grammar.
This week, we’re going to talk about some common
problems with adverbs. Basically, adverbs are words that
describe verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. For
example, "I ran quickly to the store." The adverb
quickly describes the verb run.
What is an adverb?
If a word is not easy to classify as a noun, verb, or
adjective, it is probably an adverb. Some of the most
common words in English are adverbs, including up, so,
just, then, how, now, also, here, and more.
Adverbs usually describe verbs. They express when, how,
where, and why an action is done. Many adverbs are easy
to find because they have the –ly ending, such as
quickly, surely, and certainly. However, many adverbs do
not have the –ly ending.
Adverbs can also describe adjectives. For example, "It
is really cold today." In this example, really is an
adverb that describes the adjective cold.
Adverbs can describe other adverbs. For example, "I will
probably never go back." Here, the adverb probably
describes the adverb never.
Where do you put the adverb?
Where do adverbs go in a sentence? Well, it depends.
Some adverbs can go almost anywhere in a sentence. Let
us look at the adverb sometimes. It can go at the
beginning of the sentence as in, "Sometimes, I walk to
work." It can go after the subject: "I sometimes walk to
work." Or it can go at the end of the sentence: "I walk
to work sometimes."
Other adverbs can only go in the middle of a sentence.
The adverb probably is an example. "She will probably
leave early."
It is incorrect to say, "Probably she will leave early"
or "She will leave early probably." Other such adverbs
are never, rarely, seldom, and always. These are called
mid-sentence adverbs. They usually go between the
subject and the main verb. Different types of adverbs
have different sentence positions.
What's the difference between
adverbs and adjectives?
Adjectives describe nouns, while adverbs describe verbs,
adjectives, and other adverbs. Take the sentence, "She
is careful." The adjective careful is describing the
noun she. But if you said, "She walks carefully," the
adverb carefully is describing the verb walk.
Do you think this is hard?
Hardly!
Native speakers sometimes confuse adverbs and
adjectives.
The words hard and hardly are especially difficult. Hard
is both an adjective and an adverb. You can say "The bed
was hard," using the adjective, which means it is "very
firm." You can also say, "I worked hard," using the
adverb, which means "with a lot of effort."
Hardly is an adverb. A long time ago, it meant "in a
hard manner," but its meaning has changed. People used
to say "not hardly.” Over time, the word “not”
disappeared. Since the 1500s, hardly has meant "almost
not" or "barely." For example, "I hardly had time to
finish the project." This conflicting meaning of hard
and hardly has become the basis for jokes.
Listen to cartoon character Homer Simpson playing with
the confusion between hard and hardly. In the scene,
Homer’s co-workers are replaced with robots.
"So you guys are my new co-workers. So working hard or
hardly working? (laugh). I said, ‘Working hard or hardly
working?’ ‘Working hard or hardly working? WORKING HARD
OR HARDLY WORKING?’ IT’S A SIMPLE QUESTION!"
Homer is asking the robots if they are working hard
(working with energy) or hardly working (only working a
little). The robots, with their exact reasoning, do not
understand the word play in the question.
We will leave you with a song that uses the adverb
softly in an unexpected way. Listen to the Fugees’
version of the classic song "Killing Me Softly with His
Song."
Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
I’m Jonathan Evans.
And I’m Ashley Thompson.
Adam Brock wrote and produced this story. Dr. Jill
Robbins edited it. |
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