English adverbs are
word
A word is a basic element of language that carries an semantics, objective or pragmatics, practical semantics, meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of w ...
s such as ''so'', ''just'', ''how'', ''well'', ''also'', ''very'', ''even'', ''only'', ''really'', and ''why'' that
head
A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...
adverb phrases, and whose most typical members function as modifiers in verb phrases and clauses, along with
adjective
In linguistics, an adjective (list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated ) is a word that generally grammatical modifier, modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun.
Tra ...
and adverb phrases.
The category is highly heterogeneous,
but a large number of the very typical members are derived from adjectives + the
suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns, adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can carry ...
''-ly'' (e.g., ''actually'', ''probably'', ''especially'', & ''finally'') and modify any word, phrase or clause other than a noun.
Adverbs form an open
lexical category
In grammar, a part of speech or part-of-speech (abbreviated as POS or PoS, also known as word class or grammatical category) is a category of words (or, more generally, of lexical items) that have similar grammatical properties. Words that are ass ...
in English.
They do not typically license or function as complements in other phrases.
Semantically
Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy, linguistics and comput ...
, they are again highly various, denoting manner, degree, duration, frequency, domain, modality, and much more.
History of the concept in English
One of the very first records we have of the word ''adverb'' used in English is from c1425.
William Bullokar
William Bullokar was a 16th-century printer who devised a 40-letter phonetic alphabet for the English language. Its characters were in the black-letter or "gothic" writing style commonly used at the time. Taking as his model a Latin grammar by ...
wrote the
earliest grammar of English, published in 1586. It includes a chapter on adverbs. His definition follows:
An adverb is a part of speech joined with a verb or participle to declare their signification more expressly by such adverb: as, ''come hither if they wilt go forth'', sometimes with an adjective: as, ''thus broad'': & sometimes joined with another adverb: as, ''how soon'', as speedily, yet both those depending upon some verb or participle always of an acting, passing, or being signification. which you that the easier know to be an adverb, by asking the question, what, upon it, whereunto a verb, participle or adjective answers single or in sentence. But if a substantive answers to the question, be sure that it is a preposition, for an adverb governs not any case nor is governed of any word. (p. 365; orthography has been modernized)
The idea that adverbs modify only verbs is traditional to grammars of Greek and Latin, and the idea is common in English grammar up to at least 1775.
When it became broadly accepted that adverbs modified more than verbs, grammarians struggled to delimit the extent of their range.
In 1801, Mercy observes that “the adverb may be known by interrogating with the adverb ''how''” (1801: 13)
In 1784, John Hunter made the argument that many words that had sometimes been categorized as adverbs were, in fact,
prepositions
Prepositions and postpositions, together called adpositions (or broadly, in traditional grammar, simply prepositions), are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in'', ''under'', ''towards'', ''before'') or mark various ...
.
ALTHOUGH all these uses of the word TO are really one and the same, differing in nothing but this, that the object governed by it is, in some of them, ''expressed'' and, in others, ''not'' ''expressed''; yet the grammarians have considered them as different, and have classed TO, in the one case, with the Prepositions, and, in the other, with the Conjunctions, or with the Adverbs.
This idea was taken up by later grammarians, including Jespersen (1924) and ''
The Cambridge grammar of the English language
''The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language'' (''CGEL'') is a descriptive grammar of the English language. Its primary authors are Rodney Huddleston and Geoffrey K. Pullum. Huddleston was the only author to work on every chapter. It was publ ...
'' (2002).
On the other hand, dictionaries and ESL grammars have not adopted these ideas. For example,
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary
''Webster's Dictionary'' is any of the English language dictionaries edited in the early 19th century by American lexicographer Noah Webster (1758–1843), as well as numerous related or unrelated dictionaries that have adopted the Webster's n ...
has ''before'' as an adverb and as a preposition.
Although most modern linguists accept the idea that lexical categories, such as adverb, cannot be defined semantically, Langacker argues that they can: "Verbs designate processes, whereas adjectives and adverbs are said to designate atemporal relations (Langacker, 1987, p. 189).10"
Adverb vs other lexical categories
Adverb vs adjective
In the general case, adverbs do not function as
attributive modifiers in a
noun phrase
In linguistics, a noun phrase, or nominal (phrase), is a phrase that has a noun or pronoun as its head or performs the same grammatical function as a noun. Noun phrases are very common cross-linguistically, and they may be the most frequently oc ...
, where
adjectives
In linguistics, an adjective (abbreviated ) is a word that generally modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun.
Traditionally, adjectives were considered one of the mai ...
typically do. Conversely, adjectives do not function modifiers in phrases apart from NPs. So you have ''the
happy child'', but not ''*the
happily child'' and ''I will happily take it'', but not ''*I will
happy take it.''
There are cases, though, in which an adverb may be a non-attributive
modifier
Modifier may refer to:
* Grammatical modifier, a word that modifies the meaning of another word or limits its meaning
** Compound modifier, two or more words that modify a noun
** Dangling modifier, a word or phrase that modifies a clause in an am ...
in a noun phrase (NP), as in ''the situation
recently in Spain''.
Also, adverbs may modify whole NPs as with ''
even my neighbour''.
Some adverbs also share pronunciation and spelling with adjectives (e.g., ''very''), which makes such tests inconclusive; you can't rule out the possibility that a word is an adverb simply because a word spelled that way can be a modifier in an NP. Moreover, not all adjectives can be attributive.
Morphologically, many adverbs are formed by adding ''-ly'' to an adjective (e.g., ''easy'' → ''easily'').
It's also the case, though, that some adjectives end in ''-ly'' (e.g., ''friendly''). There are also at least a few linguists who believe that ''-ly'' adverbs are simply an
inflectional
In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and defin ...
form of adjectives.
There are two interrogative words ''how'', an adverb and an adjective. The adjective is used only in question such as ''how was it'', where the expected response is an adjective phrase such as ''good'' or ''very interesting''.
Adverb vs intransitive preposition
(see also )
Jespersen and others argue that many words traditionally taken to be adverbs are actually prepositions (see ). Many linguists agree with Jespersen, but most dictionaries and ESL grammars have not adopted these ideas. For example, Merriam-Webster's Dictionary has ''before'' as an adverb, preposition, and conjunction.
If the distinction is accepted, then it becomes important to distinguish between the two groups. A useful starting point is to recognize that many adverbs end in ''-ly'', which clearly distinguishes them from prepositions. Another clarifying difference is that PPs commonly function as complements in a ''be'' VP (e.g., ''the key's
in the car''), while adverbs cannot normally do so (e.g., *''the key's
internally'').
Another distinguishing features is that PPs may have ''right'' or ''just'' as a modifier. In
Standard English
In an English-speaking country, Standard English (SE) is the variety of English that has undergone substantial regularisation and is associated with formal schooling, language assessment, and official print publications, such as public service a ...
,
adverb phrase
In linguistics, an ''adverbial phrase'' ("AdvP") is a multi-word expression operating adverbially: its syntactic function is to modify other expressions, including verbs, adjectives, adverbs, adverbials, and sentences. Adverbial phrases can be divi ...
s do not accept such modification (e.g., ''it ran
right up the tree''
P ''*it ran
right vertically''
dvP DVP may refer to:
* ''decessit vita patris'', "died in the lifetime of his father", term used by genealogists to denote a child who pre-deceased his or her father and did not live long enough to inherit the father's title or estate.
* Delivery versu ...
)
Adverb vs coordinators
"A number of conjunct adverbs, such as ''so'' and ''yet'', resemble coordinators (
coordinating conjunctions) both in being connectives and in having certain syntactic features."
One difference is that many adverbs are quite flexible in the location, while coordinators are not. Consider these examples, where ''but'' must appear between the clauses, but ''however'' can appear in any one of three different locations.
# ''That one's good,
but this one's not.''
oordinator# ''That one's good.'' (''
however'')'', this one'' (''
however'') ''is not'' (''
however'').
The difference can also be seen in punctuation. In (2), unlike (1), a comma is not possible after good.
The syntax of adverbs and adverb phrases
Internal structure
AdvPs are usually quite simple in their internal structure. The following syntax tree shows an AdvP with the
adverb phrase
In linguistics, an ''adverbial phrase'' ("AdvP") is a multi-word expression operating adverbially: its syntactic function is to modify other expressions, including verbs, adjectives, adverbs, adverbials, and sentences. Adverbial phrases can be divi ...
''more'' as
modifier
Modifier may refer to:
* Grammatical modifier, a word that modifies the meaning of another word or limits its meaning
** Compound modifier, two or more words that modify a noun
** Dangling modifier, a word or phrase that modifies a clause in an am ...
and a
head
A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...
adverb ''quickly''.
![Tree_diagram_for_](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Tree_diagram_for_%22more_quickly%22.png)
Adverb phrases rarely license
complements as dependents, but it is possible, as in ''independently
of the others''. "Only adverbs with the ''-ly'' suffix license direct complements."
Functions
Adverb phrases function as modifier in a clause or almost any kind of phrase, with the notable exception that they do not function as attributive modifier in noun phrases.
Individual adverbs, however, are usually not that flexible. For example, the adverbs ''straight'' and ''right'' characteristically function as modifier in PPs but not in AdvP (e.g., ''right up the tree'' but not *''right vertically'').
Similarly, ''very'' characteristically functions as modifier in AdjPs and AdvP but not in VPs (e.g., ''very happy'' & ''very happily'', but not *''very enjoyed'').
A small number of adverbs modify whole NPs. These include ''even'', ''only'', and ''alone''.
AdvPs can function as complements to verbs such as ''treat'' as in ''they treated me
kindly''.
Interrogatives
There are two interrogative adverbs: ''how'' and ''why''. In
independent open interrogative clauses, ''why'' and ''how'' are typically fronted.
Semantics
''A comprehensive grammar of the English language'' gives the following (non-exhaustive) list of semantic roles for "adverbials": space, time, process, respect, contingency, modality, and degree.
''The Cambridge grammar of the English language'' gives the following:
Negation
The words ''not'' and ''never'' are adverbs that participate in negation (see ).
Scope
The scope of an adverb is the part of an utterance with which it combines in meaning.
Adverb phrase placement affects the scope. Consider the difference in meaning between the following:
* ''
Quite likely, the award will be won by
he most creative person here''
* ''The award will be won by
quite likely the most creative person here">u>quite likely the most creative person here''
In the first example, the AdvP has scope over the whole clause, while in the second it has scope over only the NP in the ''by'' phrase.
Morphology
Word formation
Most adverbs are formed by adding ''-ly'' to an adjective (see above), but a few other adverb forming suffixes are productive. One example is ''-wise'', which combines with a noun to form adverbs such as ''clockwise'', and ''edgewise''.
Many adverbs are simple bases. These include ''not'', ''well'', ''fast'', ''right'', and ''very''.
Comparative and superlative
Only a few adverbs inflect for
grade
Grade most commonly refers to:
* Grade (education), a measurement of a student's performance
* Grade, the number of the year a student has reached in a given educational stage
* Grade (slope), the steepness of a slope
Grade or grading may also ref ...
, that is have comparative and superlative forms. These are most common in one or two syllable adverbs derived from adjectives.
Some examples are ''early'', ''earlier'', ''earliest''; ''quickly'', ''quicklier'', ''quickliest'', and ''well'', ''better'', ''best''.
References
{{Reflist
Adverbs An adverb is a word or an expression that generally modifies a verb, adjective, another adverb, determiner, clause, preposition, or sentence. Adverbs typically express manner, place, time, frequency, degree, level of certainty, etc., answering que ...