What Are Adverbs?

Adjectives describe nouns. Adverbs describe everything else. They modify verbs (she runs quickly), adjectives (the test was very hard), other adverbs (she runs very quickly), and sometimes whole sentences (Unfortunately, the bus was late). Without adverbs, you can name actions but not say how they happen; you can describe qualities but not say how strongly; you can list events but not say when, where, or how often.

This lesson opens the Adverbs topic. We define what an adverb is, show the four kinds of words adverbs can modify, give the tests for spotting one, and cover the -ly rule that produces most English adverbs.

What adverbs modify

Unlike adjectives, which modify only nouns and pronouns, adverbs can modify four different things.

1. Adverbs modify verbs

This is the most common use. The adverb tells you how, when, where, or how often the action happens.

• Aminata walked quickly. (how — manner)
• We arrived yesterday. (when — time)
• Foday lives here. (where — place)
• Mariama studies daily. (how often — frequency)
• She did the work carefully. (how)
• The students came early. (when)
• Put the book there. (where)
• He always complains. (how often)

2. Adverbs modify adjectives

When an adverb modifies an adjective, it usually intensifies, qualifies, or limits the adjective's meaning.

• The test was very hard. (intensifying)
• She is extremely intelligent.
• The road is fairly narrow. (qualifying)
• He is quite tall.
• The food was too spicy. (degree)
• Foday is so patient.
• The book is really good.

Words like very, extremely, fairly, quite, too, so, really almost always modify adjectives in this way. They are sometimes called adverbs of degree or intensifiers.

3. Adverbs modify other adverbs

An adverb can modify another adverb to strengthen or weaken its meaning.

• Aminata runs very quickly. (very modifies quickly)
• Foday spoke too softly for me to hear.
• Mariama explained the problem quite clearly.
• He answered the question really well.
• The students arrived rather late.

The pattern: adverb of degree + adverb of manner. Very quickly says she runs fast, and the fast is intense.

4. Adverbs modify whole sentences

Some adverbs comment on the whole sentence, not just one word. These are called sentence adverbs or disjuncts.

• Unfortunately, the bus was late.
• Surprisingly, Foday finished first.
• Hopefully, Mariama will pass.
• Frankly, I do not believe him.
• Obviously, the answer is correct.

Sentence adverbs often come at the start of the sentence, set off by a comma. They express the speaker's attitude to the whole statement.

How to form adverbs from adjectives — the -ly rule

Most English adverbs of manner are formed by adding -ly to an adjective.

• quick → quickly
• honest → honestly
• beautiful → beautifully
• kind → kindly
• quiet → quietly
• slow → slowly
• careful → carefully
• generous → generously

Spelling rules for -ly

(a) Most adjectives — just add -ly.

• quick → quickly, honest → honestly, kind → kindly

(b) Adjectives ending in -y (with a consonant before) — change y to i and add -ly.

• happy → happily, easy → easily, busy → busily, lazy → lazily, lucky → luckily

(c) Adjectives ending in -le — drop the -e and add -y.

• gentle → gently, simple → simply, possible → possibly, terrible → terribly

(d) Adjectives ending in -ll — just add -y (not -lly).

• full → fully, dull → dully

(e) Adjectives ending in -ic — usually add -ally.

• automatic → automatically, basic → basically, dramatic → dramatically, scientific → scientifically
• Exception: public → publicly

Adjectives that already end in -ly

Some adjectives end in -ly (friendly, lovely, ugly, silly, cowardly, lonely). They cannot be turned into adverbs by adding another -ly. Use a different structure:

• ❌ He smiled friendlily. → ✓ He smiled in a friendly way.
• ❌ She laughed sillily. → ✓ She laughed in a silly way.

Adverbs that do NOT end in -ly

Many common adverbs have no -ly ending. These are some of the most frequently used.

Time: now, then, soon, today, tomorrow, yesterday, late, early, already, yet, still

Place: here, there, everywhere, somewhere, nowhere, inside, outside, upstairs, downstairs, abroad, home, away

Frequency: always, often, sometimes, rarely, seldom, never, daily, weekly, monthly

Degree: very, quite, too, so, much, far, almost, nearly, just, rather, somewhat, fairly

Manner — special cases: fast, hard, well, late, early, straight, high, low, deep, wide

These last ones are tricky because the same word is both an adjective and an adverb without changing form:

• Aminata is a fast runner. (adjective)

• Aminata runs fast. (adverb — same form)

• Foday is a hard worker. (adjective)

• Foday works hard. (adverb — same form)

• Mariama came early. (adverb)

• Mariama had an early start. (adjective)

Note: fastly and hardly exist but mean different things. Hardly means barely or almost not: I hardly slept last night.

Good vs well

The most-tested pair. Good is an adjective; well is an adverb (with one exception).

• Aminata sings well. (adverb — describes how she sings)

• Aminata is a good singer. (adjective — describes singer)

• ❌ Aminata sings good. → ✓ Aminata sings well.

• ❌ Aminata is a well singer. → ✓ Aminata is a good singer.

The exception: well can be an adjective meaning in good health.

• Aminata is well today. (= she is healthy)
• Aminata feels well.

How to identify an adverb

Three tests catch most adverbs.

Test 1 — The question test

Does the word answer how? when? where? how often? to what degree? about another word in the sentence?

• Aminata walked quickly. → How did she walk? → quickly → adverb
• Foday came yesterday. → When did he come? → yesterday → adverb
• The shop is there. → Where is the shop? → there → adverb
• Mariama studies daily. → How often? → daily → adverb
• The test was very hard. → To what degree? → very → adverb

Test 2 — The -ly test

If a word ends in -ly and is formed from an adjective, it is usually an adverb.

• quick → quickly (adverb)
• honest → honestly (adverb)

But beware:

• friendly ends in -ly but is an adjective
• lovely, ugly, silly are adjectives

Test 3 — The position test

If you can move the word to different positions in the sentence (start, middle, end) without changing the meaning, it is often an adverb.

• Aminata quickly finished her work.
• Aminata finished her work quickly.
• Quickly, Aminata finished her work.

Adjectives, in contrast, are tied to the noun they modify and cannot move freely.

How adverbs differ from adjectives

The quick distinction:

The same word can sometimes be either, depending on what it modifies:

• Aminata is a fast runner. (adjective — modifies runner)

• Aminata runs fast. (adverb — modifies runs)

• Foday gave a kind answer. (adjective)

• Foday answered kindly. (adverb — different form)

Quick self-check

Identify the adverb(s) and what each modifies. Answers below.

1. Mariama writes neatly in her notebook.
2. Foday is extremely talented.
3. The bus arrived late this morning.
4. Aminata speaks Krio very fluently.
5. Surprisingly, the test was easy.
6. Foday hardly noticed her.

Answers

1. neatly — modifies writes (how)
2. extremely — modifies talented (degree)
3. late — modifies arrived (when); this morning — modifies arrived (when)
4. very — modifies fluently (degree); fluently — modifies speaks (how)
5. Surprisingly — modifies the whole sentence
6. hardly — modifies noticed (degree — meaning barely)

What's next

In the next lesson we cover the types of adverbs — manner, time, place, frequency, degree, and sentence adverbs — with examples of each and the rules WAEC tests for them.