Adverbs
Adverbs are one of the main parts of speech in English (along with nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Remember N.V.A.A from our previous post?).
Adverbs are like ‘extra helpers’ in a sentence — they add more detail, but sentences can usually survive without them.
Think of adverbs as words that mostly describe or give more information about:
- Verbs (actions) — how something happens, when, where, etc.
- Sometimes adjectives (e.g., very tall)
- Or even other adverbs (e.g., extremely quickly)
- Or a whole sentence (e.g., commenting on it)
Key features of adverbs
#. Many adverbs end with -ly
Example
Quick – quickly
careful – carefully
quiet – quietly
#. Note
Not all adverbs end with -ly
Example
Fast, here, now, too, very.
#. Other stuff
You can often move adverbs around in a sentence more easily than adjectives.
Example
She ran quickly. (Quickly, she ran).
#. Note
You can say, “she quickly ran”, or, “quickly, she ran” (but you can't say, "a quickly dog". That's wrong because adverbs don't usually go right before nouns like adjectives do. ‘She’ is a pronoun).
#. Reminder
Adverbs are usually not essential to the basic meaning of a sentence.
Example
“Fortunately, the dog ate his bone quietly outside today".
The Core sentence in the above example is: ‘The dog ate his bone’. (It still makes sense without the adverbs)
Main types of adverbs (three big groups)
The text divides adverbs into three subclasses: adjuncts, disjuncts, and conjuncts.
#1. Adjuncts
This is the most common type – the ‘regular’ adverbs. Adjuncts add useful detail about the action/event itself. They answer questions like:
How? (manner):
Carefully, quietly, silently, clockwise.
Example:
“The surgeon worked carefully”.
Where? (place):
Here, outside, clockwise (direction).
Example:
“Put it here”.
When? (time):
Today, tonight, nightly (how often), forever (how long).
Example:
“He called nightly”.
To what extent / how much? (degree):
Very, extremely, particularly, somewhat, too.
Example:
“It was particularly cold”.
(These are sometimes called intensifiers because they make adjectives stronger or weaker.)
Some start with wh- (how, when, where, why) and make questions:
How did she do it? / When did it happen? / Where are you?
Adjuncts give extra info about what's happening in the sentence.
#2. Disjuncts
Disjuncts are also commonly called comment or sentence adverbs. These show the speaker's attitude, opinion, or styleabout the whole sentence – not really about the action itself.
Example
“Fortunately, it didn't rain”. (I'm happy about this fact)
“Obviously, he forgot”. (I think it's clear/obvious)
“Probably she left early”. (I think it's likely)
“Frankly, I don't like it”. (I'm speaking honestly)
“Confidentially, she's quitting”. (I'm telling you this privately)
Disjuncts comment on the sentence like ‘in my opinion’ or ‘the way I'm saying this is...’
#3. Conjuncts
Conjuncts are linking adverbs. These connect sentences or ideas together. They show how one sentence relates to another (like cause, contrast, addition).
Example
However
Therefore
Moreover
Nevertheless
Besides
Example sentence
“It might rain. Nevertheless, they went on the picnic”.
(Even though it might rain → they still went)
“She couldn't go to New York. Besides, she had no money”.
(Another reason: plus/no money)
Alone, a conjunct sounds odd ("They went nevertheless" — nevertheless what?). It needs a previous idea to link to. (It might rain)
Quick summary
Adverbs add helpful (but usually optional) details to sentences: most adverbs are adjuncts telling us the how/when/where/etc of the action.
Disjuncts share your opinion or attitude about the whole thing. Disjuncts are commonly called comment or sentence adverbs. These show the speaker's attitude, opinion, or style about the whole sentence
Conjuncts link ideas between sentences.
Start noticing them when you read or write. Many end with -ly and answer ‘how?’, ‘when?’, ‘where?’, ‘to what extent?’, or add a comment like ‘luckily’ or ‘however’. Conjuncts are linking adverbs. These connect sentences or ideas together – they show how one sentence relates to another (like cause, contrast, addition).
