English/Parts of Speech/Adverbs


English Wikibook (edit)
General: Introduction - Grammar
Parts of speech: Nouns - Verbs - Adjectives - Adverbs - Pronouns - Conjunctions - Prepositions - Interjections
Parts of the sentence: Subjects - Predicates
Word functions: Subjects - Predicates - Direct Objects - Indirect Objects - Objects of the Preposition
Types of sentences: Simple Sentences - Complex Sentences
Types of Phrases: Adjective - Adverb - Noun
Types of Clauses: Adjective - Adverb - Noun
Other English topics: Gerunds - Idiomatic Phrases - Spelling - Vocabulary - Punctuation - Syntax - Appositives - Phonics - Pronunciation

An adverb is a word which describes how, how much or how often something is done.

  • She runs quickly (quickly is an adverb and describes how she runs)
  • She rarely goes swimming (rarely is an adverb and describes how often she goes swimming)
  • I speak English fluently (fluently is an adverb and describes how much English I speak)

Most adverbs in English can be easily identified because they end with the letters ly (for example, easily in the previous sentence). Not all words which end with ly are adverbs - for example, sly, family, are not adverbs. And not all adverbs end in ly - for instance "often" or "seldom".