ADVERBS
By Rocío Ermiaga and Milos Falconer
WHAT ARE THEY?
Adverbs modify verbs and
contribute different
meaning to sentences
They can modify a single
verb or an entire sentence.
OUTLINE:
Types of adverbs and their
roles.
Formation of adverbs.
Comparison and
superlatives.
Structures of degree.
TYPES AND ROLES
There are three main types:
Circumstance adverbs.
Stance adverbs.
Linking adverbs.
CIRCUMSTANCE ADVERBS
They specify details such as time,
manner, place, distance, direction, or
position. They can also indicate
quantities and can either strengthen or
weaken the force of a statement.
Example: "She's getting on a bit now." (indicating amount/degree)
(Biber, Conrad, & Leech, 2002, p. 366)
STANCE ADVERBS
These adverbs express the speaker's or writer's attitude,
conveying certainty, doubt, reality, source of knowledge, or
imprecision (hedges).
Example: "His book undoubtedly fills a need"
(Biber, Conrad, & Leech, 2002, p. 207)
LINKING ADVERBS
Linking adverbs are used to indicate relationships between ideas
such as contrast, addition, or result.
They are frequently employed in academic writing to
construct logical arguments and clarify the connections
between different concepts.
Example: "Therefore we had to use approaches that do not depend on
the mass media or on literacy" (Biber, Conrad, & Leech, 2002, p. 207).
FORMATION OF ADVERBS
Adding “-ly” to adjectives, though not all
words ending in "-ly" are adverbs.
"-wise" and "-ward(s)".
And certain fixed phrases can function as
adverbs.
COMPARISON AND SUPERLATIVES
Gradable adverbs can show
comparative and superlative
degree.
These degrees can be marked
either inflectionally (using a
single word) or phrasally (using a
construction of more than one
word).
INFLECTIONALLY MARKED ADVERBS
These are most common in academic
prose, and least common in conversation.
Comparative degree is used twice as
frequently as superlative.
Comparative: stronger, softer
Superlative: the strongestthe softest
PHRASALLY MARKED ADVERBS
In general, phrasal marking is less common
than inflectional marking.
Academic writing has the most occurrences
of phrasal marking for comparative and
superlative degree. Conversation has few
occurrences.
Comparative: more difficult, more famous
Superlative: most difficult, most famous
STRUCTURES OF DEGREE
Describe the extent of a characteristic. They can be used to emphasize
that a characteristic is either greater or less than some typical level.
Degree adverbs that increase
Examples: more, very, so, extremely
intensity are called amplifiers or
intensifiers.
Degree adverbs which decrease the
effect of the modified item are Examples: less, slightly, somewhat,
called diminishers or downtoners. rather, quite
Other amplifiers indicate an endpoint
on a scale. These include totally,
absolutely, completely, and quite
Downtoners are related to hedges (like
kind of). That is, they indicate that the
modified item is not being used
precisely.
Other degree adverbs that lessen the
impact of the modified item are almost,
nearly, pretty, and far from.
USES IN CONVERSATION AND ACADEMIC PROSE
Conversation and academic prose have different preferences in their
choice of degree modifiers:
Conversational speakers use many informal amplifiers that semantic
categories of adverbs are avoided in academic prose; these include
bloody, damn, totally, absolutely, real, and really.
Academic prose uses more formal amplifiers, including extremely,
highly, entirely, fully.
CONCLUSION
Adverbs are words that add detail to
verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs,
specifying when, where, why, or how
something occurs. They include
circumstance, stance, and linking
types, and can be comparative or
superlative, functioning as amplifiers
or diminishers to add nuance.
REFERENCES
Biber, D., Conrad, S., & Leech, G. (2002). Longman student grammar of
spoken and written English. Pearson Education Limited.
Celce-Murcia, M., Larsen-Freeman, D., & Williams, H. (1999). The
grammar book: An ESL / EFL teacher's course (2nd ed.). Heinle & Heinle.
THANK YOU!
