Look at the underlined words in the following sentences:
He goes to his school regularly.
We really enjoyed our picnic.
Some students are playing in the field.
me and meet us next week.
Zamil: Do you often visit your grandma?
Asif: Yes I do! I visit her frequently.
Juthi: Can you please supply us with milk daily?
Milkman: No madam, I can give you milk only twice a week.
These are all adverbs. Can you guess what words they modify?
Adverbs usually modify verbs, but they often modify adjectives, nouns, other adverbs and whole phrases or sentences:
Examples | functions |
Sit quietly! | to modify a verb (sit) |
Sayeed was rather quiet. | to modify an adjective (quiet) |
That event seemed to go by incredibly slowly. | to modify another adverb (slowly |
It takes quite a lot of courage to jump from a plane. | to modify a noun phrase (a lot of courage) |
I'm going for a run later so I don't want to eat anything now. | to modify the whole clause (I'm going for a run) |
Personally, I don't like the plans. | to modify the whole sentence (/don't like the plans.) |
Note: 'Personally' gives the speaker's attitude. We often use commas after such an adverb when it modifies the whole sentence.
An adverb comes after a verb. It is usually a word but sometimes a group of words modifies a verb. Then that group is called an adverbial phrase. Any adverb or adverbial phrase that modifies a verb is called an adverbial.
Rakib looked at his friends nervously after he had lost his admit cards.
Here the underlined word describes how something has happened. This is an adverbial of manner.
The toy was lying on the table.
Here the item describes where something was. It is an adverbial of place.
They visited their hometown last month.
Here the underlined item tells when something happens. It is an adverbial of time.
Now fill in the gaps with appropriate adverbs:
He opened the door _______ .
Our music class is held ______ .
All students were present ______ .
He ________ made this comment.
Bangladesh Cricket team is doing ______ .
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