A. Read the following passage and notice the words in italics:

Mashrafi runs fast. He knows how to prepare for a match. He is taking preparations for the upcoming world cup tournament. He is taking a very careful preparation. Other team mates have joined the team here. They are going to sit together with the coach. They will decide on some regulations for themselves tonight. They are always very optimistic.

Can you guess what their functions are?

These words modify either the verb, or the adjective/adverb they are with.

These words are adverbs.

Activity:

Identify functions of the adverbs in italics in the passage and say what questions they answer. One is done for you:

'fast' modifies the verb 'runs'; (It answers the question 'how')

Adverbs modify verbs by telling how, when, where, or to what extent the action takes place.

B. Identify the adverbs in the following sentences and say which words they modify

a. A wagon train that was very long started out from Laksam.
b. The trail through the mountains was fairly hazardous.
c. Bangladesh is a densely populated country.
d. The students are inside.
e. She will go to Rajshahi tomorrow.
f. He will join the party tonight.
g. Uncle came home yesterday.
h. Ahsanullah Master fought against the drug smugglers bravely.
i. Salma is studying hard for her examination.
j. The doctor sometimes stays up all night.

A. Read the following sentences and see what the words in italics modify and how:

Tanbin has decorated his reading room beautifully. He painted the wall well. His father highly praised his artistic work.

Here the adverbs modify verbs to tell us how a thing is done.

These types of words that state how a thing is done are known as adverbs of manner.

In most cases, adverbs of manner are formed by adding 'ly' to adjectives.

Some examples are given below:

B. Make five sentences using any five of these adverbs:

C. Read the following sentences and see what the words in italics modify and how:

Sharafi is a meritorious student. He goes to school regularly. He prepares his lessons daily. He reaches his school early. He never comes to school late. He is preparing for a debate competition today.

All these adverbs modify certain verbs and describe 'when' an action takes place.

D. Use the following adverbs of time in the box to fill in the blanks:

I met Abdul Matin Siddiqui ______ He was born _______ He had his primary education in the mid- thirties of the last century. ________ he came to Dhaka. He wrote poems ________ His elder brother _______ inspired him.

E. Read the following sentences and see what the words in italics modify and how:

Sakib is abroad. He is taking part in a tournament there. His team mate Tamim is also there for medical treatment. But other members of the team have started their practice session in Dhaka. Though they are here, they will also go to Australia eventually.

What do the words in italics do?

They tell where the action of the verb takes place.

The adverbs that state where things happen are adverbs of place.

F. Use the following adverbs of place in the box to fill in the blanks:

John looked ______ but he couldn't see the monkey. I searched _______ I could think of. I was going ________ to camp. John built a house _________. He took the child __________ I found the monkey _______ the camp. John reached The monkey was sitting beside a snake there. Suddenly an elephant stepped __________ .

G. Read the following sentences and consider what the words in italics modify and how:

Mushi participated in the world cup cricket tournament thrice. He had always been sincere. In his batting he sent the ball to the boundary frequently. He seldom dropped catches. In the beginning, he often made mistakes. But he always learnt from mistakes.

The words in italics tell us how often something happens.

The adverbs which state how often things happen are adverbs of frequency.

H. Use each of the following adverbs in a sentence and say which word it modifies. One is done for you:

He is reading now at school.

Here 'now' modifies the verb 'reading'.

a. now
b. soon
c. then
d. hardly
e. politely
f. immediately
g. quietly
h. fairly
i. fast
j. fluently

J. Look at the following picture and then complete the passage below it using the adverbs given in the box:

It was 1971. We can ________ forget those days of war. Maya was _______ serious about his purpose. He had two other companions. They rode from Gendaria. Three sat on the bike keeping the LMG in between them. They were moving towards the pre decided spot _____ , though they were pretending to be feeble and helpless with their shabby wearing. One of them was holding a fish market bag. The bike was an old one. It was not moving fast. Somehow they kept their ultimate goal of urgency in their pretension. One, two Pakistani military truck passed by ______ They were facing death _________ ; three Pakistani soldiers were taking tea ________ But they did not notice Maya's bike _________ Even then they did not ride ________ At Joykali Mandir crossing a street vendor handed over to them a small packet in the fish bag _______ One of them sitting on the bike opened the packet and got three 'grenades'. His pulse increased _________ But Maya was ________ calm. He remember the directions _________ He was observing his surroundings _________ They were moving __________ then. They moved past Baitul Mukarram Mosque ___________ In front of G.P.O. there were some Pakistani soldiers, they were five in number as Maya could count ____________ No sooner had their bike reached a spot opposite to the Pak soldiers than Maya got down from the bike and opened fire upon the Pakistani soldiers. One of the soldiers was saying, "Mukut aya _________ " (Meaning Muktis have come.) All the Pak soldiers were killed ___________. Maya and others left the spot _________