Adverbs

 

There are eight or nine (or more) parts of speech, depending on what you read.

Some authorities list nine parts of speech. Those authorities which list eight consider
determiners (articles, quantifiers, etc) as adjectives. This site lists nine parts of speech.  

To determine what part of speech a particular word is it must be looked at in the context
of the sentence. Many words may be a different part of speech in different sentences.

Look at these examples.

Mr. Elliot feels well. (Adverb).

She is not a well woman. (Adjective)

Well! What happened. (Interjection)

He dropped his hat into a well. (Noun)

 

Adverbs

Adverbs are modifiers of verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. They generally answer questions
about when (tonight), where (downtown), how (carefully), in what manner (quickly), to what
extent of degree (very), how often (daily), and why (because and other subordinating
conjunctions which introduce subordinating clauses that function as adverbs).

My mother is cleaning upstairs. (tells where mother is cleaning)

I recently purchased a house on the beach. (tells when the house was purchased)

He walked quickly out of the room. (tells how he walked)

The newly hired employee come highly recommended. (Tells the degree the employee
was recommended)

Susan seldom eats meat. (Tells how often Susan eats meat)

Many students study everyday because they want good grades. (Tells why they
study everyday)

 

Some words can have several functions. Look at these examples.

Downtown is being revitalized by the city planners to attract more business.
(downtown is a noun in this sentence)

Please meet me downtown tonight.
(downtown is an adverb in this sentence- it tells where to meet)
Note that tonight is also an adverb as it tells when to meet.

Let’s meet in the downtown area.
(In this sentence downtown also answers the question where to meet, but it is an adjective

modifying the noun area)

Interrogative Adverbs are used at the beginning of a sentence to form a question. These
adverbs are when, where, and how. These make sense if you revisit the definition of an
adverb above.

When did you get here?

Where are going tonight?

How many drinks did you have?