Adverbs in English

Definition

An adverb is a part of speech, can be a word or a group of words (phrases or clauses), that modifies verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs, except nouns. An adverb gives more information about those words by telling time, place, manner, degree, cause/reason, frequency, inference, result, condition, exception, purpose, etc. An adverb generally answer questions such as when, where, how, why, in what extent, and how often, etc.

Below I have one sentence and I’ll present how the adverbs in the sentence answer every question above. Here’s the sentence:
Mom always prepares breakfast very quickly in the kitchen every morning because she wants us to have some food before leaving. (The words highlighted in yellow are the adverbs).
Pay attention to the following questions!

1. When does mom prepare breakfast? She prepares breakfast every morning.
2. Where does mom prepare breakfast? She prepares breakfast in the kitchen.
3. How does mom prepare breakfast? She prepares breakfast quickly.
4. Why does mom prepare breakfast? Because she wants us to have some food before leaving.
5. How fast (in what extent of speed) does mom prepare breakfast? She prepares breakfast very quickly.
6. How often does mom prepare breakfast? She always prepares breakfast for us.

Explanation:

In sentence 1, every morning answer the question when; every morning serve as adverb of time.
In sentence 2, in the kitchen answer the question where; in the kitchen serve as adverb of place.
In sentence 3, quickly answers the question how; quickly serves as adverb of manner.
In sentence 4, because she wants us to have some food before leaving answer the question why; because … serve as adverb of reason.
In sentence 5, very answers the question how fast (in what extent/degree of speed); very serves as adverb of degree.
In sentence 6, always answers the question how often; always serves as adverb of frequency.

To get more comprehensive understanding on adverbs, you’d better see the following discussion on kinds of adverbs. I’ll present more detail information there.

Kinds of Adverbs

There are many kinds of adverbs, among others are:

1. Adverbs of Time
2. Adverb of Place
3. Adverb of Manner
4. Adverb of Cause and Effect
5. Adverb of Reason
6. Adverb of Degree
7. Adverb of Frequency
8. Adverb of Certainty
9. Adverb of Purpose
10. Adverb of Comment