Adverbs
Adverbs help us give more information about a verb, adjective, or another adverb. They tell us how, when, where, or how often something happens.
Before this, learn: Parts of speech
PDF: Adverbs worksheet with answers (PDF)
1.Types of Adverbs
1.1Adverbs of Frequency
These adverbs tell us how often something happens.
Examples: always, usually, often, sometimes, rarely, never etc.
Adverbs of frequency usually go before the main verb, but after the verb 'to be'.
| Example | Verb |
|---|---|
| I always eat breakfast at 7 a.m. | eat |
| She often goes to the gym after work. | goes |
| They rarely watch TV. | watch |
| He is never late. | is |
Usually, often, sometimes and occasionally can also go at the beginning or at the end of a sentence, but the most natural and common position is still before the main verb / after the verb 'to be'. Always and never stay in the middle position.
Test yourself
1.2Adverbs of Time
These adverbs tell us when something happens.
Examples: now, today, yesterday, tomorrow, soon, later, last night etc.
Adverbs of time are usually placed at the end of the sentence, but they can also go at the beginning.
| Example |
|---|
| We will meet tomorrow. |
| I finished the report yesterday. |
| Today, I'm feeling great! |
Test yourself
1.3Adverbs of Place
These adverbs tell us where something happens.
Examples: here, there, everywhere, outside, inside, upstairs etc.
Adverbs of place usually go after the main verb or at the end of the sentence.
| Example |
|---|
| She is waiting outside. |
| The kids are playing upstairs. |
| Come here, please. |
| We looked everywhere, but couldn't find it. |
Test yourself
1.4Adverbs of Manner
Adverbs of manner tell us how something happens. They describe the way someone does an action.
Examples: quickly, carefully, loudly, happily, easily, well etc.
Adverbs of manner usually go after the main verb or after the object (if there's one). Sometimes we can place them at the beginning of a sentence.
| Example | Place |
|---|---|
| He speaks loudly. | after the main verb |
| She dances well. | after the main verb |
| He plays the guitar well. | after the object |
| They are building the house carefully. | after the object |
| Happily, they went on vacation. | at the beginning |
Test yourself
2.Adverbs examples: sentences for every type
An adverb adds information to a verb, an adjective, another adverb or a whole sentence. The quickest way to recognise one is to ask a question about the action: the word that answers how?, when?, where?, how often? or how much? is the adverb.
| Type | Question it answers | Common adverbs | Example sentence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manner | How? | quickly, carefully, quietly, well, hard | She closed the door quietly. |
| Time | When? | now, today, soon, already, recently, later | I'll call you later. |
| Place | Where? | here, there, outside, upstairs, abroad | My cousin works abroad. |
| Frequency | How often? | always, usually, often, rarely, never | We rarely eat out. |
| Degree | How much? | very, really, quite, too, extremely, almost | The soup is too hot. |
| Comment | What does the speaker think? | luckily, fortunately, honestly, maybe | Luckily, nobody was hurt. |
10 examples of adverbs in sentences
- The baby is sleeping peacefully. (manner: how is the baby sleeping?)
- Could you speak more slowly, please? (manner)
- I've already finished my homework. (time)
- They recently moved to Canada. (time)
- The cat is hiding somewhere. (place)
- Go upstairs and get your coat. (place)
- My grandparents seldom use the internet. (frequency)
- He hardly ever drinks coffee. (frequency)
- This exam was really difficult. (degree: it describes the adjective difficult)
- She plays the piano extremely well. (degree: it describes another adverb, well)
How to find the adverb in a sentence
- Find the word being described: usually the verb, sometimes an adjective or another adverb.
- Ask how, when, where, how often or how much about it.
- Check that your answer doesn't describe a noun. A word that describes a noun is an adjective, even if it looks like an adverb.
Take She never orders the same thing. Ask "how often does she order it?" The answer is never, so that's the adverb. Same describes the noun thing, so it's an adjective. In the same way, fast is an adjective in a fast car but an adverb in He drives fast. For more words like this and the linking-verb trap (smells delicious, not deliciously), see adjectives vs adverbs: how to tell them apart. If you aren't sure which part of speech a word is, see parts of speech.
Order of adverbs: manner, place, time
When several adverbs come at the end of a sentence, the usual order is manner, place, time: The kids played happily outside all afternoon. With verbs of movement like go, come or walk, place usually comes first: We walked home slowly after the party. Frequency adverbs don't join this queue: they stay before the main verb (She always gets up early), as you saw in the frequency lesson above.
3.Adverbs ending in -ly: spelling rules and examples
Most adverbs of manner are made from an adjective + -ly: slow, slowly; careful, carefully; quiet, quietly. The spelling changes with some endings, and a few common adverbs don't use -ly at all.
| Adjective ending | Rule | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| most adjectives | add -ly | sad, sadly · polite, politely · extreme, extremely |
| consonant + y | change y to i, add -ly | happy, happily · easy, easily · angry, angrily |
| -le | drop the e, add -y | gentle, gently · simple, simply · terrible, terribly |
| -ic | add -ally | basic, basically · dramatic, dramatically (but public, publicly) |
| -ll | add -y | full, fully |
| -ue | drop the e, add -ly | true, truly |
So it's truly, not truely, and happily, not happyly. Keep the final e in most other words: nicely, completely, safely.
Adverbs that don't end in -ly
- well is the adverb of good: She sings well, not She sings good.
- fast, hard, early, late, straight look the same as the adjective: a fast train, the train goes fast; a hard job, she works hard.
- Many time, place, frequency and degree adverbs never had -ly: soon, here, often, never, very, too.
Words ending in -ly that are adjectives
Friendly, lovely, lonely, lively, silly, ugly and elderly are adjectives. You can't add another -ly, so use a phrase instead: She smiled in a friendly way, not She smiled friendlily. A few words work both ways: a daily newspaper (adjective), The paper comes out daily. (adverb). The same goes for weekly, monthly and early.
Hard or hardly, late or lately
Adding -ly to these words changes the meaning, so they are a classic trap:
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| hard | with a lot of effort | She works hard. |
| hardly | almost not | She hardly works. (she does very little) |
| late | not on time | The bus arrived late. |
| lately | recently | I've been tired lately. |
Common mistakes with -ly adverbs
- He drives careful. ✗ He drives carefully. ✓ (an action needs the adverb)
- The food smells deliciously. ✗ The food smells delicious. ✓ After linking verbs like be, look, smell, taste, feel, seem you describe the subject, so use the adjective.
- I hardly worked all day, so I'm exhausted. ✗ I worked hard all day. ✓
4.Adverbs of degree: examples with very, too and enough
Adverbs of degree tell you how much or to what extent. They usually go right before the adjective or adverb they make stronger or weaker: very tired, really fast, extremely well. With a verb, most of them go before the main verb: I almost missed the bus. We completely forgot.
| Strength | Adverbs of degree | Example |
|---|---|---|
| weak | a bit, slightly | The shirt is slightly too big. |
| medium | fairly, quite, pretty, rather | The test was fairly easy. |
| strong | very, really, extremely | It's extremely cold today. |
| total | completely, totally, absolutely | I totally agree. |
| not quite | almost, nearly | It's nearly midnight. |
Too and enough
- too + adjective/adverb = more than you want or need: This coffee is too hot to drink. You're driving too fast.
- adjective/adverb + enough = as much as you need. Enough comes after the adjective: She's old enough to drive. He didn't run fast enough.
- enough + noun goes before the noun: We don't have enough chairs.
Very or absolutely?
Strong adjectives like amazing, delicious, freezing, huge, exhausted already mean "very". Don't put very before them. Use absolutely or really instead: The cake was absolutely delicious. Use very with ordinary adjectives: very good, very cold, very big.
Common mistakes with adverbs of degree
- He isn't enough old to vote. ✗ He isn't old enough to vote. ✓
- It's too much hot today. ✗ It's too hot today. ✓ (too much goes with nouns: too much sugar)
- Your English is too good! means "too good, and that's a problem". To praise someone, say Your English is very good!
- I very like pizza. ✗ I really like pizza. or I like pizza very much. ✓ Very can't go before a verb.
5.Adverbs exercises with answers
Questions 1 to 5: write the adverb form of the word in brackets. Questions 6 to 10: choose the correct option. The answers are right below.
- She answered every question ________. (correct)
- The kids waited ________ for the bus. (patient)
- He fixed the bike ________. (easy)
- Please hold the puppy ________. (gentle)
- Our team played really ________ yesterday. (good)
- I'm not tall (too / enough) to reach the top shelf.
- This tea is (too / enough) hot to drink.
- Have you seen Tom (late / lately)?
- It was so noisy that I could (hard / hardly) hear the teacher.
- Which sentence is correct? a) She speaks fluently English. b) She speaks English fluently.
Answers: 1 correctly · 2 patiently · 3 easily · 4 gently · 5 well · 6 enough · 7 too · 8 lately · 9 hardly · 10 b (the object English comes straight after the verb, then the adverb)
Wrote easyly, gentlely or good? Go back to the spelling table and to "Adverbs that don't end in -ly" above. Mixed up hard and hardly? That pair changes the meaning, not just the spelling.
To practise on paper, download the adverbs worksheet with answers (PDF): five exercises on types, -ly spelling, word order and adverbs of degree, with an answer key on the last page.
6.Frequently asked questions
What are adverbs of frequency, time, place and manner?
Adverbs of frequency say how often something happens, adverbs of time say when, adverbs of place say where, and adverbs of manner say how. In "She usually walks to school", "usually" is an adverb of frequency; in "We met yesterday", "yesterday" is an adverb of time; in "The kids are playing upstairs", "upstairs" is an adverb of place; and in "He speaks loudly", "loudly" is an adverb of manner. To find the type, ask which question the adverb answers: how often, when, where or how?
Where do adverbs of frequency go in a sentence?
Adverbs of frequency usually go before the main verb but after the verb to be: "I always eat breakfast", but "He is never late". So say "She always runs to school", not "She runs always to school", and "They are often busy", not "They often are busy". Sometimes and often can also go at the start or end of a sentence ("Sometimes I walk to work"), but always and never normally stay in the middle.
Adverb position: is it correct to say 'He speaks well English'?
No, don't put an adverb of manner between the verb and its object: say "He speaks English well", not "He speaks well English". The object comes straight after the verb, and the adverb of manner follows it: "He plays the guitar well", "Please read the instructions carefully". When there is no object, the adverb goes right after the verb: "She dances well", "The baby is crying loudly".
Good or well: which one is the adverb?
Well is the adverb and good is the adjective, so say "She dances well", not "She dances good". Use good before a noun ("a good dancer") or after the verb to be ("The food is good"). Use well to describe how someone does an action: "He plays tennis well", "I did well on the test". In answer to "How are you?", both "I'm good" and "I'm well" are common; "I'm well" can also mean you are not ill.
Where do frequency phrases like 'once a week' and 'every day' go in a sentence?
Frequency phrases like "every day" and "once a week" usually go at the end of the sentence: "I check my email every day". They are more exact than often or sometimes. Build them with once, twice or three times + a + day, week, month or year ("We have English twice a week"), or with every ("every month", "every three months"). Say "She visits her parents once a week", not "She once a week visits her parents".
