Using Adverbs – What is an Adverb and How do I Use Adverbs?

verbs

Using Adverbs –
What is an Adverb and How do I Use Adverbs?

What is an Adverb?

You may be using adverbs without knowing it. It is important that you know the difference between using adverbs vs. using adjectives. Many people use an adjective in their sentence when they should be using an adverb. For example, a popular sentence is “I feel good”, which is not correct, the correct sentence is “I feel well”. Why? because “feel” is a verb and you don’t use adjectives to describe verbs, you use adverbs. The word “good” is an adjective while “well” is an adverb. What is an adverb? Study this page more to learn more about how to use adverbs.

Adverbs describe verbs in the same way as adjectives describe nouns.

You can describe a noun using an adjective – beautiful girl – “beautiful” is the adjective, and “girl” is the noun (Adjectives)

Refresh your knowledge about verbs with this lesson – Verbs, What are they and how to use them?

Adverbs describe verbs:

Run quickly –  “quickly” is the adverb, and “run” is the verb.

The adverb gives more information about the verb. Using the verb “run” is very basic. We don’t know anything about how the “run” is.

The adverb “quickly” tell us that the “run” was done quickly, so we know more about how the “run” happened.

The word “quick” is an adjective when used with a noun. It is a quick car, describing the noun “car”. 

We can add “ly” to the adjective to turn it into an adverb to describe a verb in the sentence – The car drives quickly, describing the verb “drive”.

How Are Adverbs Used in Sentences?

Adverbs can be used anywhere in a sentence. It can be used at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of the sentence. It is normally found  before/after the verb in the sentence. 

Most adverbs are a variation of an adjective

You can review the lesson about Adjectives to refresh your memory.

Most of the time, you can take an adjective and change it to an adverb by adding “ly” to the end of the adjective.

A common example of using an adjective or an adverb is:

How are you feeling?

I’m feeling poor – this is wrong because “poor” is an adjective not an adverb. The word “feel” is a verb so you must use an adverb instead of an adjective.

I’m feeling poorly – this is correct because “poorly” is an adverb

There are 4 different types of adverbs:

• Adverbs of manner communicate how something happened.
• Adverbs of degree tell us the degree or intensity to which something happened.
• Adverbs of place tell us where something happened.
• Adverbs of time tell about when something happened.

200 Most Common Adverbs

Here is a worksheet you can do to practice choosing an Adjective or an Adverb.

Learn more about adverbs and how to use them when you study English with Teacher Kay. Contact him now to set up a study program.

• Teacher Kay’s Home
• Adjectives
  • Using Comparatives and Superlatives
• Have/Has, Do/Does, Don’t/Doesn’t
• Study Business English
• What are Verbs?
  • Third Person Singular – Add S to verbs
  • Using Adverbs
• Time Expressions – Last, Ago, Yesterday
• Will or Going to

Humberger Toggle Menu

Teacher Kay

Teacher Kay has been teaching Asian students for over 10 years. He has 2 university degrees and is TEFL certified.

You will learn to speak English well by studying with Teacher Kay.