We have studied adverbs of time previously in the lesson on simple present tense. Examples: "They travel often." "We rarely exercise." "I never go there."
Adjectives only modify (describe) nouns. However, adverbs modify almost everything other than nouns: such as verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, and whole sentences.
1. Adverbs usually modify verbs.
They tell us when, where, how, how often, how long, etc. something is done:
- Press the button.
- Press the button now. (= tells us when to push the button)
- Press the button here. (= where)
- Press the button quickly. (= how)
- Press the button every hour. (= how often)
- Press the button for one minute. (= how long)
As you can see, most adverbs come after the verb.
2. Adverbs can also modify adjectives, other adverbs, and whole sentences.
- The button is very large.
- Don't press the button too soon. ('too' modifies 'soon', and 'soon' modifies 'press')
- Unfortunately, she pressed the button too soon. ('unfortunately' modifies the sentence, 'she pressed the button too soon')
Many adverbs end in the suffix -ly: quickly, slowly, fortunately, unfortunately, loudly, quietly, usually, rarely, etc.
Note that not every word that ends in -ly is an adverb; for instance, 'friendly' and 'smelly' are adjectives.
