An
adverb is a
part of speech. It is any word that modifies any part of language other than a
noun (modifiers of nouns are primarily
adjectives and
determiners). Adverbs can modify
verbs,
adjectives (including numbers),
clauses,
sentences and other adverbs.
Adverbs typically answer questions such as
how?,
in what way?,
when?,
where?, and
to what extent?. This function is called the
adverbial function, and is realized not just by single words (i.e., adverbs) but by
adverbial phrases and
adverbial clause
Adverbs in English
In
English, adverbs of manner (answering the question
how?) are often formed by adding
-ly to adjectives. For example,
great yields
greatly, and
beautiful yields
beautifully. (Note that some words that end in
-ly, such as
friendly and
lovely, are not adverbs, but
adjectives, in which case the root word is usually a
noun. There are also underived adjectives that end in
-ly, such as
holy and
silly.)
The suffix -
ly is related to the Germanic word
"lich" meaning corpse or body. (There is also an obsolete English word
lych or
lich with the same meaning.) Both words are also related to the word
like. The connection between
-ly and
like is easy to understand. The connection to
lich is probably that both are descended from an earlier word that meant something like "shape" or "form"
In this way, -ly in English is cognate with the common German adjective ending
-lich and the Dutch ending
-lijk. This same process is followed in Romance languages with the ending -mente, -ment, or -mense meaning "of/like the mind".
In some cases, the suffix
-wise may be used to derive adverbs from nouns. Historically,
-wise competed with a related form
-ways and won out against it. In a few words, like
sideways,
-ways survives; words like
clockwise show the transition. Again, it is not a foolproof indicator of a word being an adverb. Some adverbs are formed from nouns or adjectives by appending the prefix
a- (such as
abreast,
astray). There are a number of other suffixes in English that derive adverbs from other word classes, and there are also many adverbs that are not morphologically indicated at all.
Comparative adverbs include
more,
most,
least, and
less (in phrases such as
more beautiful,
most easily etc.).
The usual form pertaining to adjectives or adverbs is called the
positive. Formally, adverbs in English are inflected in terms of
comparison, just like
adjectives. The
comparative and
superlative forms of some (especially single-syllable) adverbs that do not end in -
ly are generated by adding
-er and
-est (
She ran faster;
He jumps highest). Others, especially those ending -
ly, are
periphrastically compared by the use of
more or
most (
She ran more quickly) -- while some accept both forms, e.g.
oftener and
more often are both correct. Adverbs also take comparisons with
as ... as,
less, and
least. Not all adverbs are comparable; for example in the sentence
He wore red yesterday it does not make sense to speak of "more yesterday" or "most yesterday".
Adverbs as a "catch-all" category
Adverbs are considered a part of speech in traditional English grammar and are still included as a part of speech in grammar taught in schools and used in dictionaries. However, modern grammarians recognize that words traditionally grouped together as adverbs serve a number of different functions. Some would go so far as to call adverbs a "catch-all" category that includes all words that do not belong to one of the other parts of speech.
A more logical approach to dividing words into classes relies on recognizing which words can be used in a certain context. For example, a noun is a word that can be inserted in the following template to form a grammatical sentence:
- The _____ is red. (For example, "The hat is red".)
When this approach is taken, it is seen that adverbs fall into a number of different categories. For example, some adverbs can be used to modify an entire sentence, whereas others cannot. Even when a sentential adverb has other functions, the meaning is often not the same. For example, in the sentences
She gave birth naturally and
Naturally, she gave birth, the word
naturally has different meanings. (Actually the first sentence could be interpreted in the same way as the second, but context makes it clear which is meant.)
Naturally as a sentential adverb means something like "of course" and as a verb-modifying adverb means "in a natural manner". This "naturally" controversy demonstrates that the class of sentential adverbs is a
closed class (there is resistance to adding new words to the class), whereas the class of adverbs that modify verbs isn't.
Words like
very and
particularly afford another useful example. We can say
Perry is very fast, but not
Perry very won the race. These words can modify adjectives but not verbs. On the other hand, there are words like
here and
there that cannot modify adjectives. We can say
The sock looks good there but not
It is a there beautiful sock. The fact that many adverbs can be used in more than one of these functions can confuse this issue, and it may seem like splitting hairs to say that a single adverb is really two or more words that serve different functions. However, this distinction can be useful, especially considering adverbs like
naturally that have different meanings in their different functions.
Huddleston distinguishes between a
word and a
lexicogrammatical-word«
Azerbaijan linguistic school» does not consider an adverb to be an independent
part of speech, as it is an
adverbialized form of other
parts of speech. I.e. recognition of its equity, alongside with other parts of speech, violates the second and fourth laws of logic division. Adverb is derived from other
parts of speech. Its functions are performed by other
parts of speech when they play the role of "means of expression" for an
adverbial. That is, other
parts of speech, playing role of
adverbial, automatically transform (convert) into an adverb.
[3][4].
Not is an interesting case. Grammarians have a difficult time categorizing it, and it probably belongs in its own class (Haegeman 1995, Cinque 1998).
Other languages
Other languages may form adverbs in different ways, if they are used at all: adverb of manners and adverb of place.
- In Dutch adverbs have the basic form of their corresponding adjectives and are not inflected (except for comparison in which case they are inflected like adjectives, too).
- In German the term Adverb is differently defined than in the English language. German adverbs form a group of not inflectable words (except for comparison in which in rare cases some are inflected like adjectives, too). An English adverb, which is derived from an adjective, is arranged in the German language under the adjectives with adverbial use in the sentence. The others are also called adverbs in the German language.
- In Scandinavian languages, adverbs are typically derived from adjectives by adding the suffix '-t', which makes it identical to the adjective's neuter form. Scandinavian adjectives, like English ones, are inflected in terms of comparison by adding '-ere'/'-are' (comparative) or '-est'/'-ast' (superlative). In inflected forms of adjectives the '-t' is absent. Periphrastic comparison is also possible.
- In Romance languages many adverbs are formed from adjectives (often the feminine form) by adding '-mente' (Portuguese, Spanish, Italian) or '-ment' (French, Catalan) (from Latin mens, mentis: mind, intelligence). Other adverbs are single forms which are invariable.
- In the Romanian language, the vast majority of adverbs are simply the masculine singular form of the corresponding adjective – one notable exception being bine ("well") / bun ("good"). However, there are some Romanian adverbs that are built from certain masculine singular nouns using the suffix "-eşte", such as the following ones: băieţ-eşte (boyishly), tiner-eşte (youthfully), bărbăt-eşte (manly), frăţ-eşte (brotherly), etcaetara.
- Interlingua also forms adverbs by adding '-mente' to the adjective. If an adjective ends in c, the adverbial ending is '-amente'. A few short, invariable adverbs, such as ben, "well", and mal, "badly", are available and widely used.
- In Esperanto, adverbs are not formed from adjectives but are made by adding '-e' directly to the word root. Thus, from bon are derived bone, "well", and 'bona', 'good'. See also: special Esperanto adverbs.
- Modern Standard Arabic forms adverbs by adding the indefinite accusative ending '-an' to the root. For example, kathiir-, "many", becomes kathiiran "much". However, Arabic often avoids adverbs by using a cognate accusative plus an adjective.
- Austronesian languages appear to form comparative adverbs by repeating the root (as in WikiWiki), similarly to the plural noun.
- Japanese forms adverbs from verbal adjectives by adding /ku/ (く) to the stem (e.g. haya- "rapid" hayai "quick/early", hayakatta "was quick", hayaku "quickly") and from nominal adjectives by placing /ni/ (に) after the adjective instead of the copula /na/ (な) or /no/ (の) (e.g. rippa "splendid", rippa ni "splendidly"). These derivations are quite productive but there are a few adjectives from which adverbs may not be derived.
- In Gaelic, an adverbial form is made by preceding the adjective with the preposition go (Irish) or gu (Scottish Gaelic), meaning 'until'.
- In Modern Greek, an adverb is most commonly made by adding the endings <-α> and/or <-ως> to the root of an adjective. Often, the adverbs formed from a common root using each of these endings have slightly different meanings.
