Adverbs in English. The use of adverbs in English

Even those who claim that English is complicated can not disagree that adverbs in English are incredibly easy to understand. They are built simply, and there are very few exceptions to the rules.

What is an adverb?

You can not begin to explain the construction of adverbs without understanding what it is all about. We, Russian-speaking people, can easily learn to use this part of the speech primarily because in Russian there are already similar words that are built on the same principle.

If you refer to the Russian dialect, it means a sign of the action of the object, its quality and state. It answers the following questions: how? when? why? how? where? Where? how long? Adverb can refer to the adjective and even to another dialect, describing their attributes. In a word, this part of the speech is very capacious, without it the Russian language would be significantly impoverished.

English dialects

The use of adverbs is not a very difficult task, because we are coping well with it in our native speech. Adverbs in English do not differ radically from the Russian "fellow", so their assimilation is very accessible and does not require much strain.

All adverbs in English are divided into three main groups, namely: simple (consisting of one word, which you just need to learn, like any other English), complex and derivative. Let us consider them in more detail.

Types of Adverbs in English

• Simple adverbs, which are represented in one word, and they do not need to add any endings and suffixes, for example: often, now, never .
• Derived adverbs, or adverbs, formed by adding a suffix or ending. Such suffixes are: ly, ward (s), like . For example, cold + ly - coldly - cold, slow + ly - slowly - slowly. Examples of using other suffixes are the following: backwards-back, clockwise-clockwise.
• Complex adverbs, consisting of two words, which are written either separately or together. For example, sometimes - sometimes, everywhere-everywhere, everyone-everyone, forever, forever.

Having studied the table, you will understand that nothing is easier than adverbs in English! The table is presented below.

Exceptions

Words that strongly resemble adverbs still exist in English. However, there are not so many of them, and it is not difficult to remember them.

For example, the word "almost" is very similar to an adverb, although in fact it means "hardly" in translation, while the word hard is a simple adverb and translated as "diligently".

There are also a number of words that look quite like adjectives, in fact they are adverbs. Among these words are: friendly-friendly, silly-stupid, lovely-cute, olderly-elderly.

There is a quite natural question: how not to get confused and not to start using an adverb in your speech instead of an adjective and vice versa?

In fact, everything is very simple: you just need not forget that in English everything is very clear, and every word has its place in the sentence. If the word that causes doubt is in front of a noun, it is an adjective, if it is before a verb, then it is an adverb. For a visual understanding, we give examples:

They are so freindly people! - They are such friendly people! In this case, a noun is described, so friendly is an adjective.

He is driving very quickly - He drives very quickly. In this example, quickly characterizes the verb, being, in turn, an adverb.

Adverb as a circumstance

Adverbs can be subdivided not only by their structure, but also by the kind of circumstance by which they are expressed.

• Temporary adverbs express temporal characteristics, for example: now - now, now, seldom-rarely. Adverbs of the time in English are responsible for the time indicators and are a very important part of speech.
• Adverbs pointing to the location: behind - behind, there - there, here - here.
• Adverbs, describing how this or that action takes place: loadly - loudly, sadly - sadly, quietly - quietly.
• Adverbs characterizing the number and degree: little - little, quite - quite.

Without such words, the speech would look miserable and meager, but, fortunately, they exist and very adorn the English language!

The coincidence of adverbs and adjectives

Very often adverbs are completely similar to adjectives, differing only in their place in the sentence, which helps to determine what is in this case is in front of us.

For example, cheap - is both an adjective ("cheap"), and an adverb ("cheap").

Consider the following examples:

• This car was very cheap. - This car was very cheap. In this case cheap refers to a noun, respectively, being an adjective.
• I have eaten very cheap - I ate very cheap. In this sentence, cheap characterizes the action and is an adverb.

Compare Adverbs

It turns out that English dialects can also be compared, as well as adjectives.

The principle of action is the same, namely: there are the same two degrees of comparison - comparative and excellent, which are formed in exactly the same way as in the case of adjectives. Is not this a gift?

• A comparative degree can be obtained by adding to the adverb the ending -er in the case that the word is prime. For example, hard + -er-harder . And of course, an example of use in the sentence: You should study harder and hard to learn French. "To learn French, you should study harder and harder. If the adverb is long, then more is added. For example: You look more happily than yesterday. "You look happier than yesterday."
• An excellent degree is formed by analogy with the same degree as in adjectives, namely by adding the ending -est for short words and most for long ones. For example: he has run the fastest - He ran faster. Just do not forget about the definite article the ! Its presence is necessary before an excellent degree of comparison.
• However, even here there are exceptions. Let's consider them in the form of a table:

As can be seen from the table, all exceptions almost exactly repeat the exceptions of the degrees of comparison of adjectives.

Adverbs in English can and should be memorized and used to better assimilate them.

Practice? Yes, it's just necessary! In order, compile the degrees of comparison for the following adverbs:

1. Slowly;
2. Easily;
3. The;
4. Little;
5. Fast.

Sure, you did it perfectly. Congratulations! The use of adverbs in English should no longer cause difficulties, with which you can be congratulated!