Series 1 Parts of Speech Episode 4 - Adverbs!

In this episode we will explore why the simple definition of an adverb (a word that modifies a verb) is woefully inadequate. Adverbs actually modify almost any word that is not a noun and can even modify an entire sentence! While often confusing, adverbs have a unique place in English grammar because they can bring insight and nuance when used correctly.  

Transcript

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Hi friends, welcome back to the wisdom and wonder of words. It's been a while since I've recorded because I've been in the midst of a transition in jobs and moving out of state. So I'm excited to get back to this and jump back into our first series about the parts of speech. This is episode four, all about adverbs. Adverbs are actually the most confusing part of speech in English. They modify, well, pretty much everything except nouns. An adverb modifies a verb is probably the definition you heard as a kid. Okay, fine, that's actually true. Things like she ran quickly, he spoke softly. They arrived late. Quickly, softly, and late are all adverbs modifying verbs. Simple enough. But then you get sentences like these. She is very tall. Very is an adverb modifying an adjective tall. He ran quite quickly. Quite is an adverb modifying another adverb quickly. Unfortunately it rained. Unfortunately is an adverb modifying the entire sentence. So adverbs don't just modify verbs, they modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, and entire sentences. They really need a better name. A better definition for adverb is it's a word that modifies a verb, an adjective, another adverb, or an entire sentence, and it typically answers questions like how, when, where, why, and to what extent? Honestly, adverbs are the catch-all category. If a word doesn't fit anywhere else, we call it an adverb and move on. English is sometimes lazy. Other times it works too hard and it creates more difficulty for itself. Did you know there are different kinds of adverbs? Let's start with adverbs of manner. These answer the question how? How did she run? Quickly, slowly, gracefully, awkwardly? Most adverbs of manner are formed by adding LY to an adjective. Quick becomes quickly, slow becomes slowly, careful becomes carefully, and happy becomes happily. This is the pattern everyone knows. If it ends in LY, it's probably an adverb. But of course there's a but. So frustrating that not all words ending in LY are adverbs. Friendly is an adjective, like a friendly person. Lovely is an adjective, a lovely day. Ugly is an adjective, an ugly sweater. Costly is an adjective, like a costly mistake. And not all adverbs end in LY. Fast is an adverb as in she runs fast. Hard is an adverb. He works hard. Late is an adverb. They arrived late. Well is an adverb. She sings well. So the L Y rule is helpful, but not absolute. Again, you have to memorize. And then there's the odd word out hardly, which doesn't mean in a hard manner, it means barely or scarcely. Some adverbs in English don't even pretend to be logical. With the word hardly, let me give you a couple examples. I can hardly see means I can barely see, not I can see in a hard way. He hardly works means he barely works, not he works in a hard manner. If you want to say someone works in a hard manner, you say he works hard, using the adverb hard without ly. English is full of these little traps. Let's talk about adverbs of time. These answer the question when? Words such as now, then, soon, later, yesterday, today, tomorrow, always, never, often, sometimes rarely. I'll call you later. Later. She always arrives on time. The word always. They never complain. Never. These are pretty straightforward. They tell you when something happens. But placement matters with adverbs of time. She always is late, sounds wrong. She is always late, sounds right. Always she is late, sounds archaic or poetic. With adverbs of frequency, you can think of it along a spectrum. If you think of an arrow facing both directions and a line in between, and little tick marks along that spectrum, you can start with 0% and go all the way up to 100% in your mind. On the left hand side where you have 0%, you would start with the word never. Next on the spectrum would be seldom, rarely, occasionally, sometimes. Now you're about halfway through that spectrum. Moving to the right often, usually, and always when you're at a hundred percent. So you can visualize a spectrum going from zero percent at never all the way up to always with a hundred percent. It indicates the degree of frequency. Adverbs of frequency follow certain patterns. For example, they come after the verb to be. She is always late. They come before other verbs. She always arrives late. Then they come after auxiliary verbs. She has always been late. Native speakers do this automatically. Non native speakers have to memorize the patterns. Please pay attention to the fact that there are rules for frequency adverbs and they're very specific. I always drink coffee always comes before the main verb. I am always tired. It comes after the verb to be. I have always liked you between the auxiliary and main verb. But you can move them to the beginning or end of a sentence for emphasis. For example, always I drink coffee in the morning or I drink coffee always. This sounds a bit odd, but it is grammatically correct. Then we can move on to adverbs of place. These answer the question where? Here, there, everywhere, nowhere, anywhere, somewhere outside inside, upstairs, downstairs, abroad. I looked everywhere. She went upstairs. They traveled abroad. Here and there are interesting because they invert sentence structure. Normally you would say the book is here, but you can also say here is the book. Normally you would say the problem lies there, but you can invert it and say there lies the problem. This particular inversion is optional and slightly formal or emphatic. Now we can move on to adverbs of degree or intensity. These answer the question to what extent or how much? Words like very, quite, rather, to, extremely, incredibly, absolutely, completely, totally, somewhat fairly. Example sentences she is very tall. He's quite smart. That's too expensive. These intensify or diminish the word that they're modifying. Very the word very so overused in the English language. Very good means excellent. Very bad means terrible. Very big means huge. Very small means tiny. Strong writers replace very plus an adjective with a single stronger adjective. To TO versus very is a common confusion. Very means to a high degree. To TO means excessively or more than desirable. This coffee is very hot. It's hot, but that might be fine. This coffee is too hot, meaning I it's so hot I can't drink it. She's very smart. This is often considered a compliment. But if you say she's too smart, it might imply she's overqualified or even intimidating. Earlier I mentioned that there are adverbs that modify entire sentences. These can also be called conjunctive adverbs. They modify entire sentences and they show relationships between ideas. However, therefore, furthermore, moreover, nevertheless, consequently, meanwhile, otherwise instead. I wanted to go, however, it rained. She studied hard, therefore she passed. He's tired, nevertheless, he'll finish. These are incredibly useful for connecting ideas and showing logical relationships. Sentence adverbs usually need punctuation. However, comma, it rained. The comma comes after however. If you change the sentence around, you can say it rained, comma, however. You can also say it rained, semicolon, however, comma, we went anyway. Getting this punctuation wrong is one of the most common errors in academic writing. At this point, we've already discussed five different types of adverbs. We have two more to go. The next one up is adverbs of viewpoint. They express the speaker's attitude or perspective. These words include fortunately, unfortunately, surprisingly, honestly, frankly, obviously, clearly, apparently, actually. Example sentences fortunately, comma, no one was hurt. Honestly, comma, I don't care. Obviously, comma, this is wrong. These tell you how the speaker feels about what they're saying. The word hopefully is controversial. Prescriptive grammarians argue that hopefully comma it will rain is wrong, because hopefully should only mean in a hopeful manner. She waited hopefully in a hopeful manner, that's correct. Hopefully it will rain, expressing hope that it will rain. Supposedly that's incorrect. But as we've said in previous episodes, language changes, it's dynamic, and it never stays the same. Hopefully, as a sentence adverb has been common for decades. Most modern style guides now accept it. A descriptivist grammarian, their position would be that if native speakers consistently use it this way and everyone understands it, it's correct. And as we said many times before, we know that language shapes the world and the world shapes language. And now we come to the last main part of adverbs Adverbs of comparison. These are adverbs that are comparative and superlative, sort of like we just did with the last episode in adjectives. Fast becomes faster, becomes fastest. Soon becomes sooner, becomes soonest. Hard becomes harder, becomes hardest. But for most adverbs ending in ly, you use more or most. Quickly becomes more quickly, becomes most quickly. Carefully becomes more carefully, becomes most carefully. Efficiently becomes more efficiently, becomes most efficiently. And of course, as anything else in English, there are irregular forms. Well becomes better, becomes best. Badly becomes worse, becomes worst. She sings well becomes she sings better than him, becomes she sings best of all. Using the word badly, he performed badly, he performed worse than expected because he performed worst of everyone. There are some adverbs that are considered quote unquote flat F L A T Flat Adverbs. Adverbs that look identical to adjectives. These are very confusing, obviously. The following words are included under this category fast, hard, late, early, high, low, near, far, straight, and wrong. They're called flat because they do not have the LY ending. Some examples she's a fast runner. Fast in that sentence is an adjective. But if you say she runs fast, that's an adverb because it's fast is describing how she runs. He's a hard worker. In that case, hard is an adjective. But if you say he works hard, hard is an adverb, talking about how he works. To make matters even more confusing, some adjectives have both flat and LY adverb forms, but with different meanings. Here are a couple examples late and lately. He arrived late, meaning recently in time. But if you say I haven't seen him lately, the reference is recently in the recent past. Another example near and nearly. If I say come near, that means close in distance. But if you say I nearly fell, it means almost fell. Hard and hardly another example. She works hard, meaning she works with effort. But if you change it and say she hardly works, it means barely or scarcely. These are completely different meanings, not just variations of the same word. At this point I hope everyone is hanging in there. We're getting close to the end of our discussion about adverbs. Let's move on to double negatives, which are grammatically fascinating. In standard English, double negatives are considered incorrect because they cancel each other out if you're using logic. I don't have nothing technically means I have something because the two negatives cancel each other out. In standard English you would say I don't have anything or I have nothing. But in most English dialects and in many world languages, double negatives are standard and intensify the negation rather than canceling it. In African American vernacular English, in Spanish, French, Russian, and countless others, double negatives are grammatically correct and make the statement more emphatic. I don't know nothing means I really don't know anything. The rule against double negatives in standard English is arbitrary. It's based on Latin logic that two negatives make a positive. But English isn't Latin. It's very similar to the rule from Latin where you cannot split an infinitive. Prescriptive grammar enforces one dialect's rules over others, not because of logic, but because of prestige and power. Language often reflects a hierarchy of social status. Previously I mentioned the importance of adverb placement, but it's surprisingly flexible in English. I love this example because it drives the point home about the placement of an adverb in a sentence. Consider the sentence I only ate pizza yesterday. Depending on where you put the word only, the meaning changes. Only I ate pizza yesterday, meaning no one else ate pizza. I only ate pizza yesterday means I did nothing but eat pizza. I ate only pizza yesterday means I ate nothing but pizza. And I ate pizza only yesterday means I ate pizza on no day except yesterday. Same words, different meanings based on the placement of the word only in the sentence. Technically the word only should go right before the word it modifies, but in casual speech people often Put the word only before the verb regardless. I only ate pizza when they mean I ate only pizza. Everyone understands from context, so the ambiguity rarely causes problems, but it drives grammar sticklers crazy. One of the most common adverb mistakes is the use of good and well, but they mean slightly different things. I feel good often means I'm in a good mood. I feel well often means I'm healthy, not sick. The common mistake is using good as an adverb. She sings good. That's actually wrong in standard English. She sings well is correct. But she sings good is common in casual speech and in certain dialects. Once again, prescriptive grammar enforces standard English norms, but descriptively people say it all the time. Let's talk about real versus really, another common confusion. Real is an adjective. Really is an adverb. That's a real diamond. Real in that sentence is an adjective. That's really expensive. That's an adverb in the sentence. But in casual speech, people use real as an adverb. That's real expensive. I'm real tired. This is non standard but incredibly common, especially in American English. Now let's talk about why writers are often told to avoid adverbs. The argument is that adverbs are often crutches for weak verbs. He walked quickly is weaker than he hurried or he rushed. She spoke softly is weaker than she whispered or she murmured. Adverbs can also be redundant. The sentence she shouted loudly. It's redundant because shouting is inherently loud. He whispered quietly. Whispering is already indicative of something being quiet. They completely finished. Good writing eliminates redundant adverbs and chooses strong verbs that don't need modification. But adverbs aren't evil, they're tools. Sometimes you need them. She almost finished. Almost is essential to the meaning. He barely survived, barely adds crucial information. They definitely agreed, definitely provides emphasis. The rule isn't never to use adverbs, it's use adverbs intentionally, not lazily. We can also talk about adverbs in dialogue tags, which is where new writers get into trouble. I hate you, she said angrily. The adverb angrily tells us how she said it, but if the dialogue is well written, we should already know that she's angry from the words themselves. I hate you, she said. The words I hate you already convey anger. The adverb is redundant. And as always, there's a but. Sometimes an adverb in a dialogue tag creates contrast or irony. I love you, he said sarcastically. Everything's fine, she said nervously. These work because the adverb contradicts or complicates the words that are spoken. So the lesson is use adverbs in dialogue tags sparingly and only when they add information that isn't already in the dialogue. We're almost there, friends, almost to the end. Let's talk about adverbial phrases and clauses, because adverbs don't have to be single words. An adverbial phrase is a group of words that functions as an adverb. She ran with great speed. With great speed modifies how she ran. He arrived in the morning. In the morning modifies when he arrived. They spoke in a whisper. In a whisper modifies how they spoke. An adverbial clause is a dependent clause that functions as an adverb. She left because she was tired. Because she was tired explains why she left. He'll call when he arrives. When he arrives explains when he will call. They laughed as if nothing had happened. As if nothing had happened is an adverbial clause explaining how. These are incredibly common in English. We use them constantly without realizing we're creating adverbial structures. I'll see you after the meeting. She cried because she was happy. He studied so that he would pass. All of those are adverbial phrases or clauses. So to summarize, adverbs are the modifiers that modify pretty much anything besides nouns. They tell us how, when, where, why, to what extent, and how often. They can modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, and entire sentences. They're easy to overuse and often unnecessary. But when used well, they add precision, nuance, and clarity. So finally, in quick review, what have we learned? Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, and entire sentences. Most adverbs end in LY, but not all of them. And not all words that end in LY are adverbs. They answer questions about manner, time, place, frequency, and degree. They have comparative and superlative forms. They can be single words, phrases, or clauses. They should be used intentionally and not as crutches for weak verbs. That's it for today's episode of The Wisdom and Wonder of Words. Next time we're tackling pronouns, tiny words with huge egos that replace nouns and cause endless confusion. Until then, keep noticing the adverbs around you. They're modifying everything, quietly doing their work in the background. I'm your host, Esther Tipton, and this has been The Wisdom and Wonder of Words.