Using adverbs to modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs

When adverbs modify verbs (or verbals), they nearly always answer one of these questions:

Example sentence: When? [We returned early.] Example sentence: Where? [The car rolled backward.] Example sentence: How? [The clarinetist played the opening notes smoothly.] Example sentence: How often? [She runs regularly.] Example sentence: To what degree? [Stock prices rose dramatically.]

Sometimes phrases or clauses are used as adverbs. They answer questions like those above, as well as these:

Example sentence: Why? [The test tube exploded because the lab assistant was careless.] Example sentence: Under what conditions? [On cloudy nights, the observatory was of no use.]

When adverbs modify adjectives or other adverbs, they usually qualify or intensify the meaning of the word they modify.

Example sentence: We found the exam extremely difficult.

Example sentence: Adrian did not feel good, but she made her presentation anyway.

Be careful not to use adjectives in place of adverbs, even if you are accustomed to hearing such usage in casual or nonstandard speech.

Example sentence with editing. Original sentence: The manager must see that the office runs smooth and efficient. Revised sentence: The manager must see that the office runs smoothly and efficiently.

Adverbs (smoothly, efficiently) must be used to modify the verb runs.

Example sentence with editing. Original sentence: The chance of recovering any property lost in the fire looks real slim. Revised sentence: The chance of recovering any property lost in the fire looks really slim.

Only an adverb (really) can be used to modify an adjective (slim).

Exercise: Adjectives and adverbs 1

Exercise: Adjectives and adverbs 2

Exercise: Adjectives and adverbs 3

verb A word that expresses action (jump, think) or being (is, was, seems). A sentence's verb is composed of a main verb possibly preceded by one or more helping verbs.

verbal A verb form that functions as a noun or an adjective, not as the main verb of a clause. Verbals include infinitives (to sing), present participles (singing), and past participles (sung).

adjective A word that modifies or describes a noun or pronoun: lame, old, rare, beautiful; also the articles a, an, the.