How to Form Adverbs (An Overview)

Formation of adverbs

Continue reading for the comprehensive breakdown on how to form adverbs, the main types of adverbs and an FAQ on (you guessed it!) adverbs!

Main types of adverbs

• When did you arrive?

• The building where I work was built in 1922.

• I take the metro daily.

Consider how each of these sentences uses adverbs.

When is a question about time, (which makes it an adverb of time); but, importantly: it asks a question. Adverbs that ask questions we call interrogative adverbs (examples are where, why, how).

The second sentence includes “where“, though in this context it’s not to pose a question, and so it’s not used interrogatively. Instead, it’s modifying a verb (namely, “work”) and makes the relation to its antecedent (“the building”) clear. These types of adverbs are known as relative adverb; as they help relate elements within a sentence.

The third sentence shows a simple adverb, which modifies a verb, adjective or another adverb. Altogether, this makes 3 main classes of adverbs: interrogative, relative and simple.

Adverbs vs. adjectives

What’s tricky about certain adverbs is that they can look identical to their adjective counterparts. In other words, some words can function in sentences as both an adjective or an adverb—but not at the same time. This is why things can get confusing, so here’s how we can easily tell them apart:

• Adjective: I play loud music in my apartment.

• Adverb: Don’t talk so loud.

In the first sentence, ‘loud’ is modifying the word ‘music’, which is a noun. Since adjectives only modify nouns, we can conclude that ‘loud’ is functioning as an adjective.

From the second sentence, ‘loud’ is modifying the verb, ‘talk’. Because we know adverbs modify verbs, we can to that extent confirm that ‘loud’ is working as an adverb.

So, to quickly identify whether a word is an adjective or adverb, locate the word or phrase it modifies and its word class.

How to form adverbs

Some adverbs (like adjectives) use various forms to show degrees of comparison, and we also compare them the same way we do adjectives.

In other words, to create their comparative and superlative forms, attach –er and –est (respectively).

simple	comparative	superlative
fast	faster	fastest
hard	harder	hardest
soon	sooner	soonest
long	longer	longest

Adverbs that end in –ly use more before to become a comparative, and most as a superlative.

simple	comparative	superlative
quietly	more quietly	most quietly
slowly	more slowly	most slowly
seriously	more seriously	most seriously
skillfully	more skilllfully	most skillfully

Note: not all adverbs have comparative and superlative forms since some are not subject to comparisons (by extent or degree). Examples are there, when, then, now, where.

Some adverbs are irregular and use their own forms entirely:

simple	comparative	superlative
ill or badly	worse	worst
well	better	best
much	more	most
little	less	least
near	nearer	nearest
far	farther/further	farthest/furthest
late	later	last

Most adverbs of manner (which answers how, or in what way) are formed from adjectives by adding –ly to the end.

adjective	adverb
wise	wisely
clever	cleverly
kind	kindly
beautiful	beautifully

For adverbs that end in ‘-y’ followed by a consonant, switch the ‘-y‘ to ‘-i‘ and add ‘-ly‘.

adjective	adverb
happy	happily
easy	easily
heavy	heavily
ready	readily

Some are comprised of a noun and a qualifying adjective:

• sometimes
• meanwhile
• meantime
• yesterday
• midway
• otherwise

Some adverbs are compounds of ‘on’ (weakened to ‘a’) and a noun:

• asleep
• ahead
• away
• aboard
• afoot

Likewise, other adverbs comprise of prepositions (‘to’) and a noun (e.g., ‘today’, ‘tomorrow’, ‘besides’, ‘overboard’). Some may be combinations of a preposition and adjective (e.g., abroad, along, aloud, anew, behind, below, beyond).

Finally, there are even compounds of prepositions + adverbs: within, without, before, beneath.

FAQ: adverbs

1. What’s an adverb?

Adverbs are words that modify or describe other adverbs, verbs, adjectives, entire sentences or occasionally, phrases within a sentence.

2. What are the main types of adverbs?

The 3 main classes of adverbs are relative, simple and interrogative. The main subtypes include some of the following:

1. Adverbs of manner.
2. Adverbs of place.
3. Adverbs of time.
4. Adverbs of frequency.
5. Adverbs of purpose.
6. Adverbs of degree.

Learn the other parts of speech

• What Are Pronouns? (First, Second, and Third)
• Types of Verbs (Modal, Stative, Infinitives and Transitives)
• Types of Adjectives (Explained, with Examples)
• Parts of Speech (Nouns, Adjectives, Prepositions)
• When to Use ‘A’ or ‘An’ (What’s an Article?)
• Types of Nouns (Common, Proper, Abstract, and Concrete)

Sources

1. High School Grammar and Composition, P.C. Wren.