Adverbs Expression and Examples, How, How Much, Where, How Often, When
In this lesson, we will learn the types and definitions of adverbs and reinforce them with examples. There are many different types of adverbs in the English language and they all have their own rules and exceptions. However, manner adverbs, frequency adverbs, time adverbs, degree adverbs and place adverbs are the most commonly used.
Let’s learn more about these types of adverbs and explain them with examples. In order to avoid complexity, if any situation is not common or important, we often need to look at the rules rather than address it.
Table of Contents
Adverbs of Time
Time adverbs describe how long and when an action occurred. These are widely used in English and their placement in the sentence is quite clear. Their positions are generally at the end of the sentence. In most cases, the time frame is at the end of the sentence. For example:
- I have been cycling for 5 years, but I have been going to school by bike since last December.
- John arrived last week, in March 2020.
As you can see, this rule works in adverbs that answer the question “When” or “How long”.
In some cases, time adverbs may appear at the beginning of the sentence. A time frame can also be placed at the beginning of the sentence if the speaker wants to emphasize when the action is taking place. For example;
- I went to the doctor for an annual check up last month and today my stomach hurts.
The speaker emphasizes the sequence of events (often unfortunate) using this sequence. If a person wants to describe that event in a simple way, he can say:
- I went to the doctor for annual checks the last day, so I won’t have to go again another the year.
If there is more than one time frame in a sentence, “How long?” The adverb answering the question is usually “When?” comes before the adverb answering the question. For example;
- I have traveled for the past 2 months.
Adverbs of Manner
Manner adverbs tell us how something happened. There are many words in this group, including those created by adding the –ly tag to an adjective. For example, “nicely” is an adverb derived from the adjective “nice”. The following two sentences are similar in meaning, but the first is an adjective, while the second is an adverbs derived from that adjective.
- He has a nice voice.
- He sings nicely.
Sometimes adverbs precede the verb. For example, many manner adverbs such as carelessly, slowly or carefully are used before the verb.
- He slowly opened the door and reluctantly looked his friend.
- The cat quickly ate the food.
In some cases, manner adverbs come immediately after an intransitive verb. A case adverb used with an intransitive verb (that is an object that does not take objects) can come immediately after that verb. If there is a phrase consisting of preposition and name, it comes after the adverbs. For example;
- Jesica walks carefully along the road.
Adverbs of Frequency
Frequency adverbs such as weekly, daily, quarterly or annually tell the listener how often an action takes place. Sometimes frequency adverbs come before the main verb and after the auxiliary verb. If there is only one verb in the sentence, the adverb is written right after that. If there is an auxiliary verb, the adverb comes after the auxiliary verbs and before the main verb. For example;
- Timmy always writes at day. (There is only one verb here, so “writes,” so the adverb comes first.)
- They should always get up early in the morning. (The adverb is written after the auxiliary verb “should” and before the verb “get up”.)
Frequency adverbs such as twice a week, every day, or each year can be at the beginning of a sentence if the speaker wants to emphasize how often something happens. For example;
- Every day Angelina comes to work late.
- Twice a week Tim runs 25 kilometers.
Adverbs of Place
Location adverbs inform the speaker about the location where an action occurred. “Where did an action take place?” This question can only be asked to verbs, as they answer the question. Place adverbs such as around, outside, here, nearby, there and everywhere are at the end of the sentence. This adverb comes after the main verb or the object of the main verb. For example;
- The students like to play outside.
- They are planning a vacation nearby.
“Here” and “There” are sometimes at the beginning of the sentence. If there is an exclamation, the order of the sentence following that exclamation is reversed.
Adverbs of Degree
Degree adverbs like very, too, extremely or enough give us information about the density of something. These adverbs usually precede the adjective, adverb or verb they replace. But there are some exceptions to this. Unlike place adverbs, such adverb replace adjective and adverb as well as verb. For example;
- I totally agree with Tom!
- Tomas really want a new computer.
How
The question sentence ‘how’ is always used at the very beginning of the sentence. For example;
- How were you yesterday?
- How did you find my garden?
- How do you go to the cinema?
The word ‘how’ question sometimes combines different words with different meanings.
For example; long, much, far, often, fast, etc.
Advverbs – How Words List;
- Secretly
- Fast
- Well
- Quickly
- Easily
- Slowly
- Lowly
- Accidentally
- Weetly
- Emotely
- Badly
- Carefully
- Closely
- Quietly
- Specifically
- Cheerfully
- Strongly
- Beautifully
- Worriedly
- Wishfully
- Grimly
- Eagerly
How Long
This question expression is used to ask how long an event lasts.
For example;
- How long does it take to get from Paris to Amsterdam?
- How long have you worked in this business?
- How many classes do you study during the day?
How Far
This question is also used to ask the distance of an event.
For example;
- How far is it from New York to London?
- How far did you go last year?
- How far can you walk in 5 hours?
- What is the distance between home and school?
In addition, different questions can be formed by bringing different types of words alongside how question statement.
For example;
- How fast
- How fast does a cat run?
- How tall
- How tall is Harry?
- How heavy
- How much does this apple and orange weigh?
How Much
Used with uncountable nouns, how much means ‘how much’. The sentence structure is as follows;
How much + Uncountable noun + Auxiliary Verb + Subject + Verb + Complement
In English, bread, money, fruit, furniture, rice, corn, oil, milk, tea, coffee, soup, paper, cheese, snow, rain are some of the uncountable nouns. Nouns that cannot be expressed in numbers are defined as uncountable.
For example;
- How much water is needed throughout the day?
- How much is this pen?
- How much tea is in the kitchen?
- How much oil does Paris need?
- How much milk do you want?
- How much corn is in the glass?
Adverbs – How Much Vocabulary List
- Fully
- Almost
- Rather
- Extremely
- Entirely
- Too
- Fairly
- Enormously
- Very
- Just
- Barely
- Enough
- Deeply
- Completely
For Detailed Adverbs List;
Where
Where is used after relative clause words. The word must specify a place. Sometimes, even if a country or city is mentioned in a sentence, it does not specify a place.
For example;
- She is going to move to Paris where she is going to work.
- She is going to move to Paris, which is the capital city of France.
When we look at the examples given above, when creating relative clause, we used ‘where’ after Paris in the first sentence and ‘which’ after Paris in the second sentence.
- She is going to move to Paris where she is going to work.
- In this example, ’Paris’ refers to the place.
- She is going to move to Paris, which is the capital city of France.
In this example, “London does not specify a place, although it is a city name.
How Often
The question “How often” is used to ask how often an action is in English.
For example;
- How often do you download games to your phone?
- How often do you upload photos to your Instagram account?
- How often do they use the ball?
- How often does David go to the movies?
- How often do you watch television?
Adverbs – How Often Vocabulary List
- Never
- Sometimes
- Often
- Usually
- Generally
- Occasionally
- Seldom
- Rarely
- Normally
- Frequently
- Hardly ever
- Always
When
The “when” linker connects two sentences and establishes a relationship between them. It can be used at the beginning of a sentence or between two sentences. The “When” connector can also be used at various times. The important thing is that there is a coherence between the two sentences connected to each other. ’Let us examine the use of the “When” connector at various times and the meaning it adds to sentences;
- I got my coat when I got out of the car.
- I stayed at the pension when I went on holiday.
- When I get home, I will take a shower.
Adverbs When Vocabulary List
- Last year
- Last month
- Today
- Tomorrow
- Last week
- Later
- Soon
- Now
- Yesterday
- Tonight
- Already
- Then
