almost
short — suddenly / off target
shortly — soon
wide — fully / off target
widely — to a large extent
EXERCISE 3
Underline the correct form of the adverb:
1 Seeing the lynx, the friends could hardly/hard believe their eyes – they thought they would never meet her again.
2 They’d kept looking at her widely/wide-eyed until Kit jumped up and gave her a hug.
3 Everyone felt more relaxed after that and the talk flowed freely/free.
4 The lynx tried to explain where she had been and, lastly/last, she claimed to have found the way to the laboratory.
5 The dogs near/nearly believed the lynx as she was speaking very convincingly.
6 Shortly/short after her story the friends decided to rely on the lynx and followed her to the laboratory.
7 Surprisingly, the tunnel leading to the laboratory was nearly/near the place where they were.
8 It went deep/deeply down under the mountain and seemed to be very long and rather narrow.
9 The dogs had to try very hard/hardly to crawl through the tunnel.
10 It was only the kitten who did it quite easily/easy and very fast/fastly.
WORD ORDER OF ADVERBS
Adverbs usually go after verbs but before adjectives, other adverbs and participles. They can be used in front, mid or end position in a sentence. The position of adverbs in the sentence depends on what type of adverb it is. Remember – never place an adverb between a verb and its object:
The lynx carefully looked around and followed the dogs slowly.
Adverbs of manner go before the main verb, after the auxiliary verb or at the end of a sentence:
Kit easily went through the tunnel. He was eagerly waiting for the dogs when he heard a noise and mewed loudly.
Mid-position gives less emphasis to the adverb while end-position gives more emphasis to it.
Adverbs of manner not ending in —ly (like well, hard, and fast) can only be used in the end position: Hearing him mew, the dogs crawled fast.
ADVERBS OF FREQUENCY
Adverbs of definite frequency include words like daily, weekly, every year, last week, etc. These can go in the front-position or end-position (more common): The lynx told them the tunnel had appeared last month.
The single-word adverbs of frequency cannot go in the front-position.
Adverbs of indefinite frequency include words like often, usually, frequently, occasionally, sometimes, rarely, always, never, finally, eventually, and soon. Always and never go in the mid-position, before the verb: She never went there alone. The others can go in various positions: Occasionally she heard some noises coming from that place. She occasionally heard some noises coming from that place. She heard some noises coming from that place occasionally.
Adverbs of place (downstairs, outside, nearby, south/southward, towards, backwards, and everywhere) usually go in end-position or mid-position immediately after the verb:
Once the lynx saw the glass shatter and the pieces fly everywhere.
When there is more than one adverb in the sentence, their usual order is manner – place – time.
She observed the tunnel carefully from the tree every night.
When there is a verb of movement such as go, come or leave in the sentence, then the adverbs come in the following order:
place – manner – time: Once the lynx saw a scientist with a red dog rush to the tunnel suddenly at midnight.
Adverbs of time usually go at the end of the sentence, however, they can go in the front position to emphasise the time. When there is more than one time adverb, we usually put the more specific ones before the more general ones (time – day – date – year).
Kudjo was born at 5 am on Monday, January 28, 2015.
CONNECTING AND COMMENTING ADVERBS
Connecting adverbs show the relationship between events or ideas: however, anyway, then, next, similarly, additionally, furthermore, otherwise, etc.
Commenting adverbs show us the speaker’s attitude or opinion about the sentence: fortunately, surprisingly, stupidly, personally, honestly, etc.
Both of these usually go in any position but the front-position is the most common: The lynx was sure that the red dog was Kudjo. Honestly, not everybody believed her. However, Kit found Kudjo’s collar nearby.
ADVERBS OF CERTAINTY
These are adverbs like definitely, certainly, clearly, obviously, probably, maybe, and perhaps.
Maybe and perhaps usually go in the front-position: Perhaps, Kudjo is still in the laboratory.
Other adverbs of certainty usually go in the mid-position – before the verb, except in the case of the verb «to be,» when they are placed afterwards. The dogs should definitely get there to check it.
EXERCISE 4
Put each adverb in the right position in the sentence. Occasionally, more than one correct answer is possible:
1 Luna didn’t want to follow the lynx, but she couldn’t imagine Kit being without her. (frankly, anywhere, in the tunnel)
2 the
