Grammaire

Introduction

 

Nouns and verbs make straightforward statements about what things are and what they do. However, the world is not black and white – there are infinite details that need to be expressed. Modifiers give additional information about nouns, pronouns, verbs, and themselves to make those things more definite. There are two types of modifiers: adjectives and adverbs. Students have just learned that adjectives modify nouns and pronouns. Another type of describing word or modifier is the adverb.

1. Definition

§  Adverbs add something more to the meaning of the verb. §  Adverbs = ads to verb "adds to the meaning of a verb (or an adjective or another adverb) by telling what, when, where, why, how ……"

 

         Adverb is a word or group of words used commonly to modify "describe, qualify, restrict or limit" verbs, but it can also modify an adjectives, another adverb or a phrase in a sentence. They are used to qualify any content word except a noun or pronoun in a sentence. Adverbs add to the meaning of a verb "or an adjective or another adverb" often by telling or answering the questions of: when, how, where, and to what extent a person or object does an action.  Adverbs are a bit more flexible than adjectives because single-word and multiple-word adverb phrases can generally be placed either before or after the words they modify. Simply, adverbs need to be placed where the reader can clearly grasp the meaning you intend. See the sentences below:

·        Today we must complete the project. "when –adverb of time"

·        Mitch approached the intersection cautiously. "approached how"

·        He seems especially competent. "how"

·        Did you see the schedule there? "Where"

·        The prosecutor did not question him further. "questioned him to what extent"

1. 1. Adverbs Modify Verbs

This sentence "she is cooking" tells you only that a person is doing an action. If an adverb is added, you will find out how she is cooking, where she is cooking, or when she is cooking. Compare the sentences below:

·        How is she cooking? She is cooking quickly.

·        Where is she cooking? She is cooking away.

·        When is she cooking? She is cooking now.

 

1. 2. Adverbs Modify Adjectives

In the following sentence, the noun sunset is described as beautiful. What part of speech is the word beautiful?

·        The campers saw a beautiful sunset. Here the word beautiful is an adjective modifying the noun sunset. If you want to tell how beautiful it was, you can add something in front of the adjective.

·        The visitors saw a very beautiful sunset.

·        The visitors saw a truly beautiful sunset.

When a word is added that expresses how beautiful the sunset was, or to what extent it was beautiful, that word is called an adverb. Thus very and truly are adverbs that are used to modify the adjective word beautiful.

Here are some of the words that can be used as adverbs in front of adjectives:" extremely, somewhat, a little, completely, really, tremendously, particularly, especially perfectly, unusually…………………………………..………"

 

1. 3. Adverbs Modify other Adverbs

Adverbs may also be used to modify other adverbs. See the sentence below:

·        The cat ate quickly the fish. Here the adverb quickly modifies the verb ate and shows how the cat ate the fish. By adding another adverb, we can find out how quickly the cat ate, as follows: How quickly did the cat eat the fish? The cat ate very quickly the fish.

 

2. Position of Adverbs

Adverbs have three main positions in the sentence. They are as follows:
§  Front position at the beginning of a sentence (before the subject). Examples: ·        Now we will study adverbs. ·        Yesterday, I met my friend.	§  Middle position (between the subject and the main verb). Examples: ·        We often study adverbs. ·        I usually have my breakfast outside home.	§  End position (after the verb or object). Examples: ·        We study adverbs carefully ·        I used to drive slowly.

 

3. Order of Adverbs

There is a basic order in which adverbs will appear when there is more than one. The royal order is as follows: adverbs of manner, adverbs of place, adverbs of frequency, adverbs of time and adverbs of purpose. Consider these sentences then notice the order of the adverbs in the previous sentences in the table below:

·        Ann studies enthusiastically in the class every day before midday to keep in grade.

·        Stephan goes impatiently into Algiers every week after dawn to get a transaction.

·        John revises carefully in his room every week morning to get good marks.

·        Marry lives interestingly in the countryside every summer in August to remember the family. 

 

 

 

 

 

The royal order of adverbs in a sentence.
1	2	3	4	5
Manner	Place	Frequency	Time	Purpose
enthusiastically	in the class	every day	before midday	to keep in grade
impatiently	into Algiers	every week	after dawn	to get a transaction.
carefully	in his room	every week	morning	to remember the …...

 

3. Adverb Phrase

The term “adverbial” refers to adverb phrases and all other expression types that function in the ways that adverb phrases do, namely, as modifiers of almost all parts of speech except nouns. As we noted for single adverbs (i.e., adverb phrases composed of just a head adverb), adverb phrases are relatively movable within a sentence, although the changes in position may be accompanied by changes in meaning. From a functional point of view, each adverb phrase must contain a head, which must be an adverb; this adverb may be modified by an intensifier or a degree adverb. See the examples below:

·        friendly (adverb alone)

·        quite reluctantly (adverb modified by intensifier)

·        extremely clumsily (adverb modified by degree adverb)

2. 1. Kinds of Adverbs

2. 1. 1. Adverbs of Manner

         These adverbs express the manner of an action and answer the question word how. In short, they are used to show how an action took place, is taking place or will take place. They usually occupy the end position of a clause, but they may come at the beginning of the clause in order to emphasize the idea or in the middle position of a clause when the clause contains no adverb of frequency. The following words are the most common adverbs of manner "quickly, slowly, kindly, bravely, happily, badly, fast, hard, easily, badly, hard, fast, well …………" See the examples below:

·        How is she writing the grammar lesson? She is writing the lesson carefully.

·        How is he doing the exercise? He is doing the exercise slowly.

·        We waited patiently for the football match to begin.

·        Quickly, I sold the fruits in the markets.

2. 1. 2. Adverbs of Place / Position

       They are called adverbs of location "adverb phrases and clauses of location". They are used to indicate the place of an action and characteristically answer the question word where. They tell us where something happens. In short, they are used to show where an action took place, is taking place or will take place. They most often occupy the end position of a clause, where they precede adverbs of time and adverbs of purpose. The most common adverbs of place are: "here, there, near, by, up, down, in, out, everywhere, nowhere, somewhere, anywhere, nowhere else ……………….." See the examples below:

·        Where is your watch? It's here.

·        Where is your mother? She has gone out.

·        I am going there tomorrow.

·        He left his car in the driveway last night.

·        I know the company where she works.

2. 1. 3.  Adverbs of Frequency

They tell us for how often an action took place, is taking place or will take place. Furthermore, they express the frequency of an action. They answer the question how often? In traditional grammar they are called Adverbs of Number, but in current English they are called Adverbs of Frequency. Some of them are: "usually, often, always, seldom, occasionally, rarely, never, ever, twice, often, every day, normally, frequently, hardly, scarcely, once a week, twice a week, and sometimes……....… etc." See the examples below:

·        I had never told false news all over my life.

·        They rarely talk to each other in the meeting.

·        They sometimes stay up all night.

·        He can never understand.

·        Have you ever ridden a plane?

2. 1. 4. Adverbs of Degree or Intensifiers

They tell us about the intensity or degree of an action, an adjective, or another adverb. They answer the question how much? How far? And to what extent? It is worth to mention that in current English they are called intensifiers because they have a heightening or lowering effect on the words they modify. Therefore, the word degree means the amount or level of something. The most common degree adverbs are: "almost, just, nearly, very, fairly, too, quite, enough, hardly, a lot, a bit, a great deal, really, totally, utterly, more, most, barely, absolutely, extremely, perfectly, most, much, hardly, very much, so such, of course, rather, ………..…………….……..etc." See the examples below:

·        She is too ill to go to school.

·        She is rich enough to purchase a plane.

·        The teacher is extremely right.

·        This solution is much the best.

2. 1. 5. Adverbs of Certainty

They are used to express how certain or sure we fell about an action or event. Some of them are as follows: "certainly, definitely, probably, undoubtly, surely…….…etc." See the examples below:

·        Surely, you are the best.

·        Probably we are going to visit the supermarket later on.

2. 1. 6. Adverbs of Time

Adverbs of time tell us when the action of the verb does or does not occur. These adverbs state the time of the job, action or events and for how long. In short, they are used to show when an action took place, is taking place or will take place. The most common time adverbs are: "today, yesterday, tomorrow, early, lately, the, once, one of these days, recently, by now, already, someday, still, now, soon, yet, then, later, all day, since, ago, back, before, nowadays, and point in time, afterwards, today, soon, immediately, then, eventually …………………..…etc." these adverbs are usually placed at the very beginning or at the very end on the clause, in front of position or in the end position. They indicate the time of an action and answer to the question when. See the examples below:

·        When will you do this work? I have done it already.

·        When did you buy this car? I bought it a week ago.

·        I worked all day for the exam.

·        Yesterday, i finished the last test.

·        Now, i am looking for a new job.

2. 7. Sentence Adverbs

An adverb that modifies a whole sentence, not only a constituent is called a sentence adverb. Some of them are "fortunately, luckily, surely, certainly……………….…etc." See the cases and examples below for more details:

a.      Adverbs like these are usually formed from adjectives by adding an Iy: fortunate + Iy (fortunately) ……………………………

b.     They are used to express an opinion or viewpoint:

·        Fortunately, the baby was saved.

·        Obviously, she is innocent.

c.      Sentence adverbs are placed at the beginning of a sentence. They are marked off from the sentence by a comma because they are not essential ingredients in a sentence.

·        Luckily, I had a close shave.

 

6. Degrees of Comparison

        Like adjectives, adverbs too have three degrees of comparison: positive, comparative and superlative. The comparative is formed by adding -er (more in longer ones) and the superlative by -est (most).

 

1.     1. Formation of comparatives and Superlatives

a.     Adverbs of one syllable take er in the comparative and est in the superlative:

·        Fast, faster, fastest

·        Hard, harder, hardest

·        High, higher, highest

b.     Adverbs of two or more syllables form their comparative or superlative form by putting more or most before them:

·        Slowly, more slowly, most slowly

·        Politely, more politely, most politely

·        Sweetly, more sweetly, most sweetly

c.        Irregular comparatives and superlatives forms

·        Well, better, best

·        Badly, worse, worst

·        Much, more, most

·        Little, less, least

·        Far, farther, farthest

·        Far, further, furthest

2.     Dangling Modifiers

Words, phrases, or clauses that begin a sentence and are set off by commas sometimes don’t clearly modify any word or group of words in a sentence. These are called dangling modifiers. All modifiers, words that add clarity, describe, or add detail to other words in a sentence, must be clearly and logically connected to their implied subjects, the grammatical subject of the clause nearest to the modifier. For example, in the following sentences we can easily connect the underlined modifiers with their implied subjects, which are underlined twice.  Examples:

·        Happy with his new laptop, the young boy skipped down the street.

·        Excited by the sunny day, we decided to go on a trip to Paris.

·        Before entering finale exams, my sister used to revise her lessons very well.

6. 1. Fixing Dangling Modifiers

In order to fix a dangling modifier, you need to revise your sentence so that the implied subject makes sense. You can do this by asking yourself “who is logically doing the action of the modifier”? See the table below for more details:

 

Original Sentence	Revised Sentence
In examining his argument closely, the point at which he went wrong can be seen.	Who is examining his argument? we In examining his argument closely, we can see the point at which he went wrong.
To network more effectively, Scientology is practiced by many actors.	Who is trying to network more effectively? actors To network more effectively, many actors practice Scientology.
Gentle and respectful, the visiting teacher was impressed with the children’s manners.	Who is gentle and respectful? the children Gentle and respectful, the children impressed the visiting teacher with their manners.
In my French class, attendance was stressed, taking off points for late arrivals and early departures.	Who stresses attendance? the teacher In my French class, the teacher stressed attendance, taking off points for late arrivals and early departures.

 

 

 

1.     Adverbs and Adjectives ……………………….Comparison

§  Adjectives and adverbs are words that speakers can use to modify –to describe or add meaning to-other words in a sentence. Adjectives modify nouns or pronouns. Examples: big, old, loud, tall, pretty …………………….    Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs and even whole clauses. Examples: really, quickly, well, especially …………………………………………………………   

§  Many adverbs are often made by adding ly to an adjective. If you are confused about the word check the dictionary.

§  An adjective is a modifier like adverbs, but it does not modify words other than nouns and it is not also used to express time, or place.

§  Adverbs and Adjectives are semantically very similar in that both modify another element, i.e. they describe a quality of another word: quick/ly, nice/ly, etc. As just mentioned, the main syntactic distinction is as expressed by the Adjective-Adverb Rule.

·        An adjective modifies a noun or pronoun;

·        An adverb modifies a verb and (a degree adverb) modifies an adjective or adverb.

§  Since an adjective modifies a noun, the quality it describes will be one appropriate to a noun, e.g. nationality/ethnicity (Algerian), size (big), age (young), color (red), material/personal description (wooden, human), or character trait (happy, fortunate).

§  Adverbs often modify actions and will then provide information typical of those, e.g. manner (fast, quickly), or duration (frequently, often), or speaker attitude (fortunately, actually), or place (there, abroad), or time (then, now, yesterday). As well, never, are also adverbs in that they usually modify the verb.

§  When adverbs modify adjectives or other adverbs, they are called degree adverbs (very, so, too). These degree adverbs have very little meaning (except some that can add flavor to the degree, such as exceedingly and amazingly) and it is hard to find synonyms or antonyms.

§  Words that are always adverbs. Some words can only be used as adverbs, never as adjectives. A list of these words follows. The only way to remember these words is to memorize them, and learn to recognize them in sentences. Some of them are (well, often, quite, surely, very, not, almost, never, always, so).

§  Words that may be adverbs or adjectives. A few words can be used as adverbs or adjectives. Three examples of such words are early, fast, and late. See the examples below.

·        1. The plane landed early. (adverb)

·        1. It was an early plane. (adjective)

·        2. John writes fast. (adverb)

·        2. John is a fast writer. (adjective)

·        3. A teacher is late. (adverb)

·        3. There is a late teacher. (adjective)

§  Students must choose the correct modifier. The word good is an adjective and the word well is almost always used as an adverb. If the word modifies a noun or a pronoun, an adjective is necessary. If the word modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb, use an adverb. See the examples below.

·        He wrote a good answer. In this sentence, the speaker uses the adjective good because it modifies a noun and tells more about the noun answer.

·        He answered the question well. In this sentence, the speaker uses the word well as an adverb because it modifies the verb answered and that tells how the question was answered.

·        He is real happy is incorrect. In this sentence the word happy is an adjective and needs an adverb to modify it. The correct adverb is really; therefore the correct version is to say He is really happy.

 

Summary

§  Morphologically, the most common feature of adverbs is the majority of adverbs have the derivational suffix (-ly), such as quickly, slowly, barely, etc.  Syntactically, there are two types of syntactic functions that characterize verbs:

1.     Adverbial which modifies or tells us something about the sentence or the verb. It may be a single adverb, a phrase, or a prepositional phrase, or clause element:

2.     Modifier of adjective and adverb. Let us consider the following example: - far more easily intelligible.

§  One of the secrets of good writing is to include lots of details (adjectives), so the reader can accurately see the whole picture you are describing in his/her mind’s eye.

Exercise 1

Direction: Read and underline all the adverbs you can find in the following sentences. Check your answers in the answer key.

1.     Computers are relatively new devices.

2.     Many businesses use them daily.

3.     Today, very fast computers are needed.

4.     They produce statistics quickly and accurately.

5.     Generally, they are quite easy to use.

6.     Many people have never used a computer.

7.     The baby has been very cranky lately.

8.     Finally, she wrote the very last sentence correctly.

9.     She smiled brightly and said that she was really sorry.

10. Politely, he asked for a second helping.

Exercise 2

Direction: Pick out the adverbs in these sentences and write them in the appropriate columns. Mention the type of adverb and the verb, adjective or adverb to which it is added.

1.     The newspaper is published daily.

2.     I bathe twice daily.

3.     The soldiers fought bravely.

4.     I have seen this film before.

5.     I can't find the keys anywhere.

6.     The teachers arrived at the school early.

7.     The stadium was completely packed.

8.     Parents treat their children affectionately.

9.     We are leaving for the zoo shortly. Please come home quickly.

10. The customer climbed upstairs and met the owner of the shop.

Exercise 3

Direction: Choose the suitable word in brackets to complete the following sentences.

1.     They dance the American style ………………………  (beautiful / beautifully)

2.     He panned their trip to Paris very ……..….…………..(careful / carefully)

3.     John painted his new house very …………………….….. (bad / badly)

4.     They speak their language ……………....…….….. (quiet / quietly)

5.     Turn the button down, it is too …………………….….. (loud / loudly)

6.     She skipped ……………..…… down the road to the school. (happy / happily)

7.     My father drives too …………….…..…….….. (fast, well)

8.     My grandmother knows the road……….………….….. (good /well)

9.     My friend knows to play guitar ……….………….….. (terrible / terribly)

10. I and my class mate are going camping tomorrow morning so we have to get up.  ……     ….….. (early / soon)

11. Stephan does not often study …………………….….. (hard / hardly)

12. Sometimes our headmaster arrives ……..……………. at school.  (late / lately)