• There are some pairs such as hard and hardly which have different meanings. • You’ve all worked hard. • I’ve got hardly any money. • There’s a bank quite near. • We’ve nearly finished. • I often stay up late. • I’ve been unwell lately. • The plane flew high above the clouds. • The theory is highly controversial. • Submarines can go very deep. • Mike feels very deeply about this. • Airline staff travel free. • The prisoners can move around freely • This ear hurts the most. • We mostly stay in.
• End position • Most types of adverb can come here. • e.g. They were driving very slowly. • ¶ If there is an object, then the adverb usually goes after it. • e.g. I wrapped the parcel carefully. • ¶ But a short adverb can go before a long object. • e.g. I wrapped carefully all the glasses and ornaments.
Adverbs
Introduction
• Some adverbs are unrelated to other words, e.g. always, soon, very, perhaps. But many adverbs are formed from an adjective + ly, e.g. quick quickly, certain certainly. • NOTE: There are some spelling rules for adverbs in -ly (Omitted) • e.g. easy,easily, probable,probably, magic,magically
• NOTE: ¶ If there are two auxiliaries, then mid position is usually after the first one. • e.g. We’ve just been queuing for tickets. • The book will soon be ready for publication. • ¶ BUT adverbs of manner and some adverbs of degree go after the second auxiliary. • e.g. We’ve been patiently queuing for tickets. • You could have completely spoilt everything.
• Front position, mid position and end position • When an adverb modifies a verb or a whole clause, there are three main places we can put it. • Front: Really, I can’t say. • Mid: I can’t really say. • End: I can’t say, really. • Sometimes we can also put an adverb after the subject. • e.g. I really can’t say.
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Here the adverb of manner can also go in mid position (i.e. before a simple-tense verb). e.g. I carefully wrapped all the glasses and ornaments. ¶ We often put an adverb in end position when it is new and important information. e.g. There was a police car in front of us. It was going very slowly. NOTE: When there are two clauses, the position of the adverb can affect the meaning. e.g. They agreed immediately that the goods would be replaced. They agreed that the goods would be replaced immediately.
• Adjectives with-ly • e.g. We received a friendly greeting. They greeted us in a friendly manner. • That isn’t very likely. That probably won’t happen. • Some adjectives in -ly are friendly, lively, lovely, silly, ugly, cowardly, lonely, costly, likely. • NOTE: Some adjectives ending in -ed have no adverb form. • astonishedly
• Mid position is after an auxiliary verb, after the ordinary verb be on its own, or before a simpletense verb. • e.g. They are always complaining about it. • You are absolutely right. • I usually take a nap after lunch.
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Some adverbs have the same form as adjectives. Louise caught the fast train. The train was going quite fast. We didn’t have a long wait. We didn’t have to wait long. I had an early night. I went to bed early. It travels in a straight line. Sometimes he looks straight at me. Still waters run deep. They sat still while listening to the story. Jay took a deep breath. He went on studying deep into the night. They all speak in low tones with solemn faces. Most of these jobs are low paid.
• Sometimes the adverb can be with or without –ly. It is more informal to leave out –ly. • e.g. You can buy cassettes cheap/cheaply in the market. • Do you have to talk so loud/loudly? • Get there as quick/quickly as you can. • Go slow/slowly here. • Cheap(ly), loud(ly), quick(ly) and slow(ly) are the most common. Other are direct(ly), tight(ly) and fair(ly) •
• Front position • Front position is at the beginning of a clause. Most types of adverb can go here. • e.g. Hopefully, we can meet her at the party. (Sentence adverb) • Sure enough, the police stopped us.（果然） (Sentence adverb) • Luckily we were in time for the class. (Sentence adverb) • Unfortunately, they failed the exam. (Sentence adverb) • Just hold on a moment. (Emphasing Adverbs) • Maybe you are right. • (And )Finally they parted. • Later he talked about the impact of the rise in pe form without -ly only in common expressions, e.g. talk so loud, go slow, fly direct, play fair. We use -ly with longer or less common expressions. e.g. Do you have to rustle that newspaper so loudly? • We need to take action quickly. • • Right and wrong are adverbs of manner, but rightly and wrongly express a comment. • e.g. I’ll try to do it right this time. • Helen decided rightly to call the police. • First and last are both adjectives and adverbs. • e.g. Karen took first place/came first in the race. • Firstly and lastly are linking adverbs. • e.g. First/Firstly, I’d like to thank you all for coming.