All About Adverbs

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Just what is an adverb anyway? Adverbs often (though not all the time) are words that end with -ly and describe verbs, adjectives or other adverbs. They usually describe "how" something was or is done. Here's an example of an adverb used in a sentence:

• Jane laughed rudely at Bill's new haircut.

In the above sentence the adverb is the word "rudely" because it is being used to describe how Jane did something.

Here are a couple more examples of adverbs used in sentences:

• Bob walked quickly into the kitchen.
• Sarah silently crept into the basement.
• The weeds grew wildly in the garden.

In all three of those sentences the -ly words are describing "how" something was done. That is a really good way to tell if a word is an adverb or not. Just ask yourself if it answers the question "how?". If it does, then it is probably an adverb.

Sometimes adverbs and adjectives can be difficult to tell apart, especially if you have an adjective that ends with an -ly too.  Here is an example:

• The little girl had curly hair.

In this sentence, you may think that curly is an adverb because it ends with -ly. However, it is actually an adjective because it is being used to describe a physical object...the hair. Anytime an -ly word is used to describe an object (noun) rather than an action (verb) then it is an adjective and not an adverb. A good rule to keep in mind is that adverbs answer the question "how" and adjectives answer the question "what kind?".

Here's one more example to show the difference between and adjective and an adverb.

• Sam took a leisurely stroll.

What kind of stroll did Sam take? Leisurely. This means that in this sentence the word "leisurely" is an adjective because it describes the kind of stroll that Sam took.

• Sam strolled leisurely.

How did Sam stroll? Leisurely. This means that in this version of the sentense the word "leisurely" is an adverb because it describes how Sam did something.