Modifiers Verbs Verb Phrases: Certainly We Need To Act (Certainly Modifies The Sentence As A Whole)

The English word adverb derives (through French) from Latin adverbium, from ad- ("to"), verbum
("word", "verb"), and the nominal suffix -ium. The term implies that the principal function of adverbs is
to act as modifiers of verbs or verb phrases.[1] An adverb used in this way may provide information
about the manner, place, time, frequency, certainty, or other circumstances of the activity denoted by
the verb or verb phrase. Some examples:
 She sang loudly (loudly modifies the verb sang, indicating the manner of singing)
 We left it here (here modifies the verb phrase left it, indicating place)
 I worked yesterday (yesterday modifies the verb worked, indicating time)
 You often make mistakes (often modifies the verb phrase make mistakes, indicating
frequency)
 He undoubtedly did it (undoubtedly modifies the verb phrase did it, indicating certainty)
Adverbs can also be used as modifiers of adjectives, and of other adverbs, often to indicate degree.
Examples:
 You are quite right (the adverb quite modifies the adjective right)
 She sang very loudly (the adverb very modifies another adverb – loudly)
They can also modify determiners, prepositional phrases,[1] or whole clauses or sentences, as in the
following examples:
 I bought practically the only fruit (practically modifies the determiner the in the noun phrase,
"the only fruit" wherein "only" is an adjective)
 She drove us almost to the station (almost modifies the prepositional phrase to the station)
 Certainly we need to act (certainly modifies the sentence as a whole)
Adverbs thus perform a wide range of modifying functions. The major exception is the function of
modifier of nouns, which is performed instead by adjectives (compare she sang loudly with her loud
singing disturbed me; here the verb sang is modified by the adverb loudly, whereas the noun singing
is modified by the adjective loud). However, because some adverbs and adjectives are homonyms,
their respective functions are sometimes conflated:
 Even numbers are divisible by two

 The camel even drank.
The word "even" in the first sentence is an adjective, since it is a prepositive modifier that modifies
the noun "numbers". The word "even" in the second sentence is a prepositive adverb that modifies
the verb "drank."
Although it is possible for an adverb to precede or to follow a noun or a noun phrase, the adverb
nonetheless does not modify either in such cases, as in:
 Internationally there is a shortage of protein for animal feeds

 There is a shortage internationally of protein for animal feeds
 There is an international shortage of protein for animal feeds
In the first sentence, "Internationally" is a prepositive adverb that modifies the clause, "there is…" In
the second sentence, "internationally" is a postpositive adverb that modifies the clause, "There is…"
By contrast, the third sentence contains "international" as a prepositive adjective that modifies the
noun, "shortage."
Adverbs can sometimes be used as predicative expressions; in English, this applies especially to
adverbs of location:
 Your seat is there.

When the function of an adverb is performed by an expression consisting of more than one word, it
is called an adverbial phrase or adverbial clause, or simply an adverbial.
Formation and comparison[edit]

In English, adverbs of manner (answering the question how?) are often formed by adding -ly to
adjectives. Other languages often have similar methods for deriving adverbs from adjectives
(French, for example, uses the suffix -ment), or else use the same form for both adjectives and
adverbs, as in German and Dutch where for example schnell or snel, respectively, can mean either
"quick" or "quickly", depending on the context. Many other adverbs, however, are not related to
adjectives in this way; they may be derived from other words or phrases, or may be single
morphemes. Examples of such adverbs in English include here, there, together, yesterday, aboard,
very, almost, etc.
Where the meaning permits, adverbs may undergo comparison, taking comparative and superlative
forms. In English this is usually done by adding more and most before the adverb (more slowly, most
slowly), although there are a few adverbs that take inflected forms, such as well, for which better and
best are used.
For more information about the formation and use of adverbs in English, see English grammar
§ Adverbs. For other languages, see § In specific languages below, and the articles on individual
languages and their grammars.
Adverbs as a "catch-all" category[edit]

Adverbs are considered a part of speech in traditional English grammar, and are still included as a
part of speech in grammar taught in schools and used in dictionaries. However, modern
grammarians recognize that words traditionally grouped together as adverbs serve a number of
different functions. Some describe adverbs a "catch-all" category that includes all words that do not
belong to one of the other parts of speech.[2]
A logical approach to dividing words into classes relies on recognizing which words can be used in a
certain context. For example, the only type of word that can be inserted in the following template to
form a grammatical sentence is a noun:
The _____ is red. (For example, "The hat is red".)
When this approach is taken, it is seen that adverbs fall into a number of different categories.
For example, some adverbs can be used to modify an entire sentence, whereas others cannot.
Even when a sentential adverb has other functions, the meaning is often not the same. For
example, in the sentences She gave birth naturally and Naturally, she gave birth, the word
naturally has different meanings: in the first sentence, as a verb-modifying adverb, it means "in a
natural manner", while in the second sentence, as a sentential adverb, it means something like
"of course".
Words like very afford another example. We can say Perry is very fast, but not Perry very won
the race. These words can modify adjectives but not verbs. On the other hand, there are words
like here and there that cannot modify adjectives. We can say The sock looks good there but not
It is a there beautiful sock. The fact that many adverbs can be used in more than one of these
functions can confuse the issue, and it may seem like splitting hairs to say that a single adverb is
really two or more words that serve different functions. However, this distinction can be useful,
especially when considering adverbs like naturally that have different meanings in their different
functions. Rodney Huddleston distinguishes between a word and a lexicogrammatical-word.[3]
Grammarians find difficulty categorizing negating words, such as the English not. Although
traditionally listed as an adverb, this word does not behave grammatically like any other, and it
probably should be placed in a class of its own.[4][5]
In specific languages[edit]
 In Dutch adverbs have the basic form of their corresponding adjectives and are not inflected
(though they sometimes can be compared).
 In German the term Adverb is differently defined than in the English language. German
adverbs form a group of noninflectable words (though a few can be compared). An English
adverb which is derived from an adjective is arranged in German under the adjectives with
adverbial use in the sentence. The others are also called adverbs in the German language.
 In Scandinavian languages, adverbs are typically derived from adjectives by adding the
suffix '-t', which makes it identical to the adjective's neuter form. Scandinavian adjectives,
like English ones, are inflected in terms of comparison by adding '-ere'/'-are' (comparative)
or '-est'/'-ast' (superlative). In inflected forms of adjectives, the '

Modifiers Verbs Verb Phrases: Certainly We Need To Act (Certainly Modifies The Sentence As A Whole)

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The English word adverb derives (through French) from Latin adverbium, from ad- ("to"), verbum

 Even numbers are divisible by two

 Internationally there is a shortage of protein for animal feeds

 Your seat is there.

Formation and comparison[edit]

Adverbs as a "catch-all" category[edit]

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