Adverb

(This page is about adverbs, a word class. The course in Word Classes forms part of the Grammar course in AWE. You may choose to follow it in a structured way by following the links. Each item can also be accessed separately.)

• In Primary School, you may have heard adverbs called ‘describing words’, like adjectives. Adverbs were used to describe verbs, where adjectives describe nouns. (Note the etymology: adverb.)
• In Secondary School, adverbs were ‘words used to modify a verb’. (Modify = say more about the way in which a verb is ‘done’, or carried out, or ‘happens’). At this stage, you may have been taught that an adjective qualifies a noun. ('Qualify' here means "To express some quality belonging to (a noun)" (OED)
• In more modern grammar, word classes are defined as much by the grammatical contexts in which they are found. Adverbs are used in several ways. If you need to go a little deeper into defining this class of words, click Adverb in modern grammar.