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Adverbs

Adverbs are all those words , to put it crudely, that add more meaning to the verb in a given sentence.

Consequently , if a verb indicates action then an adverb tells you HOW that action is being performed,

WHERE that action is being performed or

WHEN that action is being performed.

Now consider the following sentences:

1 She is singing beautifully. Here the action being performed is that of singing and there is a word that tells us how the action is being performed--that is-beautifully. So beautifully is an adverb here.

2 He comes here today. In this sentence the verb obviously is 'comes' and there are words that tell us 'when' and 'where'. The words are 'today'and ' here' and both of these are adverbs.

Normally, simply by adding -ly to a given adjective we can make an adverb.

Like by adding -ly to the adjective excellent we have the adverb excellently.

So most of the words ending with -ly are adverbs.

Mind you I SAID MOST OF THE WORDS AND NOT ALL THE WORDS.

Simply because , consider the following words:

lovely

cowardly

motherly

kindly

They are all adjectives and not adverbs. Be that as it may most of the words that end with -ly are adverbs.

If you wish to recognise the adverb used in a given sentence all you have to do is see if there is a word that answers either of the following questions :

HOW?, WHERE? OR WHEN ? is an action being performed

( Do check the above two example sentences.)

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English exercise "Adverbs" created by sreedhar with The test builder. [More lessons & exercises from sreedhar]
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1. He is a wonderful cricketer. He always plays

2. She sings in a melodious manner indeed. She sings very whatever be the number at hand.

3. She is an amazing cook. whatever she cooks is a mouth-watering delight.

4. He can be extremely ridiculous. He behaves so that one wonders if he isn't mad after all.

5. This is a sensational piece of news.Little wonder because he does things so

6. He becomes miserable for no reason at all. So does he behave that one might feel he is the unluckiest soul alive.

7. This is an attractive piece of art. That painter paints his pieces quite .

8. He is such a callous person that I have seen him always behave and never kindly.

9. He is quite a brilliant fellow. He does things very and efficiently indeed.

10. This is indeed highly atrocious. He has denied his subordinates the rights they are supposed to have and enjoy.

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