What are adverbs? | Class 3 English grammar

Read the following sentences.

• The boys were talking loudly when the teacher entered the classroom.
• She suffered the pain quietly.

Words like loudly and quietly are examples of adverbs. They tell us something about verbs. It is easy to form adverbs. In most cases, you only need to add the suffix –ly to the adjective. 

Study the examples given below.

Bold (adjective) -> boldly (adverb)

Clever -> cleverly

Kind -> kindly

Brave -> bravely

Eager -> eagerly

Sad -> sadly

Slow -> slowly

Proud -> proudly

Pleasant -> pleasantly

Not all adverbs end in –ly. For example, time adverbs and place adverbs do not normally end in –ly. Examples are: here, there, now, then, inside, outside, today, tomorrow etc. The adverb ‘daily’ is an exception to this rule.

There are several different kinds of adverbs. Read the following sentences.

• The old woman walked slowly.
• The children laughed merrily.
• The soldiers fought bravely.

Here the adverbs slowly, merrily and bravely show the manner in which the actions were performed. Such adverbs are called manner adverbs.

Now, read the following sentences.

• Come here.
• What are you doing there?
• The children are playing upstairs.
• Somebody is standing outside.

Here the adverbs here, there, upstairs and outside show where the action takes place. Therefore, they are called place adverbs.

Now, read the following sentences.

• He is leaving tomorrow.
• She will arrive tonight.
• Do it now.
• What will we do then?

Here the adverbs tomorrow, tonight, now and then show the time of the action. Such adverbs are called time adverbs.

There are several other kinds of adverbs too. We will learn about them in another lesson.