Adverbs & Adjectives

ADVERBS


Adverbs tell us more about a verb, adjective or another adverb.

As the modifier of a verb, the adverb tells us how, when or to what extent the action is executed.

As the modifier of an adjective, the adverb tells us more about the adjective that describes a noun.

As the modifier of an adverb, the adverb describes in greater detail the adverb itself.


Example:

I went very quickly into the wooden shed. It was somewhat dilapidated and yet, there was a homely feeling to it. I walked up to the chest of drawers, and with a piece of old newspaper that I fond lying nearby, I wiped off the dust from the surface. Yes, it was still there. I had thought the childishly drawn picture of a wilting flower would have faded with age. But, no, it was still there. Slowly, I traced the outlines with my index finger and sighed. It’s been a long time, such a long time.

Exercise:

A. Identify the adverbs and what they modify in the following passage:

The fabrics on the upholstered chairs and sofa were slightly thicker and more luxurious; the table legs were not straight like those at home, but slender and cured, with a beautifully carved decoration at the foot…… But this room’s walls were completely covered by bookcases, filled, which reached to the ceiling…. Then the man moved with surprising quickness to the corner where the bed was. He sat on a chair beside Jonas, who was motionless, waiting for what would happen next.

(‘The Giver’ by Lois Lowry, with minor adaptations)

B. In the below extract, some of the adjectives and adverbs are underlined for you. State which are the adjectives and adverbs and what they modify.

An elderly man, with his pretty daughter on his arm, was passing along the street, and emerged from the gloom of the cloudy evening into the light that fell across the pavement from the window of a small shop. It was a projecting window; and on the inside were suspended a variety of watches – pinchbeck, silver, and one or two of gold – all with their faces turned from the street, as if churlishly disinclined to inform that wayfarers what o’clock it was. Seated within the shop, sidelong to the window, with his pale face bent earnestly over some delicate piece of mechanism, on which was thrown the concentrated lustre of a shade-lamp, appeared a young man.

(‘The Artist of the Beautiful’ from Hawthorne)

C. In the below extract, some of the adjectives and adverbs have been omitted and replaced with blank spaces. Fill the blank with appropriate adjectives and adverbs.

As we burst into the room, the Count turned his face and the ___________ look that I had heard described seemed to leap into it. His eyes flamed ___________; the great nostrils of the __________ nose opened __________ and quivered at the edge; and the ___________ teeth, behind the full lips of the blood-dripping mouth, champed together like those of a wild beast. With a wrench, which threw his victim back upon the bed as though hurled from a height, he turned and sprang at us. But by this time the Professor had gained his feet, and was holding towards him the envelope which contained the Sacred Wafer. The Count ________ stopped, just as poor Lucy had done outside the tom b, and cowered back. Further and further back he cowered, as we, lifting our crucifixes advanced. The moonlight suddenly failed, as a __________ cloud sailed across the sky; and when the gaslight sprang up under Quincey’s match, we saw nothing but a __________ vapour.