Verbs & adverbs

What are verbs ?


Verbs are action words -
e.g. eat, sleep, talk, walk, do, buy are all verbs

What are adverbs?

Adverbs are words that tell us more about verbs....they add information to the verb.
(A verb is a 'doing' word or a 'being' word, e.g. 'walk', 'feel')
Using adverbs makes your sentences more interesting.
Any verb you use can have an adverb added.
The girl smiled nervously.
The boy grinned sheepishly.
The light shone feebly.
We use adverbs:
  • to say how something happens
    'The family walk (how?) quickly.'
  • to say where or when something happens
    'I met him (when?) yesterday.'
  • to say how often something happens
    'She gets the bus (how often?) daily.'
  • to make the meaning of an adjective, adverb or verb stronger or weaker
    'Dave eats (degree?) more slowly than his wife.'
Adverbs are often created from adjectives (describing words that tell you more about nouns) by adding 'ly' to the end of the adjective.
e.g. slow becomes slowly
'Joe is a slow person. He walks slowly.'
Certain words change when they become adverbs. If an adjective ends in a 'y' you need to change the 'y' to an 'i' before adding 'ly'.
Happy becomes happily
Heavy becomes heavily