English Grammar - Adverbs

Modifiers limit, qualify, or make more exact other words or word groups.

Adverbs modify:

   1. verbs
   2. adjectives
   3. other adverbs
   4. whole sentences

They answer questions like:

    "how?"
    "when?"
    "where?"
    "why?"
    "in what order?"
    "how often?"

Problem: Identifying adverbs can be tricky.

Many adverbs end in -ly. For example:

     awkwardly     happily    sharply     tightly
     cheerfully    loudly     swiftly     viciously

However, this is not an exact method of identifying adverbs. Some common adverbs do not end in -ly. For example:

     everywhere    here       never       so
     fast          much       rather      well

And some words that end in -ly are not necessarily adverbs. Such as:

     friendly      lively     rally
     folly         lonely     sickly

The only way to be sure a word is an adverb is by looking at its function within the sentence.

Examples:

modifying verbs -

    She sighed loudly.

    How did she sigh?
    Loudly.

"Loudly" is an adverb, modifying the verb, "sighed"
 and answering the question "how?".

    He went to Vancouver yesterday.

    When did he go to Vancouver?
    Yesterday.

"Yesterday" is an adverb answering the question "when?" and
modifying the verb "went."

Examples:

modifying adjectives -

    The sky was very blue.

"Very" answers the question, "How blue?"  It is an adverb, modifying
the adjective "blue."

    The day was completely enjoyable.

"Completely" describes how enjoyable the day was and is an adverb
which modifies an adjective.

Examples:

modifying other adverbs -

    He hit the ball excessively hard.

"Excessively" modifies the adverb "hard" and is also an adverb.

    The attic smelled, somewhat suspiciously, of marijuana.

The adverb "suspiciously" is modified by  the adverb "somewhat."

modifying a whole sentence -

    Probably she will leave me alone now.

Here, "probably" is an adverb which is modifying the entire
following sentence.