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Education Resources

Adverb – Uses of Adverbs from Business Communication MB0023

Monday, January 11, 2010

Adverb is also the biggest chapter in English grammar just like verb and Noun. Here, we talk about adverb and uses of adverbs from Business Communication MB0023.

Adverbs add more meaning to the verb, adjective, or another adverb in a sentence. It ‘modifies’ that word.

For example – Radha sings melodiously.

He left immediately.

Formation of Adverbs:

By adding – ly, to an adjective: beautifully, strongly.

By adding – wise, ways, wards: otherwise, sideways, upwards.

By combining a noun and a prefix: asleep, ahead, away, besides.

By combining a prefix and an adjective: alone, around, below.

Two adverbs joined by conjunction: by and by, over and above, now and then.

Adverbs tell us about the time, place, manner, quantity, reason and frequency of an action. They are recognized by asking certain questions to the verb.

Useage of Adverbs:

An adverb must be placed as near as possible to the word it modifies.

For example – He waited long.

If the verb is in the simple tense form, the adverb is usually placed between the subject and the verb it modifies.

For example – He often visits his home town.

If the verb is in the form of ‘to be’ (is, am was, are, were) the adverb comes after the verb. For example – She is a very sober girl.

If the verb is compound, the adverb comes after the auxiliary.

For example – He will always teach.

If the sentence is negative, the adverb of frequency follows ‘not’.

For example – They are not generally selfish.

If the sentence is interrogative the adverb takes position immediately after the subject.

For example – Has he ever spoken to you?

In case of infinitives (to + simple form of verb + do), adverb should not be placed in between ‘to’ and ‘do’.

For example – He refused to do the task quickly.

Use of ‘hardly – ‘Hard’ as an adverb usually follows the verb.

For example – He works hard to make both ends meet.

‘Hardly’ as an adverb conveys a negative meaning of scarcely or barely.

For example – Hardly had he spoken when the bell rang.

Use of ‘scarce’, scarcely’ – ‘Scarce’ as an adverb means hard to find.

For example – Coal has become scarce in England.

‘Scarcely’ as an adverb is almost synonymous with ‘hardly’.

For example – I can scarcely hear you.

‘Hardly’ and ‘scarcely’ are followed by when. ‘No sooner’ is followed by than.

For example – Hardly had the bell rung when the children ran out of the classroom.

No sooner had the bell rung than the children ran out of the classroom.

Now, adverb chapter is very clear to improve your communication skills. The chapter has been taken from Business Communication book of SMU MBA.

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