189. An adverb is a word which modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.
190. Adverbs are classified according to their meaning as: (1) adverbs of manner; (2) adverbs of time; (3) adverbs of place; (4) adverbs of degree.24
1. Adverbs of manner answer the question “How?” “In what way?”
They modify verbs or adjectives, rarely adverbs. Most of them are formed from adjectives by adding ly.
2. Adverbs of time answer the question “When?” They usually modify verbs. Thus,—
3. Adverbs of place answer the question “Where?” They usually modify verbs. Thus,—
4. Adverbs of degree answer the question “To what degree or extent?” They modify verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Thus,—
191. Some adverbs have the same form as the corresponding adjectives.
Under this head come certain adverbs of degree used to modify adjectives.
That dark, light, etc., are adverbs in this use appears from the fact that they answer the question “How?” Thus,—“His eyes were blue.” “How blue?” “Dark blue.”
Note. In the oldest English many adverbs ended in -ë, as if formed directly from adjectives by means of this ending. Thus, the adjective for hot was hāt, side by side with which was an adverb hātë (dissyllabic), meaning hotly. In the fourteenth century this distinction was still kept up. Thus, Chaucer used both the adjective hōt and the dissyllabic adverb hōtë, meaning hotly. Between 1400 and 1500 all weak final e’s disappeared from the language. In this way the adverb hotë, for example, became simply hot. Thus these adverbs in -ë became identical in form with the corresponding adjectives. Hence in the time of Shakspere there existed, in common use, not only the adjective hot, but also the adverb hot (identical in form with the adjective but really descended from the adverb hotë). One could say not only “The fire is hot” (adjective), but “The fire burns hot” (adverb of manner).
The tendency in modern English has been to confine the form without ending to the adjective use and to restrict the adverbial function to forms in -ly. Thus, a writer of the present time would not say, in prose, “The fire burns hot,” but “The fire burns hotly.” Nevertheless, a number of the old adverbs without ending still remain in good use, and must not be regarded as erroneous.
In poetry, moreover, such adverbs are freely employed; as,—“The boy like a gray goshawk stared wild.” [In prose: stared wildly.]
For adverbial phrases, see §§ 41–42, 475.
For the adverbial objective, see § 109.
192. Yes and no are peculiar adverbs used in assenting and denying. Thus,—
Are you hungry?
No.
Note. As now used, yes and no stand for complete sentences. Originally, however, they were modifiers, and hence they are still classed as adverbs. The original meaning of no was “never.” Compare never as an emphatic negative in modern English: as,—“Will you surrender?” “Never!” The oldest affirmative adverb was yea. Yes was originally a compound of yea with a form of so, and was used in emphatic affirmatives (like our just so!).
Other adverbs or adverbial phrases are sometimes used like yes or no. Such are certainly, assuredly, by no means, not at all. In these cases, however, the modifying effect of the word or phrase may easily be seen when the sentence is supplied. Thus,—“Will you help me?” “Certainly [I will help you].”
193. There is often used merely to introduce a sentence in the inverted order (§ 5).
In this use, there is sometimes called an expletive (or “filler”). It is unemphatic, and has lost all its force as an adverb of place. Contrast “There [emphatic] stood an Indian under a tree” with, “There [unemphatic expletive] stood an Indian under a tree.”
194. Relative adverbs introduce subordinate clauses and are similar in their use to relative pronouns.
I know a farmhouse {in which | where} we can spend the night.
Where is an adverb of place, modifying can spend. But it also introduces the subordinate clause, as the relative pronoun which does. Hence where is called a relative adverb.
195. The principal relative adverbs are:—where, whence, whither, wherever, when, whenever, while, as, how, why, before, after, till, until, since.
Because of their similarity to conjunctions, these words are often called conjunctive adverbs.
As and since in the sense of “because,” and while in the sense of “although,” are classed as conjunctions (§ 368).
The clauses introduced by relative adverbs may be either adjective or adverbial (§§ 49–50, 379–382).
Note. In “The more you waste, the sooner you will want” (and similar sentences) the is not an article, but an old case-form of the pronoun that, used as an adverb of degree. We may expand the sentence as follows: “To what extent you waste more, to that extent you will want sooner.” Thus it appears that the first the has a relative force, and the second the a demonstrative force.
196. An interrogative adverb introduces a question.
Where, when, whence, whither, how, why, may be used as interrogative adverbs. Thus,—
197. Adverbs have three degrees of comparison,—the positive, the comparative, and the superlative.
1. Most adverbs are compared by means of more and most.
2. A few adverbs are compared by means of the endings er and est. Thus,—
| Positive | Comparative | Superlative |
|---|---|---|
| near | nearer | nearest |
| soon | sooner | soonest |
Some adverbs are compared in both ways. Thus,—
198. Several adverbs have irregular comparison.
| Positive | Comparative | Superlative |
|---|---|---|
| far | farther | farthest |
| forth | further | furthest |
| ill | worse | worst |
| badly | ||
| nigh | nigher | nighest |
| next | ||
| well | better | best |
| late | later | latest |
| last | ||
| little | less | least |
| much | more | most |
These adverbs in the main have the same forms as the adjectives studied in § 185 above. Note, however: (1) that good and bad are never adverbs; (2) that ill and well, better and best, worse and worst, may be either adverbs or adjectives. Rather is now used in the comparative only.
199. The comparative degree, not the superlative, is used in comparing two persons or things.
The superlative is used in comparing one person or thing with two or more.
| Right: | Mary is the more agreeable of the two. |
|---|---|
| Mary is the most agreeable of all the family. | |
| Wrong: | I like both Mary and Jane, but I am fondest of Mary. |
| I am studying Latin, history, and geometry, but I dislike the latter. |
The same principle applies to adverbs.
Note. In older English the superlative sometimes occurs when only two objects are thought of. This use is still found in a few proverbial phrases: as,—“Put your best foot foremost.”
200. The superlative is sometimes used merely for emphasis, without implying any definite comparison: as—“My dearest Kate!”
The superlative of emphasis is very common with most.
Excessive use of this construction (like frequent repetition of very) is tiresome and weakens style.
Double comparison (as more worthier, most unkindest) is common in older English, but is now a gross error.
201. When two adjectives or adverbs are contrasted by means of than, more is used with the first.
Note. The adverb rather is often used with the first adjective or adverb (as,—“rather kind than wise” or “kind rather than wise”), but in a slightly different sense.
202. Many adjectives and adverbs are, from their meaning, incapable of comparison. Such are:—
1. Adjectives expressing a quality as absolute or complete, and adverbs derived from such adjectives.
2. The adverbs here, there, then, now, when, and the like.
Note. Words like perfect, exact, straight, etc., are commonly said to be incapable of comparison, but this is an error. For each of these words may vary in sense. When perfect (for example) denotes absolute perfection, it cannot be compared. But perfect has also another sense: namely, “partaking in a higher or lower degree of the qualities that make up absolute perfection,” so that we may describe one statue as more perfect than another, or one of three statues as the most perfect of them all. In this use, which is unobjectionable, we simply admit that nothing in the world is absolutely flawless, and assert that the three statues approach ideal perfection in various degrees.
203. An adjective phrase may sometimes be compared by means of more and most.
204. Words indicating number are called numerals. They are adjectives, nouns, or adverbs.
205. The chief classes of numerals are cardinals and ordinals.
1. Cardinal numeral adjectives (one, two, three, four, etc.) are used in counting, and answer the question “How many?”
Note. In such expressions as “The boy was sixteen,” the numeral is a predicate adjective limiting boy (§ 172, 3). We need not expand sixteen to “sixteen years old.”
2. Ordinal numeral adjectives (first, second, third, etc.) denote the position or order of a person or thing in a series.
206. All the cardinal and ordinal numerals may become nouns and may take a plural ending in some of their senses.
Note. Hundred, thousand, million were originally nouns, but are now equally common as adjectives. Other numeral nouns are:—twain, couple, pair, brace, trio, quartette, quintette, foursome, dozen, score, century.
207. Certain numeral adjectives (single, double, triple, etc.) indicate how many times a thing is taken or of how many like parts it consists.
Some of these words may be used as adverbs.
208. Certain numeral adverbs and adverbial phrases indicate how many times an action takes place.
The only adverbs of this kind in ordinary use are once and twice. For larger numbers an adverbial phrase (three times, four times, etc.) is employed. Thrice, however, is still common in poetry and the solemn style.