Adverbs are describing words too — but instead of describing nouns, they describe verbs, adjectives, and even other adverbs. They tell us how, when, where, how often, and how much.
An adverb is a word that describes a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. It usually answers one of these questions: How?, When?, Where?, How often?, or How much?
If an adjective dresses up a noun, an adverb dresses up the action. "She sang" becomes much clearer as "She sang beautifully" or "She sang yesterday."
Found a verb? Ask "how?", "when?", or "where?" about it. The word that answers is usually an adverb. "He ran (how?) swiftly." — swiftly is the adverb!
Adverbs are grouped by the question they answer:
quickly, softly, carefully, well
now, soon, yesterday, later
here, there, outside, everywhere
always, never, often, sometimes
very, too, quite, almost — these describe adjectives & other adverbs
Most adverbs describe verbs. But degree adverbs like very, too, and quite describe adjectives or other adverbs — they turn the volume up or down. "very tall," "too fast," "quite slowly."
Many adverbs are made by adding -ly to an adjective. This is the most common signal that a word is an adverb — but it's a hint, not a rule.
| Rule | Adjective | Adverb |
|---|---|---|
| Just add -ly | quick | quickly |
| Ends in -y → -ily | happy | happily |
| Ends in -le → -ly | gentle | gently |
| Ends in -ic → -ically | basic | basically |
Here's where it gets tricky — the -ly test fools a lot of people:
Plenty of adverbs have no -ly at all: fast, hard, well, here, soon, never, very, often. "He runs fast" — fast is an adverb!
Words like friendly, lovely, lonely, silly end in -ly but describe nouns, so they're adjectives. "a friendly dog," not "she smiled friendly."
Don't just look at the ending — look at the job. If the word is describing a noun, it's an adjective. If it's describing a verb, adjective, or adverb, it's an adverb.
These two parts of speech are easy to mix up. The most famous trip-up is good versus well.
"You did a good job." (good describes the noun job) but "You did well." (well describes the verb did). So we say "She sings well," not "She sings good."
A few words keep the same spelling whether they're adjectives or adverbs — the job tells you which.
| Word | As an Adjective (describes a noun) | As an Adverb (describes a verb) |
|---|---|---|
| fast | a fast car | she drives fast |
| hard | hard work | he works hard |
| late | a late bus | they arrived late |
| early | an early start | we woke early |
Find the word it's pointing at. Pointing at a noun? Adjective. Pointing at a verb? Adverb. Same word, different job!
Unlike adjectives, which usually sit right before their noun, adverbs are movable — especially adverbs of manner.
All three are correct! But not every adverb roams freely. A couple of helpful patterns:
Words like very, too, almost sit right before the word they boost: "very tall," "almost finished," "too fast."
Words like always, never, often usually go before the main verb — but after the verb "to be." "She always wins." / "She is always happy."
Just like adjectives, adverbs can change form to compare actions — three levels: positive, comparative, and superlative.
| Rule | Positive | Comparative | Superlative |
|---|---|---|---|
| Short adverb: add -er / -est | fast | faster | fastest |
| Ends in -y: change to -ier / -iest | early | earlier | earliest |
| -ly adverb: use more / most | quickly | more quickly | most quickly |
| Irregular (just memorize!) | well | better | best |
| Irregular | badly | worse | worst |
Use -er OR more — never both. "More faster" and "more quicklier" are both incorrect. Pick one!
Click or tap every adverb in each sentence — the words that tell how, when, where, how often, or how much. When you've found them all, check your answer!