Adverbs are words that can modify adjectives, verbs and others adverbs.
Test your knowledge with original exercises and quiz questions, and check out the commented feedback to consolidate your knowledge of this grammar class.
question 1
1. Rewrite the sentences replacing the adverbial phrases with adverbs:
a) The teacher erased the board quickly.
______________________________________________
b) The boy drew calmly.
______________________________________________
c) opened the gift with joy.
______________________________________________
d) Carlinhos is directing in a hurry.
______________________________________________
Correct answers:
The) The teacher erased the board quickly.
quickly = quickly
B) the boy drew quietly.
calmly = calmly
ç) opened the present happily.
with joy = happily
d) Charlie is driving hastily
in a hurry = in a hurry
Adverbial phrases are sets of words that, together, have the function of an adverb. Note that in all sentences, these phrases are formed by the preposition “with” and a noun, and indicate the same circumstance: the manner; the way someone accomplishes something.
The type of adverb that indicates the way we do something is the mode adverb. Most adverbs so end in “-mind” and mean exactly the same thing as the corresponding adverbial phrase.
question 2
Read the sentence carefully and identify the types of adverbs indicated in the list below:
I was always told that the city was beautiful, but I didn't know it was so much! There is a wonderful view, which faces the countryside, and besides, you can hear the birds singing happily.
- Adverb of time: ___________________
- Intensity adverb: ___________________
- Mode adverb: ___________________
- Adverb of negation: ___________________
Correct answers:
a) Adverb of time: always
The adverb of time is used to place an action in time. It can indicate when the action took place, its duration and its frequency.
In the sentence, he helps us to understand that the action referred to (they say the city was beautiful) happened frequently, several times during a certain period of time.
b) Intensity adverb: both
The adverb of intensity has the function of intensifying or reinforcing the meaning of the word to which it refers.
In the sentence, the adverb “tanto” refers to the word “beautiful”. The sender of the message already knew that the city was beautiful, but he didn't know it was so much, that is, he didn't know it was so beautiful.
In this case, the word “so much” reinforced the meaning of the adjective “beautiful”.
c) Mode adverb: happily
Mode adverbs indicate the form/way in which a certain action is performed.
In the sentence, this adverb expresses the way birds sing: happily, that is, with joy.
The vast majority of mode adverbs end in -mente. However, there are exceptions: good, bad, better, etc.
d) Adverb of negation: no
As the name implies, it is an adverb that expresses the idea of negation. It is used in a context where something is denied or refused.
In the sentence, the sender of the message denies having known before that the city was so beautiful.
question 3
Complete the sentences below with the adverbs in the box:
a) It is very windy. _____________________ will rain.
b) There are still fifty minutes until class is over. You can finish the _____________________ exercise.
c) I like almost all sweets. The only one I _____________________ like is chocolate.
c) If I had woken up more _____________________, I wouldn't have missed the bus.
d) Paulinha and I always live _____________________ each other. Her house is three houses after mine.
e) Lucas was very hungry. When the break light hit he left the room.
Correct answers:
a) It is very windy. Probably will rain.
"Probably" is an adverb for doubt and indicates uncertainty.
In the sentence, the fact that it is windy is an indication that it may rain, but it is not certain that this will happen; it's just likely.
b) There are still fifty minutes until class is over. can finish the exercise quietly.
"Calmly" is an adverb of manner and, as the name implies, expresses the manner, the manner in which an action is performed.
Adverbs so that they end in "-mind" are directly related to a particular adverbial phrase. That is, such phrase has the same meaning as the corresponding adverb.
In the sentence, the adverbial phrase that corresponds to the adverb “calmly” is “calmly”.
c) I like almost all sweets. the only one i not taste is chocolate.
“No” is an adverb of negation; it expresses a negative idea and may also indicate refusal.
In the sentence, the announcer denies he likes chocolate.
d) If I had woken up more early, would not have missed the bus.
“Early” is an adverb of time. Time adverbs are used to indicate a moment in time at which an action takes place and can also indicate the duration and frequency of that action.
Note that in the sentence, it is directly linked to the verb “to wake up”, modifying its meaning.
See: "waking up" and "waking up early" don't mean exactly the same thing.
d) Paulinha and I always live close each other. Her house is three houses after mine.
"Near" is an adverb of place.
Adverbs of place refer to the location of something or someone and answer the question "where?"
Taking into account the phrase, for example, the question "Where do you and Paulinha live?" can be answered with "Close to each other."
e) Lucas was very hungry. When the break signal hit, he left quickly of the room.
“Hurry up” is an adverb of mode as it expresses the way in which something happens or is done.
It is important to note that although most adverbs so end in "-mind", this fact is not a rule.
See other examples of adverbs so that they don't end in -mente: better, worse, slow, well, blindly, aimlessly, on foot, etc.
question 4
My father's cousins always paraded at the carnival.
a) What is the adverb of the phrase?
b) What circumstance does the adverb in the sentence indicate?
c) What word in the sentence does the adverb modify?
Answers:
The) The adverb of the phrase is “always”.
B) The adverb “always” indicates a circumstance of time.
Note that it indicates that an action started at some point in the past and has continued on in a continuous fashion. It is an action that, eventually, may still (or may not) be ongoing at the time of speech.
ç) What word in the sentence does the adverb modify?
The adverb “always” modifies the verb “to parade”.
Through the time stamp indicated by the adverb, we know that the phrase indicates a continuous action, which began in a past moment and lasted.
Thus, the cousins of the father of the sender of the message did not parade just once at the carnival; they always paraded.
question 5
Observe the word sequences and identify the adverb that is not part of each group
a) yesterday - today - tomorrow - no - now - always - soon
b) front - back - above - always - below - below - there
c) fast - poorly - slowly - together - quickly - slowly - well
Correct answers:
dwarf
In the group of letter a), all the other adverbs indicate a circumstance of time. The adverb “no”, in turn, indicates a circumstance of negation.
b) always
In the group of letter b), all the other adverbs indicate circumstance of place. However, “always” indicates a circumstance of time.
c) together
In the group of letter b), all the other adverbs indicate circumstance of mode. However, “together” indicates the circumstance of place.
question 6
In the phrase "My uncle is a totally high-spirited person.", the adverb "totally":
a) complements the sense of the adjective “high-spirited”.
b) explains the meaning of the adjective “high-spirited”.
c) intensifies the sense of the adjective “high-spirited”.
Correct alternative: c) intensifies the sense of the adjective “high-spirited”.
"Totally" is an adverb so. In the sentence, he indicates the way the message sender's uncle is: he's not just “a little” high-spirited, he's high-spirited. complete, fully.
question 7
Read the text below and answer the questions:
A hope
(Cecília Meireles)
Here at home, hope rested. Not the classic, which so often turns out to be illusory, although it always sustains us. But the other one, very concrete and green: the insect.
There was a muffled cry from one of my children:
- A hope! and on the wall, right above your chair! He was also an emotion that united the two hopes into one, he's old enough for that. Before my surprise: hope is a secret thing and usually lands directly on me, without anyone knowing, and not above my head on a wall. A little fuss: but there was no doubt, there she was, and thinner and greener it couldn't be.
– She has almost no body, I complained.
– She just has a soul, explained my son, and as children are a surprise to us, I discovered to my surprise that he spoke of two hopes.
She walked slowly on the strands of her long legs, between the paintings on the wall. She three times she stubbornly tried an exit between two frames, three times she had to backtrack. She was slow to learn.
– She's dumb, said the boy.
– I know that, I replied a little tragically.
- You are now looking for another way, look, poor thing, how she hesitates.
– I know, that's how it is.
– Looks like hope doesn't have eyes, Mom, it's guided by antennae.
– I know, I remained even more unhappy.
There we stayed, I don't know how long looking. Watching her as she watched herself in Greece or Rome, the beginning of the fire in the home so she wouldn't go out.
– She forgot that she can fly, Mom, and thinks she can only walk slowly like that.
She walked really slowly – was she by any chance injured? Oh no, otherwise blood would flow, it's always been that way with me.
It was then that, sniffing out the world that is edible, a spider emerged from behind a painting. Not a spider, but it looked like “the” spider to me. Walking through its invisible web, it seemed to move smoothly through the air. She wanted hope. But we wanted it too and oh! God, we wanted less than to eat her. My son went to get the broom. I said weakly, confused, not knowing if the time had unfortunately come to give up hope:
– It's just that you don't kill a spider, they told me it brings luck…
– But it will crush hope! replied the boy fiercely.
“I need to talk to the maid to clean behind the paintings,” I said, feeling the phrase out of place and hearing the tiredness in my voice. Then I daydreamed about how succinct and mysterious I would be with the maid: I would just say to her: would you please facilitate the path of hope.
The boy, the spider dead, made a pun, with the insect and our hope. My other son, who was watching television, listened and laughed with delight. There was no doubt: hope had landed at home, soul and body.
But how beautiful the insect is: it lands more than it lives, it's a little green skeleton, and it has such a delicate shape that that explains why I, who like to pick things up, never tried to pick it up.
Once, by the way, now I remember, a much smaller hope than this had landed on my arm. I didn't feel anything, as light as it was, it was only visually that I became aware of its presence. I was embarrassed by the delicacy. I didn't move my arm and thought: “what about this one? what should I do?" In fact, I did nothing. I was extremely quiet as if a flower had been born in me. Afterwards I don't remember what happened. And, I don't think anything happened.
a) In the excerpt “But how beautiful the insect is: it lands more than it lives, it's a little green skeleton, and it has such a delicate shape that this explains why I, who like to pick things up, Never I tried to catch it.”, the underlined adverb indicates:
( ) mode
( ) doubt
( ) denial
( ) time
Response:
( ) mode
( ) doubt
(x) negation
( ) time
"Never" is an adverb of negation. In the sentence, he indicates that the sender of the message did not try to catch hope at no point of time that is, never.
b) Identify the function of the word "here" in the prayer "Here at home there was hope."
( ) adverb of place
( ) mode adverb
( ) adverb of time
( ) affirmation adverb
Response:
(x) adverb of place
( ) mode adverb
( ) adverb of time
( ) affirmation adverb
The word “here” expresses the circumstance of place. Adverbs of place refer to the location of something or someone and answer the question "where?"
In the sentence, he answers the question “Where did hope rest?”: On here at home.
c) In the sentence “But the other, very concrete and green: the insect.”, the adverb “good” modifies the meaning of which word below?
( ) but
( ) other
( ) insect
( ) concrete
Response:
( ) but
( ) other
( ) insect
(x) concrete
In the sentence, "good" is an adverb of intensity. He is modifying the word “concrete”, reinforcing its meaning.
The hope was not just concrete, it was well concrete, quite concrete.
question 8
Match the underlined adverbs to the circumstances they indicate:
a) statement
b) doubt
c) denial
d) time
e) intensity
( ) My friend arrives in Brazil tomorrow.
( ) He really fulfilled what he said.
( ) Today I am very tired out.
( ) Perhaps he is lying.
( ) Me never she would accept this situation.
Answers:
(d) My friend arrives in Brazil tomorrow.
The adverb of time “tomorrow” indicates a moment in time relative to the moment of speech of the sender of the message.
It is used to indicate when the friend will arrive.
(a) He actually lived up to what he said.
The adverb of affirmation “really” is used to reinforce affirmative information.
In the sentence, he reinforces the idea that the subject in fact fulfilled what he had said.
(e) Today I am very tired.
"Very" is an adverb of intensity that modified the word "tired". The sender of the message is not only “tired” but rather “very tired out".
(b) Maybe he's lying.
"Maybe" is an adverb of doubt because it indicates an idea you are not sure about.
In the sentence, he modifies the verb “to lie”; the person referred to may be lying, but he may not be lying either. It's just a possibility.
(c) I would never accept this situation.
"Never" is an adverb of negation that, in the sentence, modifies the verb "to accept".
It indicates that at no point of time, that is, Never, the sender of the message would accept a certain situation.
question 9
Read the poem below and identify the types of adverbs used in the text:
Thought Adverb Poem
(Kiki Black)
I never showed that I felt pain
I never stopped emanating love
I never thought of leaving
I never got tired of fighting
I always demonstrated my value
I always let myself get carried away
I always thought about humming
I always wanted to help
today I'm tired of thinking
Today I stopped showing
Today I stopped singing
Tomorrow i will get tired of me
Tomorrow I won't cry nor smile
Tomorrow I don't know who I will be
Response:
The text has 2 types of adverbs:
- adverb of negation
- adverb of time
1. Never: adverb of negation
In the first stanza, the adverb “never” precedes the verbs “show”, “leave”, “think” and “tired” and modifies their meaning.
The author expresses the idea that never, never, in no time she showed that she felt pain, stopped emanating love, thought about leaving and got tired of fighting.
In other words, it wasn't just one time that she didn't show pain, didn't stop emanating love, etc. This did not happen at any time and this meaning is indicated by the adverb.
2. Always: adverb of time
In the second stanza, the adverb “always” modifies the meanings of the verbs “to demonstrate”, “to leave”, “to think” and “to want”.
He indicates that it wasn't just once the author demonstrated her worth, got carried away, thought about humming and wanted to help.
this happened all the time, continuously and this idea is expressed through the use of the adverb.
3. Today: adverb of time
In the third stanza, the adverb "today" modifies the verbs "tired", "let" and "stop" by adding a circumstance of time and indicating when the actions of the sentences (getting tired of thinking, stop showing and stop singing) occurred.
4. Tomorrow: adverb of time
In the fourth and last stanza, the adverb “tomorrow” modifies the verbs “tired”, “cry”, “smile” and “knowing”.
It indicates when the author's actions of getting tired of herself, not crying or smiling, and not knowing who it will be will occur.
5. No: adverb of negation
The adverb “no” used in the fourth and last stanza modifies the verbs “to cry”, “smile” and “to know”. It adds negation value to these verbs.
question 10
(FGV - 2020) The sentence below in which the replacement of the underlined segment by an adverb was done properly is:
The) Without understanding the reason, the guest got bored at the party / irresponsibly;
b) I went to the gym few times / usually;
c) Directed with all the attention / graciously;
d) even without study performed the task satisfactorily / Intuitively;
e) Faced the difficulties with courage / fiercely.
Correct alternative: d) Even without studying, he performed the task satisfactorily / Intuitively;
The) WRONG. Not understanding the reason for something is not synonymous with doing something irresponsibly (irresponsibly). Therefore, there is no semantic relationship between the two ideas and, for this reason, the substitution presented is inadequate.
B) WRONG. “few times” expresses precisely the opposite of “usually”, therefore, the adverb does not replace the underlined segment.
ç) WRONG. The synonym for "sincerely" would be "with care" and not "with all attention."
d) CORRECT A task performed without study is performed without prior knowledge of the subject.
As such, it is carried out almost by instinct; for knowledge that does not require a reasoning process.
Thus, it can be said that the task is performed intuitively; intuitively.
and) WRONG. The phrase that corresponds to the adverb “fiercely” is “with ferocity” and the adverb that corresponds to the phrase “with courage” is “boldly”.
question 11
(VUNESP/2019) Read Jonathan Culler's text to answer the question:
Once upon a time, literature meant mostly poetry. The novel was a newcomer, too close to biography or chronicle to be genuinely literary, a popular form that could not aspire to the high vocations of lyrical and epic poetry. But in the twentieth century the novel eclipsed poetry as much as what writers write and what readers read, and since the 1960s narrative has come to dominate literary education as well. People are still studying poetry — this is often required — but novels and short stories have become the core of the curriculum.
This is not just a result of the preferences of a mass readership, who happily pick stories but rarely read poems. Literary and cultural theories have increasingly asserted the cultural centrality of narrative. Stories, the argument goes, are the main way we understand things, whether in thinking about our lives as a progression leading somewhere, that is to say to ourselves what is happening in the world. Scientific explanation seeks to make sense of things by placing them under laws—wherever a and b prevail, c will occur—but life is generally not like that. It follows not a scientific logic of cause and effect but the logic of history, in which understanding means conceiving how something takes the other, how something could have happened: how Maggie ended up selling software in Singapore, how Jorge's father came to give her a car.
(Literary theory: an introduction, 1999.)
Adverb is an invariable word that can change the meaning of a verb, an adjective, another adverb or an entire sentence.
An adverb that modifies the meaning of an adjective occurs in:
Alternatives:
a) "too close to the biography or chronicle to be genuinely literary" (1st paragraph)
b) “a mass readership, which happily chooses stories” (2nd paragraph)
c) “literature mainly meant poetry” (1st paragraph)
d) “Literary and cultural theories have increasingly asserted the cultural centrality of narrative” (2nd paragraph)
e) "whenever a and b prevail, c will occur" (2nd paragraph)
Correct alternative: a) "too close to the biography or chronicle to be genuinely literary" (1st paragraph)
The) CORRECT In the sentence, the adverb “genuinely” is an adverb in a way that modifies the adjective “literary”.
It indicates that this is not just a literary thing, but something truly, effectively literary.
B) WRONG. The adverb of the sentence is the word “joyful” and it modifies the verb “to choose”.
ç) WRONG. “Above all” is an adverb that, in the sentence, modifies the verb “to signify”.
d) WRONG. The adverb “more” modifies the verb “to affirm”.
and) WRONG. The adverb of the sentence is the word “always”, which modifies the verb prevail.
question 12
(UFRGS/2019)
1I received a query from a friend who tries 2unravel language secrets for foreigners who want to learn Portuguese. 3His problem: “if I say in a classroom: 'Guys, read book X', how can I explain the agreement? 4Of course, it doesn't say 5‘Guys, read book X’".
From the question, it can be seen that it is not about providing rules to correct any pattern problems. It is a question of understanding data that occurs regularly, but which seems to offer some analysis difficulties.
First, it is obvious that it is an order (or an order) plus or 6less informal. Otherwise, the expression “staff” would not be used, but perhaps “Sirs” or “School students”.
Secondly, it is not a question of such ideological agreement, nor of silepsis (hypotheses predicted by grammar to explain more or less exceptional agreements, which are due less to syntactic factors and more to semantics; 7current examples such as “We went” and “people liked it” are explained by this criterion). How can it be known that it is not about ideological agreement or silepsis? The answer is, 8in these cases, the verb is linked to the subject in a structure without a vocative, unlike what happens 9on here. And in cases like "Pedro, come here", "come" is not linked to "Pedro", 10even if it seems so, because Peter is not the guy.
11To try to formulate a hypothesis 12clearer for the problem presented, 13perhaps 14it must be admitted that the subject of a verb may be off and still produce agreement. Ideally, it should be shown that the phenomenon does not only occur with orders or requests, nor only when there is vocative. Let's go by parts: a) 15it is normal, in Portuguese, to have clauses without an express subject and, even so, to have verbal inflection. 16Examples 17chains are phrases like “arrived and left immediately”, which we all know from grammars; b) whenever there is a vocative, in principle, the subject may not appear in the sentence. This is what happens in “boys, get out of here”; but the subject can appear, because 18the sequence “boys, you behave yourselves” would not be strange; ç) 19if 20hypotheses a) and b) are accepted (I would say they are facts), no 21it would be strange that the phrase "Guys, read book X" could be treated as if its structure were "Guys, you read book x". If the word “you” were not erased, the agreement would normally explain itself; d) so the problem 22The real thing is not the agreement between “personal” and “read”, but the passage from “personal” to “you”, which does not appear on the surface of the sentence.
This case is just one, among many others, that would force us to consider in the analysis elements that do not seem to be 23in the sentence, but acting as if 24were there.
Adapted from: POSSENTI, Sirius. Badly behaved languages. São Paulo: Parabola Editorial, 2009. for. 85-86.
Consider the uses of adverbs in the text and mark with 1 those where the adverb modifies the meaning of just one word and with 2 those where it modifies the meaning of textual segments.
( ) Certainly (ref. 4)
( ) minus (ref. 6)
( ) more (ref. 12)
( ) maybe (ref. 13)
The correct sequence for filling the parentheses, from top to bottom, is:
a) 2 - 1 - 2 - 1.
b) 1 - 1 - 1 - 2.
c) 2 - 1 - 1 - 2.
d) 2 - 2 - 2 - 1.
e) 1 - 2 - 2 - 2.
Correct alternative: c) 2 – 1 – 1 – 2.
Check below the words and textual segments modified by each adverb:
( 2 ) Certainly (ref. 4): modifies the meaning of the textual segment “not to be said”.
( 1 ) less (ref. 6): modifies the word "request".
( 1 ) more (ref. 12): modifies the word "hypothesis".
( 2 ) maybe (ref. 13) modifies the meaning of the textual segment “if it must be admitted”.
Did this topic interest you? So be sure to check out the contents below:
- Adverb
- Adverb classification
- Adverb degree inflection
- adverbial phrase
