ABSTRACT
Defining exactly what constitutes an adverb is difficult. They are those words which shed information on the when, where, why and how of the action (i.e. the verb) of the sentence, but they can also qualify adjectives (e.g. ‘very good’) and other adverbs (e.g. ‘quite slowly’). They can be individual words or complete phrases. The approach adopted here is to look first at the simplest adverbs, i.e. those derived from adjectives, and to list the most common adverbs of time and place (see TMP rule, 10.3) as well as interrogative adverbs and finally to look briefly at the formation of adverbs. Otherwise mastering adverbs is really chiefly a matter of extending one’s vocabulary.
