The adverb. Classification of abverbs.

An adverb is a word that modifies a verb, adjective, other adverb, determiner, noun phrase, clause, or sentence. Adverbs typically express manner, place, time, frequency, degree, level of certainty, etc., answering questions such as how?, in what way?, when?, where?, and to what extent?. This function is called the adverbial function, and may be realised by single words (adverbs) or by multi-word expressions (adverbial phrases and adverbial clauses). Adverbs vary in their structure. In accord with their word-building structure adverbs may be simple, derived, compound and composite. Simple adverbs are rather few, and nearly all of them display functional semantics, mostly of pronominal character: here, there, now, then, so, quite, why, how, where, when. Derived adverbs may be classified in several groups [30, 164]. The two largest groups are those formed from adjectives and participles by adding the suffix -ly, e. g.: hopefully, physically, strangely, falsely, occasionally, lately, immediately, constantly, purely, slowly, charmingly, etc. Compound adverbs are formed of two stems: sometimes, somewhere, somehow, someplace, nowhere, everywhere, anyway, downstairs, etc. There are fewer than twenty of these in common use. Composite phrasal adverbs consist of two or more word-forms, as a great deal, a little bit, far enough, now and then, from time to time, sort of, kind of, a hell of, a lot of, a great deal of, at least, at most, at last, to and fro, upside down. Such adverbs are lexically and grammatically indivisible and form a single idea. The adverb in English undergoes two paradigmatically relevant classifications: 1) semantic; 2) lexico-grammatical. Semantic classification is based on the meaning of adverbs. According to their meaning, adverbs fall into the following groups: 1. Adverbs of time: afterwards, already, at once, eventually, immediately, lately, now, presently, soon, suddenly, then, when, yesterday, yet, etc.: Our class is going to London tomorrow It’s been two weeks now since she called home. 2. Adverbs of frequency: always, constantly, hardly ever, never, occasionally, often, seldom, sometimes, three times, twice, etc.: There is always somebody at home in the evenings. 3. Adverbs of place or direction: abroad, ashore, backwards, below, downstairs, everywhere, far, here, inside, outside, seaward(s), there, to and fro, where, etc.: We’ll have to eat here – everywhere else is full.He was famous, both at home and abroad. 4. Adverbs of manner: badly, clearly, deeply, fast, how, quickly, sideways, sincerely, somehow, well, willingly, etc.: His campaign was not going well. 5. Adverbs of degree or intensifiers can be used before adjectives, verbs, or other adverbs to give information about the extent or level of something: completely, enough, extremely, highly, muck, nearly, perfectly, pretty, quite, rather, really, so, somewhat, terribly, too, unusually, very, etc.: Sometimes the UK seems completely isolated from the main stream of European culture. Adverbs of degree or intensifiers may be subdivided into three semantic groups: 1 ) emphasizers ( emphasizing the truth of the communication): actually, at all, clearly, definitely, indeed, just, literally, plainly, really, simply, etc.: What do you really think about it? When I told you to ‘get lost’ I didn’t expect to be taken literally. 2) amplifiers (expressing a high degree): absolutely, altogether, badly, bitterly, completely, deeply, downright, entirely, extremely, (by) far, fully, greatly, heartily, much, perfectly, pointblank, quite, terribly, thoroughly, utterly, very, etc.: Each panel member should ensure that he or she thoroughly tests the case presented for project approval. Artists are terribly difficult people for us ordinary mortals to deal with. 3 ) downtoners (lowering the effect): a bit, almost, barely, enough, hardly, kind of, (a) little, moderately, more or less, nearly, partly, quite, rather, scarcely, slightly, somewhat, sort of, sufficiently, etc.: We took a slightly more direct root. He was only partly responsible for the accident. 6. Focusing adverbs draw attention to the most important part of utterance. They can be of two kinds: 1) restrictive: alone, exactly, just, merely, only, precisely, purely, simply, especially, etc.: Some students lose marks simply because they don't read the question properly. 2) additive: again, also, either, equally, even, too, etc. She stayed and nursed him back to health again. 7. Viewpoint adverbs are used to make clear what viewpoint the speaker is speaking from; that is, identifying what features of something are being talked about (economically, morally, politically, scientifically, weather-wise, financially, ideologically, industrially, environmentally, logically, medically, outwardly, technically, visually, etc.): Financially, the accident has been a disaster for the owners of the tunnel. Economically, the project is bound to fail. 8. Attitudinal adverbs which express the speaker's comment on the content of what he is saying. Such adverbs can be of two kinds: 1) adverbs expressing a comment on the truth-value of what is being said, indicating the extent to which the speaker believes what he is saying is true: admittedly, allegedly, apparently, certainly, decidedly, definitely, doubtless, maybe, obviously, perhaps, possibly, presumably, probably, quite likely, supposedly, surely, undoubtedly, etc.: Few women, presumably, would want to return to the assumptions on which the old system was based. 2) adverbs expressing some attitude towards what is being said: amazingly, cleverly, (in)correctly, curiously, foolishly, (un)fortunately, funnily enough, (un)happily, incredibly, ironically, (un)justly, (un)luckily, oddly, preferably, reasonably, regrettably, remarkably, sensibly, significantly, strangely, tragically, typically, unexpectedly, etc.: He is wisely staying at home tonight. 9. Conjunctive adverbs: above all, accordingly, alternatively, anyhow, anyway, as a result, at any rate, besides, by the way, consequently, finally, first(ly), for all that, for example, further, furthermore, hence, however, incidentally, in other words, in spite of that, instead, in that case, lastly, likewise, meantime, mean while, namely, nevertheless, next, on the contrary, on the one (other) hand, otherwise, rather, secondly, similarly, so, still, that is, then, therefore, though, thus, too, yet, etc.: I'd like you to do two things for me. First, phone the office and tell them I'll be late. Secondly, order a taxi to be here in about half an hour. The adverbs when, where, how and why belonging to different semantic groups mentioned above have one point in common — they serve to form questions and introduce some kinds of subordinate clauses. In the former case, owing to their auxiliary function, they are called interrogative adverbs (a). In the latter case, also owing to their auxiliary function, they are called conjunctive adverbs (b). In both cases they perform different adverbial functions in the sentence: a) When did you see him last? (adverbial modifier of time) Where are you going? (adverbial modifier of place).