Adverbs

ADVERBS OF MANNER

Adverbs of manner tell us how something happens. They are usually placed after the main verb or after the object.

Examples:

• He swims well, (after the main verb)
• He ran… rapidly, slowly, quickly..
• She spoke… softly, loudly, aggressively..
• James coughed loudly to attract her attention.
• He plays the flute beautifully. (after the object)
• He ate the chocolate cake greedily.

BE CAREFUL! The adverb should not be put between the verb and the object:

• He ate greedily the chocolate cake [incorrect]
• He ate the chocolate cake greedily [correct]

If there is a preposition before the object, e.g. at, towards, we can place the adverb either before the preposition or after the object.

Example:

• The child ran happily towards his mother.
• The child ran towards his mother happily.

Sometimes an adverb of manner is placed before a verb + object to add emphasis:

• He gently woke the sleeping woman.

Some writers put an adverb of manner at the beginning of the sentence to catch our attention and make us curious:

• Slowly she picked up the knife.

(We want to know what happened slowly, who did it slowly, why they did it slowly)

However, adverbs should always come AFTER intransitive verbs (=verbs which have no object).

Example:

• The town grew quickly
• He waited patiently

Also, these common adverbs are almost always placed AFTER the verb:

• well
• badly
• hard
• fast

The position of the adverb is important when there is more than one verb in a sentence. If the adverb is placed after a clause, then it modifies the whole action described by the clause.

Notice the difference in meaning between the following pairs of sentences:

• She quickly agreed to re-type the letter (= her agreement was quick)
• She agreed to re-type the letter quickly (= the re-typing was quick)
• He quietly asked me to leave the house (= his request was quiet)
• He asked me to leave the house quietly (= the leaving was quiet)