THE FLATMATES Language point: Adverbs of manner
Adverbs of manner You can see this language point online at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/flatmates/episode75/languagepoint.shtml Adverbs of manner Adverbs of manner tell us how something happens. In this episode of, Paul says: ' that ended very abruptly '. If we ask: how did it end? - The answer is 'abruptly'. Paul also says: ' she calmly announced that she had fallen in love with someone else.' If we ask: how did she announce it? - The answer is 'calmly'. Other examples: He swims fast. How does he swim? fast. She sings beautifully. How does she sing? beautifully. I opened the door wide. How did I open the door? wide. She quickly finished her dinner. How did she finish? quickly. Adverbs of manner - position Adverbs of manner are usually placed after the main verb. He swims fast. She sings beautifully. It is possible to place the adverb before the verb. This places emphasis on the adverb. She calmly announced that she had fallen in love with someone else. She quickly finished her dinner. But some adverbs are always placed after the verb. These adverbs are: well, badly, hard, fast. The team well played. WRONG The team played well. RIGHT He performed badly. The students tried hard. (note: hard is an irregular adverb don't say hardly) The dogs ran fast. (note: fast is an irregular adverb don't say fastly) Page 2 of 5
Adverbs of manner verbs with objects If the verb has an object, the adverb of manner is usually placed after the object, not between the verb and object. I opened wide the door. WRONG I opened the door wide. RIGHT He ate the chocolate cake greedily. She typed the email hurriedly. However, it is still possible to place the adverb before the verb, to emphasise the adverb. He greedily ate the chocolate cake. She hurriedly typed the email. Adverbs of manner beginning position Some writers put an adverb of manner at the beginning of a sentence, to catch the reader's attention and make him/her curious: Slowly, carefully, she opened the box. This use of adverb position makes the reader want to find out more. What is in the box? Why did she open it slowly and carefully? Adverbs of manner more than one verb When there is more than one verb in a clause, the position of the adverb is very important. If it is placed with the verb, it modifies the action described by the verb. If it is placed at the end of the clause, it describes the manner of the whole action described in the clause. Compare: She slowly decided to leave the party. = slowly modifies decided. She decided to leave the party slowly. = slowly modifies leave the party. The teacher quietly asked the children to finish their game. = quietly modifies asked. The teacher asked the children to finish their game quietly. = quietly modifies finish (their game). Page 3 of 5
Adverb modifiers a bit, quite, most, fairly, very, extremely You can give more information about most adverbs of manner by using a word such as: a bit quite most fairly really very extremely These words are always placed before the adverb. Very carefully, she carried the baby upstairs. She carried the baby upstairs very carefully. She very carefully carried the baby upstairs. He finished his homework really quickly. Common adverbs of manner angrily badly beautifully carefully cautiously cleverly dangerously eagerly excitedly foolishly fast furiously greedily happily hard hurriedly kindly nervously politely quickly quietly secretly silently slowly softly stupidly unhappily well wickedly wisely Vocabulary hang up (v) to end a telephone call by deliberately breaking the connection end of story when English speakers use this informal phrase, they mean that there is no reason to continue discussing something - there's no more to be said Page 4 of 5
it's over the relationship is finished abruptly (adv) suddenly, without warning announced said something formally, publicly or officially. Paul uses the verb 'announce' to show that his wife did not discuss their separation with him moved out took all his belongings and left his home to go and live somewhere else Would you like to try an online quiz about this language point? Go to: http://bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/flatmates/episode75/quiz.shtml Or you can download the quiz from: http://bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/flatmates/episode75/quiz.pdf More on this language point: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv279.shtml Page 5 of 5