Menu
Home
People
Places
Arts
History
Plants & Animals
Science
Life & Culture
Technology
Reference.org
Adverb
open-in-new
<p>An adverb is a word or an expression that generally <a href="/facts/Modifier_(grammar)/BRk4Hoxs">modifies</a> a <a href="/facts/Verb/zp42buvn">verb</a>, an <a href="/facts/Adjective/0ohBjtmT">adjective</a>, another adverb, a <a href="/facts/Determiner/PENQvAFs">determiner</a>, a <a href="/facts/Clause/EHKUG2NV">clause</a>, a <a href="/facts/Preposition/Bhz0tAMI">preposition</a>, or a <a href="/facts/Sentence_(linguistics)/GhKKkcm2">sentence</a>. Adverbs typically express manner, place, time, frequency, degree, or level of certainty by answering questions such as <i>how</i>, <i>in what way</i>, <i>when</i>, <i>where</i>, <i>to what extent</i>. This is called the <a href="/facts/Adverbial/209kqxHM">adverbial</a> function and may be performed by an individual adverb, by an <a href="/facts/Adverbial_phrase/M1VmNF3Y">adverbial phrase</a>, or by an <a href="/facts/Adverbial_clause/u87T2Mt8">adverbial clause</a>. </p><p>Adverbs are traditionally regarded as one of the <a href="/facts/Parts_of_speech/WbQ89MHX">parts of speech</a>. Modern linguists note that the term <i>adverb</i> has come to be used as a kind of "catch-all" category, used to classify words with various types of <a href="/facts/Syntax/6PxSV98p">syntactic</a> behavior, not necessarily having much in common except that they do not fit into any of the other available categories (noun, adjective, preposition, etc.). </p>