ADVERBS

DEFINITION: An adverb is an "all-purpose" MODIFIER. It can modify a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.

As is stated above, adverbs modify three different things. We will discuss these things in order.

1. When an adverb modifies a VERB, it tells you IN ONE WORD "How?" "When?" "Where?" or "Why?"about that verb.

art n av adv advEXAMPLE: The students arrived promptly today.

What does "promptly" tell you? Yes, it tells you HOW the students ARRIVED. It's an adverb, so it'smarked "adv."

What does "today" tell you? Right, it tells you WHEN the students ARRIVED. It's also an adverb.Here's how you diagram this sentence:

. This is extremely important and that's why it's in such big type! This concept will be tremendously helpfulto you when it comes to figuring out what an adverb modifies. Words in our language usually have to be ina certain place in a sentence (articles must come before nouns, helping verbs must come before verbs,subjects usually precede verbs, etc.), but that's not true of ADVERBS WHICH MODIFY VERBS. You canusually move such adverbs to two or three different places in the sentence without it sounding odd orchanging the meaning in any way. Let's try it out with the sentence above. Can "promptly" bemoved around? How about "today"?

Today the students arrived promptly.The students promptly arrived today.

The students arrived today promptly.

All three of these variations make complete sense, don't they? So if you see a word in a sentence thatcan be moved without changing the sentence's meaning, that tells you two things: 1.) it's an adverb, and2.) it modifies the verb! If it's an adverb and it cannot be moved, then it modifies the word that it must staynext to.

2. Adverbs that modify adjectives tell you "How?" or "To what extent?" about adjectives. art adv adj n av pp art adj n

EXAMPLE: The extremely nervous patient sat (in the dentist's chair).

What does "extremely" tell you? Yes, it tell you HOW NERVOUS. It's an adverb. Notice also that"extremely" is NOT moveable. It must stay next to the word "nervous," because it modifies an adjective,not a verb. Here's how you diagram it.

ADVERBS THAT MODIFY VERBS ARE MOVEABLE.

students arrivedtoday

promptly

The

ANALYTICAL GRAMMAR (UNIT #5) NOTES-PAGE 9

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patient satThe

nervousextremely☞We call this nifty little construction a"dog's hind leg"!

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4. Prepositional phrases can modify verbs and other modifiers too. When they do, they answer the same"How?" "When?" , etc. questions as adverbs do Here are a few examples of how to diagram them.

pro av n pp art nEXAMPLE: We ate lunch (in the park). (in the park tells you WHERE we ATE)

I saw

We ate

ANALYTICAL GRAMMAR (UNIT #5) NOTES - PAGE 10

3. Adverbs that modify other adverbs also tell you "How?" or "To what extent?" about adverbs.adj n av adv adv

EXAMPLE: Our guest left quite abruptly.

What does quite tell you? Yes, it tells you HOW ABRUPTLY. It's an adverb. Notice, also, that it cannot bemoved away from the word abruptly. Here's how to diagram it:

guest leftOur

quite

abruptly

You use a "dog's hind leg" every time you have a modifier that modifies another modifier.

parkin

the

pro av pro adv pp art nEXAMPLE: I saw him later (in the day). (in the day tells you LATER TO WHAT EXTENT)

day

later

the

in

If you're having a little trouble understanding that in the day modifies later, remember that, if itmodified the verb, it would be moveable. Since it can't be moved away from later, it must modify it.

In the sentence above this one, you can move in the park to the front of the sentence without changing itsmeaning. That tells you that it modifies the verb. When prepositional phrases come at the beginning of asentence, they almost always modify the verb.

SOME HANDY LITTLE NOTES:Many adverbs end in "ly." In our language you can change many adjectives (such as beautiful) intoadverbs by adding the suffix "ly" (beautifully). Not all adverbs end in "ly," and not all words that end in"ly" are adverbs. Only adjectives with the "ly" suffix are adverbs.

The words how, when, where, and why are frequently adverbs. For now, mark them that way.

The words not, never, really, and very are very commonly used adverbs.

If you just can't figure out what a word is, it's probably an adverb!

When you're having a hard time figuring out where a modifier (adverb or prepositional phrase) goes, trysaying the modifier together with the word you think it modifies. For instance, in the last sentence above"saw in the day" doesn't sound right, but "later in the day" does! That tells you that "in the day" goes with"later"! This, along with the "moveability" trick and using the questions (how, when, where or why) willalmost always show you what an adverb or prepositional phrase modifies.

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ANALYTICAL GRAMMAR (UNIT #5) EXERCISE #1

ADVERBS: EXERCISE #1

NAME: _______________________________________________________DATE: _______________________

DIRECTIONS: Mark all the nouns, articles, adjectives, prepositions, action verbs, and adverbs in the sentencesbelow. Then diagram the subject and verb and their modifiers. Don't attempt to diagram anything else.

1. We recognize Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as a truly great black American.

2. Dr. King certainly had a brilliant, well-disciplined mind.

3. At a very young age, Martin sadly experienced prejudice.

4. The black and white children always played separately.

5. This bothered Martin deeply.

6. He always wondered about the unequal treatment of his people.

7. At fifteen, Martin proudly enrolled at Morehouse College in Atlanta.

8. Martin worked diligently for his future in life.

9. He finally chose the ministry as his profession.

10. Young Dr. King always inspired his congregation with his fiery sermons

against injustice.

DEFINITIONS:

1. A pronoun is a word that ____________________________________________________________

2. An antecedent is __________________________________________________________________

3. Adverbs are words that modify __________________________, ___________________________,

and __________________________________.

4. An adverb which can be moved modfies_______________________________________________.

5. If an adverb cannot be moved, it modifies ______________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________.

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ANALYTICAL GRAMMAR (UNIT #5) EXERCISE #1 - PAGE 2

DIRECTIONS: Write what jobs the words below are doing. Choose your answer among the following:

OBJECT OF THE PREPOSITION MODIFIER VERB SUBJECT

SENTENCE # WORD JOB

1 American ________________________________________________________

2 certainly ________________________________________________________

3 age ________________________________________________________

4 always ________________________________________________________

5 This ________________________________________________________

6 treatment ________________________________________________________

7 enrolled ________________________________________________________

9 finally ________________________________________________________

10 fiery ________________________________________________________

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ANALYTICAL GRAMMAR (UNIT #5) EXERCISE #2

ADVERBS: EXERCISE #2

NAME: _______________________________________________________DATE: _______________________

DIRECTIONS: Mark all the nouns, articles, adjectives, prepositions, action verbs, and adverbs in the sentencesbelow. Put parentheses around the prepositional phrases. Then diagram the subject and verb and their modifiers.There may be words you can't yet diagram; if so, just leave them alone for now.

1. Martin Luther King, Jr. ultimately graduated from Morehouse College.

2. He then received a scholarship to Crozer Theological Seminary.

3. The teachings of Mahatma Gandhi totally fascinated Martin.

4. With non-violent methods, Gandhi successfully freed his people from British

domination.

5. Martin sincerely believed in the success of this method.

6. He studied hard for his doctoral degree at Boston University.

7. Upon his graduation, Dr. King started his adult life as the very young pastor of a

church in Alabama.

8. At that time in our history, the law mandated the separation of the races.

9. In his Sunday sermons, Dr. King bravely denounced these unjust laws.

10. Because of Martin's words, the black leaders in the community also favored the

use of Gandhi's methods.

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*

*(See Notes: Unit #3, pg. 6)

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ANALYTICAL GRAMMAR (UNIT #5) EXERCISE #2 - PAGE 2

DEFINITIONS:

1. Which kind of noun begins with a lower case letter and consists of only one word?

_______________________________________________________.

2. If a word looks like a verb but it doesn't have a subject, it's called a

________________________________________________________.

3. If you find a verb and ask, "Who or what (and say the verb)?"- what are you looking for?

____________________________________________________

DIRECTIONS: Write what jobs the words below are doing. Choose your answers from among the following:

SUBJECT MODIFIER VERB

OBJECT OF THE PREPOSITION

SENTENCE # WORD JOB

1 Martin Luther King, Jr. ____________________________________________________

2 received ________________________________________________________

3 totally ________________________________________________________

4 methods ________________________________________________________

5 success ________________________________________________________

6 He ________________________________________________________

7 pastor ________________________________________________________

8 history ________________________________________________________

9 bravely ________________________________________________________

10 black ________________________________________________________

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ANALYTICAL GRAMMAR (UNIT #5) EXERCISE #3

ADVERBS: EXERCISE #3

NAME: _______________________________________________________DATE: _______________________

DIRECTIONS: Parse (mark all the parts of speech in) the sentences below. Then diagram the subject and verband their modifiers.

1. Dr. King's message about non-violent resistence to segregation laws certainly

struck a chord in the hearts of many Americans.

2. Mrs. Rosa Parks, with a simple act of bravery, provided an opportunity for the

implementation of Dr. King's plan of action.

3. Against the laws of her city, Mrs. Parks simply sat in a "Whites Only" section of a

city bus.

4. The city police quickly arrested her for her "crime."

5. Dr. King promptly organized the Blacks of that city in a bus boycott.

6. The Selma Bus Company soon suffered the daily loss of money.

7. Now Dr. King led non-violent marches in protest against these completely

unjust laws.

8. Finally, on November 12, 1956, the United States Supreme Court issued a

decision in support of these civil rights crusaders.

9 In Washington, D. C., in 1963, Dr. King delivered a very beautiful and now

famous speech about his dream of racial equality for America.

10. Tragically in 1968, a white ex-convict ended the career of this truly great

American hero.

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ANALYTICAL GRAMMAR (UNIT #5) EXERCISE #3 - PAGE 2

DEFINITIONS:

1. The three articles are ___________, ________________, and _______________.

2. A proper noun begins with a _____________________________________________________

and may consist of _____________________________________________________.

3. An action verb expresses ________________________________________________________

and must have a __________________________________________.

4. If a word looks like a verb but doesn't have a subject, it's a _____________________________________.

DIRECTIONS: What jobs are the words below doing. Choose your answers from among the following:

MODIFIER VERB SUBJECT OBJECT OF THE PREPOSITION

SENTENCE # WORD JOB

1 message ________________________________________________________

2 Mrs. Rosa Parks ________________________________________________________

3 section ________________________________________________________

4 quickly ________________________________________________________

5 organized ________________________________________________________

6 suffered ________________________________________________________

7 led ________________________________________________________

8 November, 12, 1956_______________________________________________________

9 now ________________________________________________________

10 ex-convict ________________________________________________________

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ADVERBS: TEST

NAME: _______________________________________________________DATE: _________________________

ANALYTICAL GRAMMAR (UNIT #5) TEST

(RAW SCORE: ________________GRADE: __________)

DIRECTIONS: Mark all the nouns, articles, adjectives, pronouns, prepositions, action verbs, and adverbs in thesentences below and put parentheses around the prepositional phrases. Then, on a separate sheet of paper, neatlydiagram the subject and verb and their modifiers.

1. The crowds at the Lincoln Memorial joyfully received Martin Luther King, Jr.

2. All Americans take tremendous pride in this often repeated speech.

3. Many Americans in that generation instantly hailed him as a hero.

4. Today his courage inspires Americans of all colors.

5. Dr. King emphasized discipline as a very important aspect of the struggle

against injustice.

6. Dr. King reminded Americans of the guarantee of equality for all people in our

Constitution.

7. Constitutionally, the Founding Fathers formed this country as a home for all God's

children.

8. People from all corners of the world come to this sweet land of liberty.

9. Tragically, James Earl Ray robbed America of the life of this truly great man.

10. Today Americans of all colors remember the courage of this man of peace.

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ANALYTICAL GRAMMAR (UNIT #5) TEST - PAGE 2

DEFINITIONS:

1. A noun is the name of __________________________________________________________________.

DIRECTIONS: Write what jobs the words below are doing. Choose your answers from among the following:

SUBJECT VERB MODIFIER OBJECT OF THE PREPOSITION

SENTENCE # WORD JOB

1 crowds ________________________________________________________

2 speech ________________________________________________________

3 hailed ________________________________________________________

4 Today ________________________________________________________

5 aspect ________________________________________________________

6 Dr. King ________________________________________________________

7 home ________________________________________________________

8 People ________________________________________________________

9 robbed ________________________________________________________

10 colors ________________________________________________________

2. A ______________________________noun begins with a lower-case letter.

3. A ______________________________noun begins with a capital letter.

4. A ______________________________ noun can consist of only one word.

5. An adjective is a word that ______________________________________________________________.

6. The articles in our language are __________, _____________, and _______________.

7. A pronoun is a word that _______________________________________________________________.

8. An antecedent is ______________________________________________________________________.

9. A word may look like a preposition, but it's not unless it has a(n) _______________________________.

10. Adverbs modify ________________________, ______________________________, and

____________________________________.

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