Adverb Recognition Practice

Definition: An adverb is a word that modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb.  An adverb answers the questions:
  •  When?
  •  Where?
  •  How?
  •  To what extent or degree?

An adverb can be anywhere in a sentence.  it can be in the beginning, in the middle, or at the end.  When an adverb answers "when?", "where?", "how?" (and sometimes "why?"), it will modify the verb in the sentence.  if it answers "to what extent or degree?", it will modify an adjective or another adverb.

Example:
Too many students signed up for the contest.
Too - an adverb answering the question "to what degree" (and modifies the adjective, many) up - an adverb answering the question "where" (and modifies the verb, signed)
Practice Exercise: In the exercise to follow, write down the adverb(s) in each sentence and what question the adverb answers.  There may be more than one adverb in a sentence, so be careful.

1. The heavy rain ceased very suddenly.
2. Courageously, Billy faced the many questions of the judge.
3. The snow fell softly and silently.
4. Joe was recently promoted to the top manager's position.
5. Bonnie went outside and collected the mail from the street box.
6. When you came, I was away.
7. Robert carefully wrote his note to the teacher.
8. Yesterday, Paul went downtown on the bus.
9. The decorations on either side of the door were very beautiful.
10. The boys jumped much higher than their competitors in the tryouts.
 

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