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Adverbs/Adverbials

Adverb is the name of a word class; adverbial is the name of a clause element (‘setningsledd’). A modifier is part of a clause element.

An adverbial

  • may describe the action expressed in the verb.
    He speaks French
    fluently.
    She was
    warmly allowed into the house.
  • may give the speaker’s view on a situation.
    Luckily
    , all the students passed their exams.
    This is
    obviously not enough.
  • may refer to the connection between sentences in a text.
    Furthermore, the team had played an excellent away game.
    Nothing,
    however, will convince me to change my mind.



A modifier

  • may give the degree of an adjective head.
    The house was extremely nice.
    The captain was
    badly shaken.
  • may give the degree of an adverb head.
    She speaks Norwegian very well.
    Quite soon, a crowd had gathered outside.

Adverbs in general

Adverbs often end in –ly and are then formed from an adjective:
perfect - perfectly, nice - nicely, probable - probably

Many adverbs have no ending:
often, seldom, never, always

If an adjective ends in –y, the –y turns into an –i when the adjective forms an adverb.
easy - easily, lucky - luckily

Regular comparison

Adverbs consisting of one syllable have the ending –er in the comparative and –est in the superlative.

POSITIVE

COMPARATIVE

SUPERLATIVE

fast

faster

fastest

hard

harder

hardest



Adverbs consisting of more than one syllable are compared by using more in the comparative and most in the superlative.

POSITIVE

COMPARATIVE

SUPERLATIVE

nicely

more nicely

most nicely

quietly

more quietly

most quietly

Irregular comparison

POSITIVE

COMPARATIVE

SUPERLATIVE

well

better

best

far

farther

farthest

far

further

furthest

badly

worse

worst

little

less

least

much

more

most