0 a word that describes or gives more information about a verb, adjective, adverb, or phrase:
In the phrase "she smiled cheerfully", the word "cheerfully" is an adverb.
In the phrase "the house was spotlessly clean", the word "spotlessly" is an adverb.
1 a word that describes or gives more information about another word, esp. a verb, adjective, or other adverb, or about a phrase:
In the sentences, "She smiled cheerfully" and "He waited right outside the door," "cheerfully" and "right" are adverbs.
In the sentence 'She ran quickly', the adverb 'quickly' modifies the verb 'ran'.
Can you think of any other adverbs with the same meaning as 'slowly'?
In English, adverbs are usually formed by adding 'ly' to the end of an adjective.
A phrasal verb consists of a verb in combination with a preposition or adverb.
The verbal gerund, by contrast, can combine with adverbs, auxiliaries, ordinary objects, and common-case subjects.
Many other adverbs (as interestingly, frankly, clearly, luckily, unfortunately) are similarly used; most are so ordinary as to excite no comment or interest whatsoever.
The preverbal elements in the examples below involve an adverb (21a), a verbal particle (21b), and a direct object (21c).
