Lesson 8 - Adverbs

Introduction

In this lesson you'll learn how to use adverbs in the English language, as well as learn some very common English adverbs. Flashcards and a quiz are included to help you learn the adverbs introduced in this lesson.

A short conversation is included to help you learn how to speak English in everyday situations.

Conversations

Clothing Store

English

Cathy needs a new shirt, so she and Sarah walk into a clothing store.

Sarah: This t-shirt is very nice.

Cathy: Yeah, but it's too small.

Sarah: How about this blouse?

Cathy: I don't like the colour.

Sarah: These shirts are on sale and they are very cheap.

Cathy: I like the blue shirt and the red shirt.

Sarah: I think I want to buy one of these shirts too.

Cathy: Which color do you like?

Sarah: I like the white shirt.

Cathy: Let's go buy them.

Vocabulary and Phrases

Listen This t-shirt is very nice.
Listen How about this blouse?
Listen I don't like ___.
Listen I think I want to buy one of these shirts too.
Listen Let's go buy them.
Listen cheap
Listen shirt

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Adverbs

Listen already
Listen always
Listen even
Listen happily
Listen here
Listen immediately
Listen never
Listen now
Listen often
Listen quickly
Listen sadly
Listen shortly
Listen slowly
Listen sometimes
Listen so
Listen soon
Listen suddenly
Listen there
Listen too
Listen usually
Listen very

Grammar

Adverbs

Adverbs are words that modify or qualify a verb, adjective or another adverb. Adverbs usually express manner, place, time, frequency, degree, or level of certainty. They’re often used to answer questions such as how, where, when, how often, and to what extent. Adverbs go before the word they modify.

Adjectives can often be made into adverbs by adding ly to the end of an adjective.

Adjective Adverb
soft softly
slow slowly
happy happily

Here are some examples of how to use adverbs in sentences. The adverbs are in bold.

Examples

Listen They always go to the store on Monday.
Listen I'm never late.
Listen She never drinks coffee.
Listen Wait here.
Listen We slowly walked up the hill.
Listen Suddenly, he was there.
Listen I often drink tea in the afternoon.

Sentence Templates

A very common sentence template in English is:
subject + be very + adjective.
The subject of a sentence can be a noun or pronoun.

Examples

The pizza is very good.
We are very hungry.
I am very happy.
She is very smart.
The TV is very expensive.
The store is not very busy.

Another common sentence template in English is:
subject + be too + adjective.

Or when asking a question:
be + subject + too + adjective?

Examples

The coffee is too cold.
I am too tired.
The TV is too expensive.
Is the TV too expensive?
The TV is not too expensive.

Here are some more very common sentence templates that use the verb be, adjectives and adverbs.

  • subject + be really + adjective.
  • subject + be quite + adjective.
  • subject + be so + adjective.
  • be + subject + really so + adjective?
  • subject + be pretty + adjective.

Similar templates can be used with the other linking verbs.

Examples

She is really happy.
He is quite tall.
You are so nice!
Is it really so hard?
The coffee is pretty strong.
The cookies are so good!
It was pretty easy.
She seems really nice.
I feel so tired.
The ice feels so cold.
Does it really look so bad?
They look pretty tired.

Adverbs of Frequency

When talking about routines and habits, adverbs of frequency are often used. The following table shows these adverbs ordered from most frequent to least frequent.

100% always
almost always
usually
often
frequently
sometimes
occasionally
seldom
hardly ever
rarely
0% never

Practice

Play the audio, then write the English word or sentence that you hear. Press the Check button to see if your answers are correct.

Listen
Listen
Listen
Listen
Listen

Quiz

Here is the online quiz for this lesson. Make sure you have learned the adverbs and the sentence structures included in this lesson. Once you have passed it, you can start the next lesson.

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