Editing English grammar (section)

===Adverbs===
{{Main|English adverbs}}
[[Adverb]]s perform a wide range of functions. They typically modify verbs (or verb phrases), adjectives (or adjectival phrases), or other adverbs (or adverbial phrases).<ref name=carter-mccarthy-p311>{{Harvnb|Carter|McCarthy|2006|p=311}}</ref> However, adverbs also sometimes qualify noun phrases ('''''only''' the boss''; '''''quite''' a lovely place''), pronouns and determiners ('''''almost''' all''), prepositional phrases ('''''halfway''' through the movie''), or whole sentences, to provide contextual comment or indicate an attitude ('''''Frankly''', I don't believe you'').<ref name=carter-mccarthy-p313>{{Harvnb|Carter|McCarthy|2006|p=313}}</ref> They can also indicate a relationship between clauses or sentences (''He died, and '''consequently''' I inherited the estate'').<ref name=carter-mccarthy-p313/>

Many English adverbs are formed from adjectives by adding the ending ''-ly'', as in ''hopefully'', ''widely'', ''theoretically'' (for details of spelling and etymology, see ''[[-ly]]''). Certain words can be used as both adjectives and adverbs, such as ''fast'', ''straight'', and ''hard''; these are [[flat adverb]]s. In earlier usage more flat adverbs were accepted in formal usage; many of these survive in idioms and colloquially. (''That's just '''plain''' ugly''.) Some adjectives can also be used as flat adverbs when they actually describe the subject. (''The streaker ran '''naked''''', not ''The streaker ran '''nakedly'''''.) The adverb corresponding to the adjective ''good'' is ''well'' (note that ''bad'' forms the regular ''badly'', although ''ill'' is occasionally used in some phrases).

There are also many adverbs that are not derived from adjectives,<ref name=carter-mccarthy-p311/> including adverbs of time, of frequency, of place, of degree and with other meanings. Some suffixes that are commonly used to form adverbs from nouns are ''-ward[s]'' (as in ''homeward[s]'') and ''-wise'' (as in ''lengthwise'').

Adverbs are also formed by adding -''ly'' to the participles. For example, ''according,'' a present participle adjective, becomes ''accordingly,'' an adverb, by adding -''ly'' after it. The past participle adjective ''repeated'' becomes ''repeatedly'' by adding -''ly'' after it.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

Most adverbs form comparatives and superlatives by modification with ''more'' and ''most'': ''often'', ''more often'', ''most often''; ''smoothly'', ''more smoothly'', ''most smoothly'' (see also [[#Comparison|comparison of adjectives]], above). However, a few adverbs retain irregular inflection for [[comparative]] and [[superlative]] forms:<ref name=carter-mccarthy-p311/> ''much'', ''more'', ''most''; ''a little'', ''less'', ''least''; ''well'', ''better'', ''best''; ''badly'', ''worse'', ''worst''; ''far'', ''further'' (''farther''), ''furthest'' (''farthest''); or follow the regular adjectival inflection: ''fast'', ''faster'', ''fastest''; ''soon'', ''sooner'', ''soonest''; etc.

Adverbs indicating the manner of an action are generally placed after the verb and its objects (''We considered the proposal '''carefully'''''), although other positions are often possible (''We '''carefully''' considered the proposal''). Many adverbs of frequency, degree, certainty, etc. (such as ''often'', ''always'', ''almost'', ''probably'', and various others such as ''just'') tend to be placed before the verb (''they '''usually''' have chips''), although if there is an auxiliary or other "special verb" (see {{slink||Verbs}} above), then the normal position for such adverbs is after that special verb (or after the first of them, if there is more than one): ''I have '''just''' finished the crossword''; ''She can '''usually''' manage a pint''; ''We are '''never''' late''; ''You might '''possibly''' have been unconscious''. Adverbs that provide a connection with previous information (such as ''next'', ''then'', ''however''), and those that provide the context (such as time or place) for a sentence, are typically placed at the start of the sentence: '''''Yesterday''' we went on a shopping expedition''.<ref>{{cite web|first = Kenneth |last = Beare| url = https://www.thoughtco.com/adverb-placement-in-english-1211117| title = Adverb Placement in English|work = ThoughtCo.|date = 10 February 2019}}</ref> If the verb has an object, the adverb comes after the object (''He finished the test '''quickly'''''). When there is more than one type of adverb, they usually appear in the order: manner, place, time (''His arm was hurt '''severely at home yesterday''''').<ref>{{Cite web|title=Adverbs and adverb phrases: position – English Grammar Today – Cambridge Dictionary|url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/adverbs-and-adverb-phrases-position|access-date=2020-09-24 |website= dictionary.cambridge.org|language=en}}</ref>

A special type of adverb is the adverbial particle used to form [[phrasal verb]]s (such as ''up'' in ''pick up'', ''on'' in ''get on'', etc.) If such a verb also has an object, then the particle may precede or follow the object, although it will normally follow the object if the object is a pronoun (''pick the pen up'' or ''pick up the pen'', but ''pick it up'').

====Phrases<span class="anchor" id="Adverb phrases"></span>====
An [[adverb phrase]] is a phrase that acts as an adverb within a sentence.<ref name=carter-mccarthy-p312>{{Harvnb|Carter|McCarthy|2006|p=312}}</ref> An adverb phrase may have an adverb as its [[head (linguistics)|head]], together with any modifiers (other adverbs or adverb phrases) and complements, analogously to the [[#Adjective phrases|adjective phrases]]{{Broken anchor|date=2025-05-05|bot=User:Cewbot/log/20201008/configuration|target_link=#Adjective phrases|reason= The anchor (Adjective phrases) [[Special:Diff/838103608|has been deleted]].|diff_id=838103608}} described above. For example: ''very sleepily''; ''all too suddenly''; ''oddly enough''; ''perhaps shockingly for us''.

Another very common type of adverb phrase is the [[prepositional phrase]], which consists of a preposition and its object: ''in the pool''; ''after two years''; ''for the sake of harmony''.