Lecture VI Of Adverbs
An adverb is a word used to modify the sense of a verb, aparticiple, an adjective, or another adverb.
Recollect, an adverb never qualifies a noun. It qualifies any of the four parts of speech abovenamed, and none others.
To modify or qualify, you know, means to produce some change. The adverb modifies. If I say, Wirt’s style excels Irving’s, the proposition is affirmative, and the verb excels expresses the affirmation. But when I say, Wirt’s style excels not Irving’s, the assertion is changed to a negative. What is it that thus modifies or changes the meaning of the verb excels? You perceive that it is the little word not. This word has power to reverse the meaning of the sentence. Not, then, is a modifier, qualifier, or negative adverb.
When an adverb is used to modify the sense of a verb or participle, it generally expresses the manner, time, or place, in which the action is performed, or some accidental circumstance respecting it. In the phrases, The man rides gracefully, awkwardly, badly, swiftly, slowly, &c.; or, I saw the man riding swiftly, slowly, leisurely, very fast, &c., you perceive that the words gracefully, awkwardly, very fast, &c., are adverbs, qualifying the verb rides, or the participle riding, because they express the manner in which the action denoted by the verb and participle, is done.
In the phrases, The man rides daily, weekly, seldom, frequently, often, sometimes, never; or, The man rode yesterday, heretofore, long since, long ago, recently, lately, just now or, The man will ride soon, presently, directly, immediately, by and by, to-day, hereafter, you perceive that all these words in italics, are adverbs, qualifying the meaning of the verb, rides, because they express the time of the action denoted by the verb.
Again, if I say, The man lives here, near by, yonder, remote, far off, somewhere, nowhere, everywhere, &c., the words in italics are adverbs of place, because they tell where he lives.
Adverbs likewise qualify adjectives, and sometimes other adverbs; as, more wise, most wise; or more wisely, most wisely. When an adverb is joined to an adjective or adverb, it generally expresses the degree of comparison; for adverbs, like adjectives, have degrees of comparison. Thus, in the phrase, A skilful artist, you know the adjective skilful is in the positive degree; but, by placing the adverb more before the adjective, we increase the degree of quality denoted by the adjective to the comparative; as, A more skilful artist: and most renders it superlative; as, A most skilful artist. And if we place more and most before other adverbs, the effect is the same; as, skilfully, more skilfully, most skilfully.
Comparison of Adverbs
| Positive. | Comparative. | Superlative. |
| soon, | sooner, | soonest. |
| often, | oftener, | oftenest. |
| much, | more, | most. |
| well, | better, | best. |
| far, | farther, | farthest. |
| wisely, | more wisely, | most wisely. |
| justly, | more justly, | most justly. |
| justly, | less justly, | least justly. |
You will generally know an adverb at sight; but sometimes you will find it more difficult to be distinguished, than any other part of speech in the English language. I will, therefore, give you some signs which will assist you a little.
Most words ending in ly are adverbs; such as, politely, gracefully, judiciously. Any word or short phrase that will answer to any one of the questions, how? how much? when? or where? is an adverb; as, The river flows rapidly; He walks very fast; He has gone far away; but he will soon return; She sings sweetly; They learn none at all. How, or in what manner does the river flow? Rapidly. How does he walk? Very fast. Where has he gone? Far away. When will he return? Soon. How does she sing? Sweetly. How much do they learn? None at all. From this illustration, you perceive, that, if you could not tell these adverbs by the sense, you would know them by their answering to the questions. However, your better way will be to distinguish adverbs by considering the office they perform in the sentence; or by noticing their grammatical relation, or their situation, with respect to other words. To gain a thorough knowledge of their real character, is highly important. Rapidly, fast, far away, soon, sweetly, &c. are known to be adverbs by their qualifying the sense of verbs. “A very good pen writes extremely well.” Well, in this sentence, is known to be an adverb by its qualifying the sense of the verb writes; extremely, by its ending in ly, or by its being joined to the adverb well to qualify it; and very is known as an adverb by its joining the adjective good.
Expressions like these, none at all, a great deal, a few days ago, long since, at length, in vain, when they are used to denote the manner or time of the action of verbs or participles, are generally termed adverbial phrases.
Adverbs, though very numerous, may, for the sake of practical convenience, be reduced to particular classes.
1. Of Number; as, Once, twice, thrice, &c.
2. Of Order; as, First, secondly, lastly, finally, &c.
3. Of Place; as, Here, there, where, elsewhere, anywhere, somewhere, nowhere, herein, whither, hither, thither, upward, downward, forward, backward, whence, thence, whithersoever, &c.
4. Of Time. Present; as, Now, to-day, &c. Past; as, Already, before, lately, yesterday, heretofore, hitherto, long since, long ago, &c. Future; as, To-morrow, not yet, hereafter, henceforth, henceforward, by and by, instantly, presently, immediately, ere long, straightways, &c. Time indefinite; as, Oft, often, oft-times, often-times, sometimes, soon, seldom, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, always, when, then, ever, never, again, &c.
5. Of Quantity; as, Much, little, sufficiently, how much, how great, enough, abundantly, &c.
6. Of Manner or quality; as, Wisely, foolishly, justly, unjustly, quickly, slowly, &c. Adverbs of quality are the most numerous kind; and they are generally formed by adding the termination ly to an adjective or a participle, or by changing le into ly; as, Bad, badly; cheerful, cheerfully; able, ably; admirable, admirably.
7. Of Doubt; as, Haply, perhaps, peradventure, possibly, perchance.
8. Of Affirmation; as, Verily, truly, undoubtedly, doubtless, certainly, yea, yes, surely, indeed, really, &c.
9. Of Negation; as, Nay, no, not, by no means, not at all, in no wise, &c.
10. Of Interrogation; as, How, why, wherefore, whither, &c., and sometimes when, whence, where.
11. Of Comparison; as, More, most, better, best, worse, worst, less, least, very, almost, little, alike, &c.
Notes
1. This catalogue contains but a small portion of the adverbs in our language. Many adverbs are formed by a combination of prepositions with the adverbs of place, here, there, where; as, Hereof, thereof, whereof; hereto, thereto, whereto; hereby, thereby, whereby; herewith, therewith, wherewith; herein, therein, wherein; therefore, (i.e. there-for,) wherefore, (i.e. where-for,) hereupon, hereon, thereupon, thereon, whereupon, whereon, &c.
2. Some adverbs are composed of nouns or verbs and the letter a, used instead of at, an, &c.; as, Aside, athirst, afoot, asleep, aboard, ashore, abed, aground, afloat, adrift, aghast, ago, askance, away, asunder, astray, &c.
You will now please to read this lecture four times over, and read slowly and carefully, for unless you understand well the nature and character of this part of speech, you will be frequently at a loss to distinguish it from others in composition. Now do you notice, that, in this sentence which you have just read, the words slowly, carefully, well, and frequently, are adverbs? And do you again observe, that, in the question I have just put to you, the words now and just are adverbs? Exercise a little sober thought. Fifteen minutes spent in reflection, are worth whole days occupied in careless reading.
In the following exercises six parts of speech are presented, namely, Nouns, Verbs, Articles, Adjectives, Participles, and Adverbs; and I believe you are now prepared to parse them all agreeably to the systematic order, four times over. Those words in italics are adverbs.
Systematic Order of Parsing
The order of parsing an ADVERB, is—an adverb, and why?—what sort?—what does it qualify?—RULE.
“My friend has returned again; but his health is not very good.”
Again, is an adverb, a word used to modify the sense of a verb—of time indefinite, it expresses a period of time not precisely defined—it qualifies the verb “has returned,” according to Rule 29. Adverbs qualify verbs, participles, adjectives, and other adverbs.
Not is an adverb, a word used to modify the sense of an adverb—of negation, it makes the assertion negative; that is, it changes the proposition from an affirmative to a negative—and it qualifies the adverb “very,” agreeably to Rule 29. Adverbs qualify verbs, &c.
Very is an adverb, a word used to qualify the sense of an adjective—of comparison, it compares the adjective “good,” and qualifies it according to Rule 29. Adverbs qualify adjectives, &c.
Exercises in Parsing
The traveller described a lofty castle decaying gradually. Very few literary men ever became distinguished poets. The great Milton excels not Homer. The Roman women, once voluntarily contributed their most precious jewels to save the city.
Many small streams uniting, form very large rivers. The river Funza falling perpendicularly forms a vast cataract. Attentive servants always drive horses very carefully; negligent servants often drive horses very carelessly. Assiduous scholars improve very fast; idle scholars learn none at all. Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship, never.
NOTE. Several adverbs frequently qualify one verb. Have you walked? Not yet quite far enough, perhaps. Not, yet, far, and enough, qualify “have walked” understood; perhaps qualifies not; and quite qualifies far. The adverbs always and carefully both qualify the verb “drive:” the former expresses time, and the latter, manner. Once and voluntarily qualify the verb “contributed;” the former expresses number, and the latter, manner. The word their you need not parse. The active verb to save has no nominative. The nouns love and friendship, following in, are in the objective case, and governed by that preposition.
Remarks on Adverbs
When the words therefore, consequently, accordingly, and the like, are used in connexion with other conjunctions, they are adverbs; but when they appear single, they are commonly considered conjunctions.
The words when and where, and all others of the same nature, such as whence, whither, whenever, wherever, till, until, before, otherwise, while, wherefore, &c. may be properly called adverbial conjunctions, because they participate the nature both of adverbs and conjunctions; of adverbs, as they denote the attributes either of time or place; of conjunctions, as they conjoin sentences.
There are many words that are sometimes used as adjectives, and, sometimes as adverbs; as, “More men than women were there; I am more diligent than he.” In the former sentence more is evidently an adjective, for it is joined to a noun to qualify it; in the latter it is an adverb, because it qualifies an adjective. There are others that are sometimes used as nouns, and sometimes as adverbs; as, “to-day’s lesson is longer than yesterday’s.” In this example, to-day and yesterday are nouns in the possessive case; but in phrases like the following, they are generally considered adverbs of time; “He came [to his] home yesterday, and will set out again to-day.” Here they are nouns, if we supply on before them.
“Where much [wealth, talent, or something else] is given, much [increase, improvement] will be required; Much money has been expended; It is much better to write than starve.” In the first two of these examples, much is an adjective, because it qualifies a noun; in the last, an adverb, because it qualifies the adjective better. In short, you must determine to what part of speech a word belongs, by its sense, or by considering the manner in which it is associated with other words.
An adjective may, in general, be distinguished from an adverb by this rule: when a word qualifies a noun or pronoun, it is an adjective, but when it qualifies a verb, participle, adjective, or adverb, it is an adverb.
Prepositions are sometimes erroneously called adverbs, when their nouns are understood. “He rides about;” that is, about the town, country, or some-thing else. “She was near [the act or misfortune of] falling;” “But do not after [that time or event] lay the blame on me.” “He came down [the ascent] from the hill;” “They lifted him up [the ascent] out of the pit.” “The angels above;”—above us—“Above these lower heavens, to us invisible, or dimly seen.”
Before you proceed to correct the following exercises in false Syntax, you may answer these
Questions Not Answered in Parsing
Does an adverb ever qualify a noun?—What parts of speech does it qualify?—When an adverb qualifies a verb or participle, what does it express?—When an adverb qualifies an adjective or adverb, what does it generally express?—Compare some adverbs.—By what signs may an adverb be known?—Give examples.—Repeat some adverbial phrases.—Name the different classes of adverbs.—Repeat some of each class.—Repeat the order of parsing an adverb.—What rule do you apply in parsing an adverb?
Questions on the Notes
Repeat some adverbs that are formed by combining prepositions with adverbs of place.—Repeat some that are composed of the article a and nouns.—What part of speech are the words, therefore, consequently, &c.?—What words are styled adverbial conjunctions?—Why are they so called?—Is the same word sometimes used as an adjective, and sometimes as an adverb?—Give examples.—What is said of much?—By what rule can you distinguish an adjective from an adverb?—Do prepositions ever become adverbs?
Philosophical Notes
As the happiness and increasing prosperity of a people essentially depend on their advancement in science and the arts, and as language, in all its sublime purposes and legitimate bearings, is strictly identified with these, it may naturally be supposed, that that nation which continues, through successive generations, steadily to progress in the former, will not be neglectful of the cultivation and refinement of the latter. The truth of this remark is illustrated by those who have, for many ages, employed the English language as their medium for the transmission of thought. Among its refinements may be ranked those procedures by which verbs and nouns have been so modified and contracted as to form what we call adverbs, distributives, conjunctions, and prepositions; for I presume it will be readily conceded, that conciseness, as well as copiousness and perspicuity in language, is the offspring of refinement. That an immense amount of time and breath is saved by the use of adverbs, the following development will clearly demonstrate. He who is successful in contracting one mode of expression that is daily used by thirty millions, doubtless does much for their benefit.
Most adverbs express in one word what would otherwise require two or more words; as, “He did it here,” for, He did it in this place; there, for, in that place; where, for, in what place; now, for, at this time. Why means for what reason; how—in what mind, mood, mode, or manner; exceedingly—to a great degree; very—in an eminent degree; often and seldom signify many times, few times.
The procedures by which words have been contracted, modified and combined, to form this class of words, have been various. The most prolific family of this illegitimate race, are those in ly, a contraction of like. Gentleman-ly, means gentleman-like, like a gentleman. We do not yet say, ladily, but lady-like. The north Britons still say, wiselike, manlike, instead of, wisely, manly.
Quick comes from gwick, the past part. of the Anglo-Saxon verb gwiccian, to vivify, give life. Quick-ly or live-ly, means, in a quick-like or life-like manner; in the manner of a creature that has life. Rapid-ly—rapid-like, like a rapid; a quick-ly or swift-ly running place in a stream.
Al-ways, contraction of in all ways. By a slight transition, it means in or at all times. Al-one, contraction of all-one. On-ly—one-like. Al-so—all the same (thing.) Ever—an age. For ever and ever—for ages and ages. Ever is not synonymous with always. Never—ne ever. It signifies no age, no period of time. No, contraction of not. Not, a modification of no-thing, noth-ing, naught. “He is not greater”—is greater in naught—in no thing.
Adrift is the past part. adrifed, adrif’d, adrift; from the Saxon drifan, or adrifan, to drive. Ago, formerly written ygo, gon, agon, gone, agone, is the past part. of the verb to go. It refers to time gone by. Asunder, the Saxon past part. asundren, from the verb sondrian or asondrian, to separate. Aloft—on the loft, on luft, on lyft; lyft being the Anglo-Saxon word for air or clouds. Astray, the part. of straegan, to stray. Awry, part. of wry than, to writhe.
Needs—need-is; anciently, nedes, nede is. To-wit, the infinitive of witan, to know. It means, to be known. Ay or yea signifies have it, enjoy it. Yes is ay-es, have, possess, enjoy that. Our corrupt o-yes of the crier, is the French imperative, oyez, hear, listen. Straight way—by a straight way. While—wheel; period in which some thing whiles or wheels itself round. Till—to while. Per, Latin,—the English by. Perhaps—per haps, per chance.
These examples of derivation are given with the view to invite the attention of the intelligent pupil to the “Diversions of Purley, by John Horne Tooke.”
Questions on the Philosophical Notes
How does the use of adverbs contribute to the conciseness of language?—Illustrate the fact.—What is said of ly, like, and quick?—How are the following words composed, always, alone, only, also?—What is the meaning of ever, never, not, adrift, ago, asunder, aloft, astray, awry?—Give the signification of needs, to-wit, ye, yes, o-yes, straightway, while, till, and per.
NOTE. Learners need not answer the questions on the Philosophical Notes, in this or any other Lecture, unless the teacher deem it expedient.
Exercises in false syntax
NOTE 3, TO RULE 29, Adjectives are sometimes improperly applied as adverbs; as, indifferent honest; excellent well; miserable poor:—She writes elegant; He is walking slow.
The adjectives indifferent, excellent, and miserable, are here improperly used, because adjectives do not express the degree of adjectives or adverbs, but such modifications are denoted by adverbs. The phrases should, therefore, be, “indifferently honest, excellently well, miserably poor.” Elegant and slow are also inaccurate, for it is not the office of the adjective to express the manner, time, or place of the action of verbs and participles, but it is the office of the adverb. The constructions should be, “She writes elegantly; He is walking slowly.”
You may correct the following examples several times over, and explain the principles that are violated.
False Syntax
He speaks fluent, and reasons coherent.
She reads proper, and writes very neat.
They once lived tolerable well, but now they are miserable poor.
The lowering clouds are moving slow.
He behaved himself submissive, and was exceeding careful not to give offence.
NOTE 4, TO RULE 29. Adverbs are sometimes improperly used instead of adjectives; as, “The tutor addressed him in terms rather warm, but suitably to his offence.”
The adverb suitably is incorrect. It does not express the manner of the action of the verb “addressed,” but it denotes the quality of the noun terms understood; for which reason it should be an adjective, suitable.
False Syntax
The man was slowly wandering about, solitarily and distressed.
He lived in a manner agreeably to his condition.
The study of Syntax should be previously to that of Punctuation.
He introduced himself in a manner very abruptly.
Conformably to their vehemence of thought, was their vehemence of gesture.
I saw him previously to his arrival.