Adverbs & Adverb Types

Adverbs are words that modify verbs, that is, they describe verbs. They also show to what degree something has been done. Many adverbs end in -ly. For example:

• Annie walked quietly into the room.
• My house was completely destroyed in the earthquake.
• He blatantly ignored my request.

Sometimes we use adverbs that do not end in -ly and we often refer to these as irregular adverbs. For example:

• I’ve heard enough of your get rich quick schemes!
• Martin screwed the lid on the peanut butter jar tight.
• You’re going to have to drive your car fast to get there on time.

An adverb can also modify other words such as adjectives.

• The whole lesson was extremely boring.
  (The adjective is boring)
• The stones were hot enough to fry an egg on them.
  (The adjective is hot)
• The man was completely unaware of the crime.
  (The adjective is unaware)

An adverbial can often be a phrase or a group of words that function as an adverb. For example:

• Get down here as quickly as possible.
• We get together twice a week for dinner.
• The children could run around to their heart’s content.

Adverbs of Manner, Time, Place and Frequency

There are different types of adverbs and they do a lot of work. However, in this module we are going to examine just four types of adverb:

Adverbs of Manner
These adverbs concentrate on how something is done. For example:

• Please don’t speak so quickly. I can’t hear what you are saying.
• The man walked hurriedly to the train station.
• The man next door plays his music so loudly. He must be deaf.

Adverbs of Time
These adverbs concentrate on when something is done.

• Shall I come round now?
• I saw Martin last week.
• I saw him yesterday.

Adverbs of Place
These adverbs concentrate on where something is done.

• Shall we meet here again another time?
• There it is! Can you see it?
• I was walking through the mountains and everywhere I could hear the sound of grazing sheep.

Adverbs of Frequency
These adverbs concentrate on how often something is done.

• I usually go to the cinema every week.
• I always catch the train to work.
• Martin plays chess occasionally.

We often use adverbials that generally give more information when we use these kinds of adverbs, such as:

• I go to the cinema about four times a month.
• I catch the train to work most days.
• Martin plays chess a couple of times a year. 

Gerunds vs Present Participles

Gerunds can also appear in compound nouns, such as:

• Swimming pool
• Shopping centre
• Racing pigeon

...and in phrases where there is no main verb, such as:

• How about giving me a lift?
• No smoking!

The gerund should not be confused with the present participle, which has the same form (verb-ing)
The –ing form is always present participle if it is preceded by the auxiliary verb be:
In the present tense:

• am
• are
• is

In the past tense:

• was
• were

If the –ing form is preceded by be, it is part of the continuous tense structure. Continuous tenses will be dealt with in detail in a future module. Here are some examples. Note that these sentences do not contain any gerunds, only present participles.

• We’re seeing a movie tonight. Would you like to come?
  (Making arrangements with someone)
• I’m watching TV at the moment.
  (On the phone to a friend)
• Charles was teaching in class when a student asked a question.
  (Describing something that was in progress sometime in the past which was interrupted by something else)
• Mark is running his own business at the moment.
  (Describing a current state or situation)
• We were playing squash yesterday.
  (Describing an event that was in progress in the past)

Sometimes a present participle is not preceded by a form of ‘to be’. For example, in the sentence “I saw him dancing” “dancing” is a present participle as it doesn’t operate as a noun. As a test, try replacing it by “something”. You cannot say “I saw him something”, therefore it is neither a noun nor a gerund. On the other hand, you can say “I enjoy something”, therefore in the sentence “I enjoy dancing” ‘dancing’ is

a gerund.
Another example:

• He loves looking up at the clouds (“He loves something” – gerund)
• He lay looking up at the clouds (NOT “He lay something” – present participle)

These grammar points on use of gerunds are by no means exhaustive. This area of grammar is quite complex, so a good read through the section on gerunds in a decent grammar book would not go amiss. In the meantime, have a look at the next exercise. 

Gerund & Infinitives

There are a handful of words in the English language that look like verbs. However, they are not. Even though they are derived from verbs, they operate as nouns. Look at the following sentences

• Smoking kills people.
• Swimming is good for you.
• I love running on the beach.
• I prefer eating at home.

It is easy to confuse the highlighted words in these sentences with the present participle, because they have the same form (verb-ing). However, if you look closely at where these words are in the sentence, you will see that they operate as nouns.
In the first two sentences…

• Smoking kills people.
• Swimming is good for you.

…“smoking” and “swimming” operate as the subject of the sentence. They appear before the main verbs “kills” and “is”.
In the second two sentences…

• I love running on the beach.
• I prefer eating at home.

…“running” and “eating” operate as the object of the sentence. They appear after the main verbs “love” and “prefer”.
These types of nouns are called gerunds.
It’s important for learners of English to avoid confusing gerunds with the infinitive (to + verb) form. Look at the following sentences:

• I love to swim in the sea.
• We stopped to rest after two hours of hard work.
• I like to play squash every week.

Please note that the main verbs in these sentences are “love”, “stopped” and “like”. These verbs are followed by infinitives: “to swim”, “to rest” and “to play”.
Most of the verbs that can be followed by a gerund cannot be followed by an infinitive, and vice versa. For example:

• I enjoy dancing (not ‘to dance”)
• He can’t afford to go abroad (not “going”)

Some of the verbs that can only be followed by a gerund are:

admit anticipate appreciate avoid consider

deny discuss dislike enjoy escape finish

get through give up go on can't help imagine involve keep (on)

mention (not) mind miss postpone practise put off recall

recommend report resent resist resume risk

stop suggest take up tolerate understand

Some of the verbs that can only be followed by an infinitive are:

agree aim appear ask (smb) (not) care cause smb claim

condescend consent decide demand deserve desire endeavour expect (smb)

fail get (smb) happen hesitate help smb hope instruct smb invite smb learn

long manage offer order smb persuade smb plan prepare (smb) pretend proceed

promise refuse remind smb resolve seem strive struggle swear tell smb tend threaten

trustsmb volunteer vow wait (for smb) want (smb) warn him yearn

Sometimes sentences can use either the gerund (cheering / cleaning) or the infinitive (to cheer / to clean) with little or no difference between the two. Look at the following pairs of sentences:

• When Joe came around the corner, his colleagues in the office began cheering.
• When Joe came around the corner, his colleagues in the office began to cheer.
• When mother came into the house, we immediately started cleaning the kitchen
• When mother came into the house, we immediately started to clean the kitchen

However, sometimes there is a slight difference in meaning between the –ing form (doing / leaving) and the infinitive form (to do / to leave). With some verbs (i.e. a verb that expresses a strong feeling such as “hate”) sometimes the –ing form gives a sense of the action really happening, whereas the infinitive form points to a possible future action. Look at the following sentences:

• I hate doing the same thing in my job every day.
  (The person speaking may not be enjoying what he/she is doing at that moment in time.)
• I hate to do the same thing in my job every day.
  (The person speaking may not be looking forward to going to work later.)

• I hate leaving everything until the last minute.
  (The person saying this may be annoyed at that moment in time and regrets that he/she didn’t start preparing for whatever it is earlier.)
• I hate to leave everything until the last minute.
  (The person saying this may be making a general statement about their attitude towards future situations.)

It is important to place these sentences in a context to aid further understanding.

• I didn't like complaining about my boss.
  (The person speaking complained, but didn't enjoy it.)
• I didn't like to complain about my boss.
  (The person speaking didn't complain at all because it wasn't a good idea or the speaker got cold feet.)

If you understand that the speaker’s boss had done something to upset them earlier that day, it is easy to understand clearly the meaning of these two sentences.

As teachers, we need to be aware of the slight differences between using the –ing form and the infinitive form.
The difference in meaning between a gerund and an infinitive is more significant with the following verbs:

Forget:		I forgot posting the letter (did it, then had a mental lapse) I forgot to post the letter (had a mental lapse, and therefore did not do it)
Mean:		This new order will mean working overtime (entail) I only meant to encourage him. (intend)
Regret:		I regret yelling at him (do it, then feel bad) We regret to inform you that your application has not been successful (feel bad, but then do it)
Try:		Why don’t you try adding some sugar and see if it tastes better that way? (do it as an experiment) I tried to find some sugar in the house but I couldn’t. (make an effort, often not successful)

In addition, when the main verb is continuous (intending / beginning) you generally wouldn't use a gerund. Look at the following sentences:

• I am intending to go to Japan next month. (Correct)
• I am intending going to Japan next month. (Incorrect)
• The office staff were starting to arrive at the party. (Correct)
• The office staff were starting arriving at the party. (Incorrect)
• Martin was beginning to see the point. (Correct)
• Martin was beginning seeing the point. (Incorrect)

Subject & Object

Look at this sentence:

• Kylielost her keys.

There are three main parts to this sentence:

1.     The main verb is “lost”.

2.     “Kylie” is the subject of the verb, that is, the ‘doer’ of the action.

3.     “Her keys” is the object of the verb, that is, the thing to which the action of the verb is done.

In a longer sentence the subject and object may not be as conspicuous but you can always find them by looking for the ‘doer’ of the action and the ‘recipient’ of the action. For example:

My friend Mike, who always amazes me with his extravagant purchases, bought a $500 golden pen yesterday.

The ‘doer’ of the action is Mike (the subject), the action itself is ‘bought’ (the main verb) and the ‘recipient’, i.e. the thing to which the action is done is ‘pen’ (the object).

The object can be either a thing or a person, e.g. in the sentence ‘She married Bill’, ‘Bill’ is the object.

Verb & Verb Forms

Verbs are sometimes thought of as ‘doing’ or ‘action’ words. For example:

• He walks to work.
• I am a student.

There are many verbs in English. Here are some examples:

• Write, walk, drive, smile, complain, eat, sleep… and many more…

Verb Forms

Verbs appear in one of the four forms: present simple, past simple, present participle and past participle. For example:

• I walk to work every morning.
  (Here the verb is in its present simple form)
• I walked to the pub last night.
  (Here the verb is in its past simple form)
• I was walking to a restaurant when you called me.
  (Here the verb is in its present participle form)
• I had walked in that park before.
  (Here the verb is in its past participle form, which is used after the verbs ‘have’ and ‘be’. It is the same as past simple for regular verbs but it can be different for irregular verbs)

Notice that verbs do not appear in a future form. There is no future verb for walk or any other verb in the English language. When we want to talk about a walk in the future, we often say, we will walk or we are going to walk. We will deal with future tense constructions in greater detail in the next module.

Regular Verbs vs Irregular Verbs

There are about 200 verbs in English that are irregular, that is, they don’t conform to the usual “-ed” past simple and/or past participle construction. Here are some examples:

• I eat breakfast every morning.
  (Past simple: ate, Past participle: eaten)
• I go for a run before breakfast.
  ( Past simple: went, Past participle: gone )
• I drink coffee around 9.00 am.
  ( Past simple: drank, Past participle: drunk )
• I get the paper every morning.
  ( Past simple: got , Past participle: got or gotten )
• He spends a lot of money.
  ( Past simple: spent , Past participle: spent )

Auxiliary Verbs: Primary

Sometimes, you will find sentences where there are two verbs close together. One will usually be the main verb and one will be the auxiliary verb. The auxiliary verb usually comes before the main verb. Only a few verbs are used as auxiliary verbs in the English language. They are sometimes thought of as supporting verbs.

1. Primary
There are three Primary Auxiliary verbs in English:

• Be
• Have
• Do

They can be used as main verbs. Look at the following sentences:

• I am Mark.
  (from the verb ‘be’)
• I have a good job.
  (from the verb ‘have’)
• They do a lot of work.
  (from the verb ‘do’)

They can also be used as auxiliary verbs.

We use be (was / were / are / am / is) as an auxiliary verb when we construct structures where the tense is continuous. Look at the following sentences using watch as the main verb:

• I was watching IPL last week.
• I am watching IPL tonight.
• Christineis watching IPL with me.

We use have (have / has / had) as an auxiliary verb when we construct structures where the tense is perfect. Look at the following sentences using eat as the main verb:

• I have eaten pizza.
• Has Martin eaten pizza?
• When I arrived at the restaurant, Martin had eaten all the sushi.

We use do (do / did / does) for question forms, negative sentences and for emphasis. Look at the following sentences using like as the main verb:

• Do you like chocolate?
• Martin didn’t like chocolate when he was young.

·         Yes, Martin does like chocolate!

Auxiliary Verbs: Modal

2. Modal

There are 11 true modal verbs in the English language. In the sentences below those verbs are in bold:

• I can play the piano.
  (Main verb: play)
• Could you close the door please?
  (Main verb: close)
• May I use the bathroom?
  (Main verb: use)
• I might visit my friends in Japan next year.
  (Main verb: visit)
• I must finish this book.
  (Main verb: finish)
• I will do the washing up.
  (Main verb: do)
• I would speak to him, if I were you.
  (Main verb: speak)
• You should eat more fruit.
  (Main verb: eat)
• Cinderella shall go to the ball.
  (Main verb: go)
• I ought to be careful of my weight.
  (Main verb: be)
• I used to ride my bike so much when I was younger.
  (Main verb: ride)

If you look at these sentences you will recognize that there are certain things that modal verbs cannot do:

They don’t work as past tense verbs. For example: ‘canned’ – ‘coulded’ – ‘mayed’ – ‘mighted’ – ‘musted’. (However there are a couple of exceptions to this rule that we will look at later in this course.)

They don’t work as continuous or –ing form verbs. For example: ‘shoulding’ – ‘shalling’ – ‘oughting to’ – ‘useding to’.

They can’t stand alone as main verbs. For example: ‘I can the piano’ – ‘could you the door?’ – ‘May I the bathroom?’ – ‘I might my friends next year.’

You cannot create an infinitive form with modal verbs. That is, you can’t place the word “to” in front of them. For example: ‘to can’ – ‘to would’ – ‘to shall’ – ‘to ought to’ – ‘to must’ – ‘to should’.