FORMS OF ADVERBS
Morphologically, English adverbs are either simple, derived or compound.
Simple forms
These are words of one or two syllables, usually of native origin, that are not compounded and do not have derivational affixes. Examples:
now, then, here, there, far, near, soon, as, such, pretty, quite, rather, else, well, even, ever, ago.
Many adverbial forms also function as prepositions However, prepositions are best contrasted with adverbial particles: up, down, in, out, on, off, over, away, back, and so on, in their directional use of ‘path’, among others: walk down the street – walk down; get off the bus – get off.
Adverbs are also used to form complex prepositions, such as far from, as well as, instead of. Certain simple adverbs have the same form as the corresponding adjective:
A hard worker – he works hard a fast car – she drives fast
An early arrival – we arrived early a late performance – we left late
Derived forms
• Those formed from adjectives by the addition of the suffix -ly include:
badly, carefully, happily, fairly, freely, slowly, principally, honestly, cheerfully, sadly, suddenly, warmly
• Some adjectives already have the -ly suffix (friendly, likely, princely, daily, weekly, monthly, annually), and this form is also that of the adverb. That is to say, another -ly suffix is not added: we don’t say *monthlily.
• Some adjective–adverb pairs have quite unrelated meanings:
hard–hardly; bare–barely; scarce–scarcely; present–presently; late–lately; short shortly, wide–widely
We had hardly /barely /scarcely opened the door when all the lights went out.
• Furthermore, some of these adverbs have different meanings with and without-ly:
All the windows were wide open. ‘Open wide’, said the dentist to the boy.
He is widely recognized as an expert. His books are widely available.
The interview was cut short to issue an emergency flood warning and was resumed shortly after.
They started late and finished late. None of the family has heard from Richard lately (recently).
• A few adverbs in -ly are not derived from adjectives: accordingly, namely, jokingly, among others.
• Certain very common adjectives expressing very basic meanings don’t lend themselves to adverb formation: big, small, young, old, tall, tiny, fat, among others.
• Those formed from nouns, by the addition of -wise, -ways, -ward(s), include:
• clockwise, moneywise; sideways, lengthways; backward(s), forward(s). (AmE without ‘s’)
• A small group of adverbs beginning a- indicate mainly position or direction: about, above, across, again, ahead, along, aloud, apart, around, aside, away. Ago, by contrast, is used with units of time: a few minutes ago, centuries ago.
• Another small set of adverbs has be- as first syllable, also indicating position or direction: before, behind, below, beneath, besides, between, beyond. These can also function as prepositions: I’ve been here before (adv.); It was before the war (prep.).
Compound forms
There are two types:
• shortened forms of what were originally PPs: downhill, indoors, inside, outside, downstairs, overhead, overall, overnight, and others;
• combinations with other classes of word: somewhere (AmE someplace,) anywhere, nowhere, everywhere; however, moreover, nevertheless; anyway, anyhow.
Phrasal adverbs are those which do not form compounds, but consist of more than one word: of course; at all; kind of, sort of; in fact; as well.
