Adverbs and negation

Here we will outline the grammatical behavior of adverbs in English. There is brief mention of the forms of adverbs, and then detailed analysis of their five functional roles—modifying a clause or a sentence (sentential function), a verb-plus-object (manner function), an NP, an adjective, or another adverb. Subclasses of adverbs are outlined, together with the functional possibilities for each. There is also discussion of how adverbs can be combined within a single clause. We will examine the functional roles of negation, comparing these with the functional possibilities for adverbs.

Adverbs form a large class in English, with wide possibilities. I have made no attempt to deal exhaustively with every adverb and every possible use. Rather, the focus has been on the basic grammatical patterns and parameters of the class of adverbs, and the canonical properties of its main members.