Adverbs

Polite Requests

Adverbs add a level of formality which means our requests are serious and formal, but always polite.

“Would you kindly explain why my operating system is not compatible?”

Kindly lets me make a polite request, but also suggests that there is some frustration. I want to say, Tell me!, but of course I need to be more polite.

Urgently can also be used to add seriousness when we want to say that something needs to be done ASAP.

“This issue should be prioritized. A solution is urgently needed if we want to keep their business.”

Furthermore is an adverb we sometimes use to start a sentence. It means in addition to and usually follows important information.

“We need to urgently address the issue of training standards. Furthermore, the politeness of team members should be assessed. Kindly place these issues at the top of the list of priorities for the next quarter.”

Something is urgently needed. Furthermore, we have more issues to address. We are then kindly asked to prioritize these issues.

We can ask for what we want in a polite way that shows seriousness and necessity.

Adverbs of Possibility

We can use maybe or perhaps to express possibility, sometimes at the start of the sentence.

“Perhaps the threat is greater than we imagined.”

If we are more convinced or sure, we can use certainly or definitely, often before the main verb of the sentence.

“They are definitely going to address this issue at the next scheduled meeting.”

You can use supposedly to express doubt, either at the start or in the middle of the sentence.

“Supposedly, this deadline is achievable.”

“This new system is supposedly more secure.”

Supposedly is also used to express frustration, because we may feel unenthusiastic about a situation or deadline that is unrealistic.

Adverbs of Probability

Adverbs usually go before the main verb, but usually follow the verb "be".

These adverbs can go at the start of the sentence. However : Obviously is followed by a comma. Surely is not. 

 

Obviously	We are convinced something is true, necessary or definitely going to happen.	“This issue obviously needs more consideration before we make a decision.”
Likely	It will probably happen. We often use it with more or most.	“These issues would most likely be caught sooner if we implement the changes.”
Surely	Similar to obviously. It means we believe something is logical and true, but there are perhaps other possibilities.	“Our team would surely have resolved the issue faster with better communication.”

Adverbs for Comparison

As we’ve seen before, an adverb is a word that is used to modify or qualify another word in a sentence. We may want to say how or when something happens, how much or where it happens. Sometimes we need to make comparisons. We can use adverbs to do all of these things. Let’s take a look at some examples.

Do you know if there is an easier way of disabling the hardware keys?

In this sentence, easier is what we call a comparative adverb. We are talking about the ways of doing something and whether one way might be easier than another.

 

I think that you may be able to finish the task faster using a dynamically typed language.

In this sentence, faster is a comparative adverb. We are talking about one thing being faster than another.

If we want to say how something happens, we can use an adverb of manner.

 

We have to take this threat seriously and perform some urgent updates.

We can see in this sentence that seriously is an adverb of manner. We are saying how we are going to treat the threat. Seriously modifies the verb take. The adverb modifies the verb.

We can make this a comparative sentence if we use more seriously.

 

We have to take this threat more seriously and perform some urgent updates.

This suggests that the threat is not being treated as seriously as it should be.

We can also use comparative adverbs to talk about time. Let’s take a look at another example.

 

It would be beneficial to run these diagnostic tests sooner.

The situation is urgent, so it would be beneficial to run the tests sooner. Run is modified by the adverb sooner. The verb is modified by the adverb.

Adverbs can be very useful when we are in a situation where we need to provide more information and they can make our sentences sound nicer.

 

NEVER, RARELY, SELDOM, OCCASIONALLY, SOMETIMES, OFTEN, GENERALLY, USUALLY & ALWAYS.

These adverbs cover a range starting with a 0% frequency of NEVER to a 100% frequency of ALWAYS. Let’s use USUALLY for our first example.

Writing an infinite loop is usually simple.

Usually represents about 90% frequency, which means that writing an infinite loop is simple almost all the time; not quite always, but nearly. 

We use usually to show that something is normal, typical, usual, and that most of the time it does not happen in a different way. If it did, we would be surprised.

 

There are many adverbs of time relating to past, present, and future. BEFORE, AGO, STILL, YET, WHILE, WHEN, SOON & THEN are just some of them.

 

Let’s take a look at a specific example: ALREADY.

Already can show that something happened before it was expected. A good way to illustrate this is with the past perfect tense. 

 

I received the error message that a redirect or render had already been issued.

In this example, the speaker sounds surprised. The situation was unexpected. We can also use already with the future perfect tense. Here is an example.

 

The infinite loop will already have been written by this afternoon.

In this type of example, it is common to use by and then a time or day, for example, as a future time reference, in this case, by this afternoon. It tells us that something will have happened before this time.