1. What comes after an adverb?
For example:
- She carefully avoided his eyes. (Cô ấy cẩn thận tránh ánh mắt của anh ấy.)
- My father often cooks dinner. (Ba tôi thường nấu bữa tối.)
2. The concept of adverbs and their general functions
An adverb (Adv) is a component of a sentence that modifies adjectives, verbs, clauses, or other adverbs. Adverbs are classified into various types and can appear in any position within a sentence, depending on the function and context of the sentence.
For example:
- Today, it is very wet. (Hôm nay, trời rất ẩm ướt.)
- He speaks French well. (Anh ấy nói tiếng Pháp tốt.)
- She dances badly. (Cô ấy nhảy tệ.)
3. How adverbs are formed
Formation of adjectives
Adverbs are formed by adding the suffix '-ly' to adjectives.
Example: Careful- carefully, careless- carelessly, frank- frankly, beautiful- beautifully, honest- honestly,…
When the adjective suffix is '-able', remove the '-e' and add '-y'.
Example: Sensible- sensibly, sensible- sensibly, incredible- incredibly, probable- probably,…
For words ending in '-e', remove the '-e' before adding '-ly'. If the letter before '-e' is '-l', just add '-y'.
Example: Gentle- gently, true- truly,…
When an adjective ends in '-y', replace '-y' with '-i' before adding '-ly'.
Example: Greedy- greedily, happy- happily, easy- easily,…
Formation of nouns
Adverbs are formed by adding the suffix '-wise' to nouns.
Example:
- Edge (n): rìa/ mép/ cạnh -> edgewise (adv): dọc theo rìa/ mép/ cạnh.
- Clock (n): đồng hồ -> clockwise (adv): theo chiều kim đồng hồ quay.
Some adverbs end with '-wise' but are not formed from nouns.
Example: Likewise, otherwise,…
Special cases
These are adverbs without the suffix '-ly' and resemble adjectival forms.
Example: Fast -> fast, late -> late, hard -> hard,…
Some adverbs change meaning when the suffix '-ly' is added.
Example:
- Hardly (adv): hiếm khi (trạng từ tần suất).
- Lately (adv): gần đây (trạng từ chỉ thời gian).
There are words ending in '-ly' that function both as adverbs and adjectives.
Example: Friendly, early, daily,…
4. Classification of adverbs and their positions in sentences
Adverbs are classified into 7 main types based on their function and position.
Adverb indicating manner
Function: Describing how an action is performed, describing how the subject performs an action. This adverb modifies the verb and often comes directly after or near the verb.
Position: Positioned after intransitive verbs, after the direct object, and before transitive verbs.
For example:
- My brother drives carefully. (Anh trai tôi lái xe cẩn thận.)
- She can play guitar well. (Cô ấy có thể chơi guitar tốt.)
- He quickly held that sick ten-year-old child. (Anh ấy đã nhanh chóng ôm đứa trẻ 10 tuổi bị bệnh đó.)
Adverb indicating frequency
Function: Describing how often the subject performs an action or a certain state. This adverb typically accompanies the verb to be or other verbs.
Position: Positioned after the verb to be, before or after other verbs.
For example:
- She is always kind and friendly. (Cô ấy luôn luôn tử tế và thân thiện.)
- He plays football frequently. (Anh ấy chơi bóng đá thường xuyên.)
- My sister sometimes reads books. (Em gái tôi thỉnh thoảng đọc sách.)
Adverb indicating time
Function: Describing the time when the subject performs an action or a certain quality, state, etc.
Position: Positioned at the end of a sentence or at the beginning of a sentence for emphasis.
For example:
- I bought this hat last month. (Tôi mua cái mũ này tháng trước.)
- Next year, I will sell this car. (Năm sau, tôi sẽ bán chiếc xe này.)
Adverb indicating place
Function: Describing the location of a person, object,... present or an event currently happening.
Position: Immediately after the verb.
For example:
- This morning, I went out with my dog. (Sáng nay, tôi đã ra ngoài với con chó của tôi.)
- She is there. (Cô ấy ở đó.)
Adverb indicating degree
Function: Describing the degree of manner, quality of performing an action, or an action related to emotions.
Position: Precedes adjectives, adverbs, and verbs.
For example:
- I was pretty tired. (Tôi đã khá mệt.)
- He dances very beautifully. (Anh ấy nhảy rất đẹp.)
- My sister really likes dogs. (Chị gái tôi thật sự thích chó.)
Adverb indicating opinion, viewpoint
Function: Expressing the opinion, viewpoint,... of the speaker about a thing, event, situation,...
Position: At the beginning of a sentence, end of a sentence, after the verb 'tobe', and before regular verbs.
For example:
- Surprisingly, Tom came. (Bất ngờ thay, Tom đã đến.)
- She likes you, apparently. (Cô ấy thích bạn, có vẻ là như vậy.)
- He is apparently a good person. ( Anh ấy có vẻ là người rất tốt.)
- I actually like his performance. (Tôi thật sự thích phần trình diễn của anh ấy.)
Conjunction adverb
Function: Connects two clauses or two sentences.
Position: Starts a sentence and is followed by a comma.
For example:
- I like dogs, whereas she likes cats. (Tôi thích chó trong khi cô ấy thích mèo.)
- I was sick, therefore I couldn’t go out. (Tôi đã bị bệnh, vì vậy tôi không thể ra ngoài.)
5. Some of the most common adverbs
Adverbs of manner
- Anxiously: một cách lo lắng
- Beautifully: một cách đẹp đẽ/ hay
- Carefully: một cách cẩn thận
- Accurately: một cách chính xác
- Bravely: một cách dũng cảm
- Easily: một cách dễ dàng
- Hurriedly: một cách vội vã
- Politely: một cách lịch sự
- Quickly: một cách nhanh chóng
- Seriously: một cách nghiêm túc
Adverbs of frequency
- Always: luôn luôn
- Regularly: đều đặn
- Usually/ frequently: thường xuyên
- Sometimes: đôi khi
- Seldom/ scarcely/ rarely/ hardly: hiếm khi
- Hardly ever: gần như/ hầu như không
- Never: không bao giờ
Adverbs of degree
- Rather/quite/pretty: khá là
- Very: rất
- Really: thật sự
- Extremely: cực kỳ
- Completely: hoàn toàn
- Absolutely: tuyệt đối
Adverbs expressing viewpoint
- Luckily/ fortunately : may mắn là/thay
- Honestly: thành thật mà nói
- Frankly: thẳng thắn mà nói
- Apparently: có vẻ là
- Clearly: rõ ràng là
- Unluckily/ unfortunately: không may là/ thay
Adverbs of conjunction
- Besides: bên cạnh đó
- Consequently: kết quả là
- Conversely: ngược lại
- Finally: cuối cùng
- Additionally: ngoài ra
- However: tuy nhiên
- Nevertheless: tuy nhiên
- Meanwhile: trong khi đó
6. Comparison forms of adverbs
The comparison forms of adverbs also adhere to the principles of adjectives.
Example: She runs as fast as her sister.
Similar to adjectives, adverbs also exhibit dual comparison forms.
Example: He is increasingly moving slowly. (Anh ấy đang đi ngày càng chậm hơn.)
Synonymous adverbs
- Nhanh, lập tức: immediately, promptly, urgently, quickly, swiftly, rapidly
- Đầy đủ: adequately, sufficiently
- Cẩn thận, kỹ càng: carefully, cautiously, thoroughly, meticulously, elaborately
- Vô cùng, rất: highly, extremely, very, really
- Hoàn toàn: fully (+verb), absolutely (+adj), completely (+adj), extensively (+ verb/adj)
- Sớm, ngay: shortly, soon, right after/before, briefly
- Đặc biệt, cụ thể: Especially, specifically
- Thường xuyên: frequently, regularly, usually, often, consistently
- Hiếm khi: hardly, seldom, scarcely
- Ban đầu: firstly, initially, primarily, originally
Common mistakes when using adverbs
Using adverbs after Linking Verbs
Many English learners mistakenly believe that adverbs always follow verbs. However, there are some Linking Verbs that require adjectives instead.
Example: Feel, become, seem, look, smell, sound, taste,…
Confusing similar-looking adverbs
Confusion between adverbs that look similar but have different meanings or mistakenly adding “-ly” to adverbs that do not end in “-ly”.
For example:
- Hard (chăm chỉ) -> hardly (gần như không)
- Late (muộn) -> lately (gần đây)
Incorrect adverb usage
Using adverbs incorrectly in specific cases.
For instance:
'Very' should not precede a verb.
- I very like you. (sai)
- I really like you. (đúng)
'A lot' is only used after a linking verb or as a direct object of a transitive verb.
- He sleeps a lot.
- I love you a lot.
9. Exercises on adverbs in English
Exercise 1. Choose the correct answer
1. …………….., we lost the game.
A. unlucky B. unluckily
2. She shut the door……………..
A. angrily B. angry
3. The baby is sleeping. We should talk more……………..
A. softly B. soft
4. This coat feels……………..
A. roughly B. rough
5. Those students appear……………..
A. anxiously B. anxious
6. She…………….. saved the child.
A. brave B. bravely
7. You speak…………….. Japanese.
A. perfect B. perfectly
8. The pizza…………….. tastes
A. awful B. awfully
9. That child looks very……………..
A. sadly B. sad
10. His son dances……………..
A. beautifully B. beautiful
Bài 2. Sửa lỗi sai trong câu
- Today, I feel confidently.
- My elder brother plays basketball rarely.
- They cooked dinner quick.
- They seem happily today.
- Our daughter works very hardly.
- She always walks fastly.
- This apple tastes well.
- That employee usually goes to work lately.
- That runner is faster a lot.
- I very like that green shirt.
Đáp án bài tập
Bài 1. Chọn đáp án chính xác
- B
- B
- A
- B
- B
- B
- A
- A
- B
- A
Bài 2. Sửa sai trong câu
- Confidently ⟶ Confident
- Plays basketball rarely ⟶ Rarely plays basketball
- Quick ⟶ Quickly
- Happily ⟶ Happy
- Hardly ⟶ Hard
- Fastly ⟶ Fast
- Well ⟶ Good
- Lately ⟶ Late
- Faster a lot ⟶ A lot faster
- Very ⟶ Really