Semantic classification of adverbs

 

The adverb in English undergoes two paradigmatically relevant classifications:

1) semantic;

2) lexico-grammatical.

Semantic classification is based on the meaning of adverbs. According to their meaning, adverbs fall into the following groups [18, 393]:

1. Adverbs of time: afterwards, already, at once, eventually,
immediately, lately, now, presently, soon, suddenly, then, when, yesterday, yet, etc.:

Our class is going to London tomorrow [36, 55].

It’s been two weeks now since she called home [38].

2. Adverbs of frequency: always, constantly, hardly ever, never, occasionally, often, seldom, sometimes, three times, twice, etc.:

There is always somebody at home in the evenings [40].

They sometimes stay up all night [40].

3. Adverbs of place or direction: abroad, ashore, backwards, below, downstairs, everywhere, far, here, inside, outside, seaward(s), there, to and fro, where, etc.:

We’llhave to eat here – everywhere else is full [36, 54].

He was famous, both at home and abroad [38].

A dog began to bark somewhere inside [38].

I was now far behind the others and I knew I couldn’t catch up [40].

The use of somewhere, anywhere and nowhere indifferent kinds of sentences is similar to the use of the corresponding indefinite pronouns some, any and no.

4. Adverbs of manner: badly, clearly, deeply, fast, how, quickly, sideways, sincerely, somehow, well, willingly, etc.:

His campaign was not going well [41].

The economic crisis reflects badly on the government’s policies [41].

We are sincerely grateful for your help [40].

Adverbs of manner saying how an action is performed can freely occur with dynamic verbs, but not with stative verbs:

He looked into the problem carefully [38].

He walked upstairs quietly [38].

The boy blushed violently [36, 52].

5. Adverbs of degree or intensifiers can be used before adjectives, verbs, or other adverbs to give information about the extent or level of something: completely, enough, extremely, highly, muck, nearly, perfectly, pretty, quite, rather, really, so, somewhat, terribly, too, unusually, very, etc.:

Sometimes the UK seems completely isolated from the main stream of European culture [40].

The ambassador made a brief statement, saying that the talks had been very productive [38].

Myerssaid that two year prison sentence for rape was totally unacceptable and inadequate [38].

Adverbs of degree or intensifiers may be subdivided into three semantic groups:

1) emphasizers (emphasizing the truth of the communication): actually, at all, clearly, definitely, indeed, just, literally, plainly, really, simply, etc.:

What do you really think about it [41]?

When I told you to ‘get lost’ I didn’t expect to be taken literally [41].

Fameis often simply a matter of being in the right place at the right time

[40].

I just can't understand it[36, 60].

You haven't done it well at all [38].

2) amplifiers (expressing a high degree): absolutely, altogether, badly, bitterly, completely, deeply, downright, entirely, extremely, (by) far, fully, greatly, heartily, much, perfectly, pointblank, quite, terribly, thoroughly, utterly, very, etc.:

Each panel member should ensure that he or she thoroughly tests the case presented for project approval [40].

Artists are terribly difficult people for us ordinary mortals to deal with [40].

Because of the language barrier and culture shock, such insights are far too rare[41].

I told Fred pointblank that he had made a mistake [41].

He said the diesel costs £16,600, which is downright preposterous [38].

Local residents are deeply concerned about the threat to health posed by the power station [38].

For many years, the benefits of the expensive system greatly outweighed the disadvantages [40].

3) downtoners (lowering the effect): a bit, almost, barely, enough, hardly, kind of, (a) little, moderately, more or less, nearly, partly, quite, rather, scarcely, slightly, somewhat, sort of, sufficiently, etc.:

We took a slightly more direct root [38].

He was only partly responsible for the accident [38].

I kind of disapprove of such methods [40].

I think you're a bit too young to be watching this[36, 62].

Almost nothing was done to improve the situation [40].

6. Focusing adverbs drawattention to the most important part of utterance. They can be of two kinds:

1) restrictive: alone, exactly, just, merely, only, precisely, purely, simply, especially, etc.:

Some students lose marks simply because they don't read the question properly [41].

It's important to write these goals down, rather than merely think about them [41].

2) additive: again, also, either, equally, even, too, etc.

She stayed and nursed him back to health again [38].

You must have a good education, but practical training is equally important [38].

7. Viewpoint adverbs are used to make clear what viewpoint the speaker is speaking from; that is, identifying what features of something are being talked about ( economically, morally, politically, scientifically, weather-wise, financially, ideologically, industrially, environmentally, logically, medically, outwardly, technically, visually, etc.):

Financially, the accident has been a disaster for the owners of the tunnel [21, 156].

Geographically and linguistically, these islands are closer to the mainland than to the neighboring islands [21, 156].

Economically, the project is bound to fail [40].

The brothers may be alike physically, but they have very different personalities [40].

A number of phrases are used in a similar way (politically speaking, in political terms, in terms of politics, from a political point of view, as far as politics are concerned):

Politically/In political terms, this summer is a crucial time for the government [21, 156].

Financially/From a financial point of view, it is a good investment [21, 156].

8. Attitudinal adverbs which express the speaker's comment on the content of what he is saying. Such adverbs can be of two kinds:

1) adverbs expressing a comment on the truth-value of what is
being said, indicating the extent to which the speaker believes
what he is saying is true: admittedly, allegedly, apparently, certainly, decidedly, definitely, doubtless, maybe, obviously, perhaps, possibly, presumably, probably, quite likely, supposedly, surely, undoubtedly, etc.:

Few women, presumably, would want to return to the assumptions on which the old system was based [40].

He was supposedly delivering some papers to her but I think it was just an excuse to see her [40].

The impact, occurring shortly before midnight, apparently knocked out all communications before warning could be given [41].

Perhaps the public does not have much choice in the matter [38].
Certainly, he had very little reason to fear anyone [38].

2) adverbs expressing some attitude towards what is being
said: amazingly, cleverly, (in)correctly, curiously, foolishly, (un)fortunately, funnily enough, (un)happily, incredibly, ironically, (un)justly, (un)luckily, oddly, preferably, reasonably, regrettably, remarkably, sensibly, significantly, strangely, tragically, typically, unexpectedly, etc.:

He is wisely staying at home tonight [38].

Naturally we were extremely annoyed when we received the letter [38].

Attempts to denigrate his playing simply because of his popularity are misplaced but regrettably widespread [40].

9. Conjunctive adverbs: above all, accordingly, alternatively, anyhow, anyway, as a result, at any rate, besides, by the way, consequently, finally, first(ly), for all that, for example, further, furthermore, hence, however, incidentally, in other words, in spite of that, instead, in that case, lastly, likewise, meantime, mean while, namely, nevertheless, next, on the contrary, on the one (other) hand, otherwise, rather, secondly, similarly, so, still, that is, then, therefore, though, thus, too, yet, etc.:

I'd like you to do two things for me. First, phone the office
and tell them I'll be late. Secondly, order a taxi to be here
in about half an hour [18, 394].

Incidentally, he left you a message. It is on your desk [41].

I didn't like the food there. However, I didn't complain about it [38].

He has been working very hard. He looks fit, though [41].

10. Formulaic adverbs (markers of courtesy): cordially, kindly, please, etc.:

Will you kindly help me with the parcel [40]?

We cordially invite you to our party [40].

Let me have a look at the picture, please [38].

The adverbs when, where, how and why belonging to different semantic groups mentioned above have one point in common — they serve to form questions and introduce some kinds of subordinate clauses [15]. In the former case, owing to their auxiliary function, they are called interrogative adverbs (a). In the latter case, also owing to their auxiliary function, they are called conjunctive adverbs (b). In both cases they perform different adverbial functions in the sentence:

a) When did you see him last? (adverbial modifier of time)

Where are you going? (adverbial modifier of place)

How did you manage it? (adverbial modifier of manner)

Why didn't you tell me about it? (adverbial modifier of cause)

b) Sunday was the day when he was least busy.

(adverbial modifier of time)

The thing to find out was where he was then.

(adverbial modifier of place)

How it was done remains a mystery to me.

(adverbial modifier of manner)

I wanted to know why he had left us so abruptly.

(adverbial modifier of cause)

As is seen from the above examples, the conjunctive adverbs
can introduce attributive, predicative, subject and object clauses.

The adverb how, in addition to the above functions, can also
be placed at the head of an exclamatory sentence. In this case it is
often followed by an adjective or an adverb but it may also be
used alone. This how is sometimes called the exclamatory how [18, 395]:

How unfair grown-ups are!

Oh, how the baby cries! [18, 395]