Table 2: Characteristic features of quantitative adverbs

1. Lexico-grammatical meaning	Show the degree, measure, quantity of an action, quality, state
2. Typical stem-building affixes	Are often formed from adjectives by adding -ly
3. Morphological categories	-----------------------------------------
4. Typical patterns of combinability	Modify verbs, adjectives, statives, adverbs, indefinite pronouns, numerals, modals, and even nouns
5. Syntactic functions	Adverbial modifier of degree

Here is a list of adverbs of degree [16, 293]:

 

 

Absolutely

Somewhat

Adequately

Soundly

Almost

Strongly

Altogether

Sufficiently

Amazingly

Supremely

Awfully

Surprisingly

Badly

Terribly

Extraordinarily

Extremely

Fairly

Fantastically

Fully

Greatly

Half

Partly

Perfectly

Poorly

Positive

Powerfully

Practically

Petty

Completely

Totally

Considerably

Tremendously

Dearly

Truly

Deeply

Unbelievably

Drastically

Utterly

Dreadfully

Very

Enormously

Virtually

Entirely

Well

Exceedingly

Wonderfully

Excessively

Extensively

Hard

Hugely

Immensely

Credibly

Intensely

Just

Largely

Moderately

Nearly

Noticeably

Outright

Profoundly

Purely

Quite

Radically

Rather

Really

Reason

Remarkably

Significantly

Simply

Slightly

Circumstantial adverbs include [16, 294]:

1) adverbs of time: now, then, yesterday, lately, soon, afterwards, presently, immediately, eventually, when, etc.

2) adverbs of frequency: often, seldom, sometimes, always, hardly ever, never, constantly, occasionally, etc.

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

4) adverbs of consequence and cause: therefore, hence, consequently, accordingly, why, so, etc.

5) adverbs of purpose: purposely, intentionally, deliberately.

Barring some adverbs with the –ward(s) suffix (backwards, inwards), the –ice suffix (twice, thrice), circumstantial adverbs have no typical stem-building elements (Cf. with the –ly suffix incident to qualitative adverbs). They are often morphologically indivisible (north, home, down, etc.), even more often are they related by conversion with prepositions (in, out, behind), conjunctions (since, before), nouns (north, home), adjectives (late, fare).

Only a small group of circumstantial adverbs denoting indefinite time and place have opposites of comparison. Most adverbs of this subclass have no forms of any grammatical category.

Circumstantial adverbs are mostly used in the function of adverbial modifiers of time and place. But sometimes they can be used in other functions, for instance, as attribute:

See the notes above [38].

The room upstairs is vacant [38].

Among circumstantial adverbs there is also a special group of pronominal adverbs when, where, how, why used either as interrogative words to form questions, or as connectives to introduce subordinate clauses:

Where shall we go?

We’ll go where you want. [16, 295]

In the former case, owing to their auxiliary function, they are called interrogative adverbs [16, 295]:

When did you see him last?

Where are you going?

How did you manage to do it? [16, 295]

In the latter case, also owing to their auxiliary function, they called conjunctive adverbs [16, 295]:

Sunday was the day when he was least busy.

The thing to find out is where he is now.

How it was done remains a mystery to me. [16, 295]

The adverb how, in addition to the above functions, may 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:

How unfair grown-ups are! [38]

Look how well I’m looked after! [38]

According to M. Y. Blokh, circumstantial adverbs are divided into notional and functional [13, 224].

The functional circumstantial adverbs are words of pronominal nature. Besides quantitative (numerical) adverbs mentioned above, they include adverbs of time, place, manner, cause, consequence. Many of these words are used as syntactic connectives and question-forming functionals. Here belong such words as now, here, when, where, so, thus, how, why, etc.

As for circumstantial adverbs of more self-dependent nature, they include two basic sets:

1) adverbs of time: today, tomorrow, already, ever, never, shortly, recently, seldom, early, late, etc.

2) adverbs of place: homeward, eastward, near, far, outside, ashore, etc.

The two varieties express a general idea of temporal and spatial orientation and essentially perform deictic (indicative) functions in the broader sense. Bearing this in mind, we may unite them under the general heading of "orientative" adverbs, reserving the term "circumstantial" to syntactic analysis of utterances [13, 225].

Thus, the whole class of adverbs will be divided, first, into nominal and pronominal, and the nominal adverbs will be subdivided into qualitative and orientative, the former including genuine qualitative adverbs and degree adverbs, the latter falling into temporal and local adverbs, with further possible subdivisions of more detailed specifications [13].