Morphological structure of adverbs

Morphologically adverbs can be divided into

- simple (hard, here, now, etc.),

- derivative (friendly, likewise, westward, etc.),

- compound (sometimes, anyway, etc.)

- composite (at least, at last, etc.).

CLASSIFICATION OF ADVERBS

According to their meaning adverbs can be classified into the following groups.

meaning	adverbs		meaning	adverbs
time	now, then	frequency	sometimes, often
place	here, there	manner	carefully, slowly
degree	very, fairly	relative time	already, soon
quantity	much, little	focusing, attitude markers	even, also, only, particularly, apparently, fortunately

THE PLACE OF AN ADVERB IN A SENTENCE

Adverbs can have different places in a sentence. It can have the initial position:

Nowadays, it doesn't matter so much.

It can come before a verb:

We never saw him do it.

It can come before a notional verb and after an auxiliary verb or a modal verb:

We have never seen him. You can never do it.

It can come at the end of a sentence:

She pronounces every word distinctly.

An adverb can precede an adjective:

It is a very good decision.

It can precede another adverb:

Thank you very much.

We can vary the position of adverbs according to what we want to emphasize:

She put the cup on the table carefully. Carefully, she put the cup on the table.

She sometimes gets up early. Sometimes she gets up early.

I already know it. I know it already.

The adverbs of quantity usually come at the end of a sentence:

She didn't say much.

Note: Already is usually used in affirmative statements and yet is used in negative statements and questions.

Little / a little is used in affirmative statements, while much is mostly used in negative statements and questions. A lot can be used both in affirmative and negative statements and in questions.

DEGREES OF COMPARISON

Adverbs can have degrees of comparison.

1. Adverbs form degrees of comparison in the synthetic way by means of inflections -er, -est in the following cases:

- if an adverb is a monosyllabic word:

Hard - harder – hardest

fast - faster - fastest;

- if it is a word of two syllables but identical in form with the adjective:

early - earlier – earliest

funny - funnier - funniest.

2. Other adverbs of two syllables and polysyllabic adverbs form the degrees of comparison in the analytical way:

quickly - more quickly - most quickly

slowly - more slowly - most slowly.

3. The adverbs well and badly have suppletive forms of the degrees of comparison:

Well - better – best

badly - worse - worst.

4. The following adverbs have irregular forms of the degrees of comparison:

Much/many - more – most

Little - less – least

Far – farther/further – farthest/furthest.

THE VERB

GENERAL NOTION

The verb denotes actions, existence, mental condition, states and processes.

There are transitive and intransitive verbs.

Transitive verbs can take a direct object: Read the letter.

Intransitive verbs cannot take a direct object: Come here.

Morphologically verbs can be divided into

- simple, e.g. come, read;

- derivative, e.g. reconstruct;

- compound, e.g. daydream;

- composite, e.g. give up, put on, take off. These verbs are also called ‘phrasal verbs’.

The verb has four basic forms.

THE INFINITIVE	PARTICIPLE I	THE PAST INDEFINITE	THE PAST PARTICIPLE / PARTICIPLE II
to write to work	writing working	wrote worked	written worked

According to their basic forms verbs are divided into regular, irregular and mixed. Regular verbs form the Past Indefinite and Participle II by adding -ed/-d to the stem, e.g. walk - walked, love - loved.

Irregular verbs change their root vowel, add suffix - en, change the final consonant, have homonymous or suppletive forms, e.g. run - ran - run, take - took - taken, send - sent - sent, put - put -put go - went - gone.

Mixed verbs have the regular form of the Past Indefinite and the irregular form of Participle II, e.g. show - showed - shown.