Table 1: Characteristic features of qualitative adverbs

1. Lexico-grammatical meaning	Show the quality of an action or state
2. Typical stem-building affixes	-ly
3. Morphological categories	Subclass of adverbs
4. Typical patterns of combinability	Are placed to the verb or stative they modify
5. Syntactic functions	Modify verbs or statives

 

Here is the list of qualitative adverbs which describe the way in which is done [16, 291]:

Abruptly

Steadily

Accurately

Steeply

Awkwardly

Stiffly

Badly

Strangely

Beautifully

Subtly

Brightly

Superbly

Brilliantly

Swiftly

Briskly

Systematically

Carefully

Tenderly

Carelessly

Thickly

Economically

Effectively

Efficiently

Evenly

Explicitly

Faintly

Faithfully

Fiercely

Finely

Firmly

Peacefully

Peculiarly

Perfectly

Plainly

Pleasantly

Politely

Poorly

Professionally

Properly

Quietly

Casually

Thinly

Cheaply

Thoroughly

Clearly

Thoughtfully

Closely

Tightly

Clumsily

Truthfully

Comfortably

Uncomfortably

Consistently

Urgently

Conveniently

Vaguely

Correctly

Vigorously

Dangerously

Violently

Delicately

Vividly

Differently

Voluntarily

Discreetly

Warmly

Distinctly

Widely

Dramatically

Willingly

Easily

Wonderfully

Fluently

Formally

Frankly

Freely

Gently

Gracefully

Hastily

Heavily

Honestly

Hurriedly

Intently

Meticulously

Neatly

Nicely

Oddly

Patiently

Rapidly

Readily

Rightly

Rigidly

Roughly

Ruthlessly

Securely

Sensibly

Sharply

Silently

Simply

Smoothly

Softly

Solidly

Specifically

Splendidly

Quantitative adverbs show the degree, measure, quantity of an action, quality, state (very, rather, too, nearly, greatly, hardly, fully, quite, utterly, twofold, etc.). In traditional grammar they are referred to as adverbs of degree. They may be subdivided into several clearly pronounced sets [13, 224]:

1) adverbs of high degree. These adverbs are sometimes classed as "intensifiers": very, quite, entirely, utterly, highly, greatly, perfectly, absolutely, strongly, considerably, pretty, much;

2) adverbs of excessive degree (direct and reverse) also belonging to the broader subclass of intensifiers: too, awfully, tremendously, dreadfully, terrifically;

3) adverbs of unexpected degree: surprisingly, astonishingly, amazingly;

4) adverbs of moderate degree: fairly, comparatively, relatively, moderately, rather;

5) adverbs of low degree: slightly, a little, a bit;

6) adverbs of approximate degree: almost, nearly;

7) adverbs of optimal degree: enough, sufficiently, adequately;

8) adverbs of inadequate degree: insufficiently, intolerably, unbearably, ridiculously;

9) adverbs of under-degree: hardly, scarcely.

Many adverbs of degree are restricted to a small set of lexical items, e.g. deeply anxious, highly intelligent, strikingly handsome, sharply critical.

Some degree adverbs tend to be distinguished in terms of positive and negative attitude. Fairly, quite, entirely suggest a positive meaning:

I’m fairly certain I can do the job [38].

He plays quite well [38].

I entirely agree with you [41].

Rather, completely, utterly suggest a negative meaning:

The instructions were rather complicated [40].

The explosion completely destroyed the building [40].

She utterly failed to convince them [41].

The combinability of quantitative adverbs is more extensive than that of qualitative adverbs. Besides verbs and statives, quantitative adverbs modify adjectives, adverbs, indefinite pronouns, numerals, modals, and even nouns:

I quite like opera [41].

He had become fully aware of her [41].

Rather disconsolate she wandered out into the cathedral [38].

She knew it only too well [38].

Very probably he won’t budge [40].

Nearly everybody came to our party [40].

It was nearly ten [40].

He is wholly master of the situation [38].

The combinability of some adverbs of this class can be rather narrow. The adverb very (frightfully, awfully, etc.), for instance, mostly precedes those adjectives and adverbs which have opposites of comparison. It does not, as a rule, modify verbs or numerals. The combinability of nearly or almost, on the other hand, is so extensive, that these words are close to particles.

According to M. Y. Blokh, the degree adverbs, though usually described under the heading of "quantitative", in reality constitute a specific variety of qualitative words, or rather some sort of intermediate qualitative-quantitative words, in so far as they are used as quality evaluators [13, 224]. In this function they are distinctly different from genuine quantitative adverbs which are directly related to numerals and thereby form sets of words of pronominal order. Such are numerical-pronominal adverbs like twice, thrice, four times, etc.; twofold, threefold, many fold, etc. Thus, the first general subclass of adverbs is formed by qualitative adverbs which are subdivided into qualitative adverbs of full notional value and degree adverbs — specific functional words.

Circumstantial adverbs do not characterize the action itself but name certain circumstances attending the action described in the sentence and usually referring to the situation as a whole. Therefore circumstantial adverbs can be used in a sentence in which the only verb is a link-verb, that is, where no action is described:

He will be ten tomorrow.

This accounts for the fact that, unlike qualitative and quantitative adverbs, circumstantial adverbs are not necessarily placed near the verb, they may occupy different places in the sentence:

It wasn’t any too warm yesterday [41].

Yesterday they had a snow-squall out west [41].

Circumstantial adverbs may be considered as the movable words [25, 284]. The most mobile are adverbs of time and place. They can occupy several positions without any change in their meaning, as in:

Usually he signs well.

He usually signs well.

He signs well usually. [25, 284]

When H. Sweet speaks of adverbs, as showing almost the last remains of normal free order in Modern English, it concerns, mostly, circumstantial adverbs [35].