WORDS ADDED TO VERBS

37. From our study, you see how our classes of words grew out of man's need of them in expressing his thoughts. And notice also how the many thousands of words in our language can all be grouped under these few classes. We name the things about us; we invent words to tell what these things do; we have another class of words which describe the things which we have named; and now we come to a fourth class of words for which we also find great need.

When we come to tell what things do, we find that we need words which will tell us how or where or when these things are done. Notice the following sentences:

The men work busily.

The men work late.

The men work now.

The men work here.

The men work hard.

The men work well.

The men work inside.

The men work more.

We would have a complete sentence and express a complete thought if we said simply, The men work, but each of these words which we have added, like busily, hard, late, etc., adds something to the meaning of the verb. These words add something to the action which is asserted by the verb, for they show how and when and where and how much the men work.

38. We call this class of words adverbs, because they are added to verbs to make the meaning more definite, very much as adjectives are added to nouns. Adverb means literally to the verb.

An adverb will always answer one of these questions: how? when? how long? how often? how much? how far? or how late? If you want to find the adverbs in your sentences just ask one of these questions, and the word that answers it will be the adverb.

39. An adverb may be used also with an adjective. Notice the following sentences:

The book is very long.

Too many people never think.

Notice here that the adverbs very and too modify the adjectives long and many.

40. Adverbs may also be used with other adverbs. Notice the following sentences:

He speaks very distinctly.

He walks too slowly.

Here the adverbs very and too are used with the adverbs distinctly and slowly, and add to their meaning. We will study more fully in later lessons concerning both the adjective and the adverb, but we can see by this brief study why adverbs were added as a class of words, a part of speech, for they are absolutely necessary in order to describe the action expressed by verbs, and also to add to the meaning of adjectives and other adverbs. Hence we have our definition of an adverb.

41. An adverb is a word that modifies the meaning of a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.

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