Adverbs and Adjective or Adverb: Two Grammar Lessons, Grades 3-5

Long ago, people said the sun was carried across the sky in a chariot. A chariot is a light cart with two wheels, pulled by horses. The sun god drove it every day. His son was a boy named Phaethon, said FAY uh thon. The boy begged for one turn at the reins. The reins are the straps a driver holds to steer the horses. His father said yes, and then wished he had not.

The boy had never driven the chariot before. The horses knew it at once. They ran too fast. They ran wildly. The chariot dropped downward toward the ground. Almost every word that tells you what that ride was like is the same kind of word. It is called an adverb. An adverb describes a verb. It answers one of three questions about the action. How? When? Where?

Here is how to find one. First find the verb, because the verb is the action. Then ask those three questions about it. Whichever question gets an answer, that answer is the adverb. Try it. The horses ran wildly. The verb is ran. How did they run? Wildly. So wildly is the adverb, and it tells how. Try one more. The horses soon left the road in the sky. The verb is left. When did they leave? Soon. So soon is the adverb, and it tells when.

Many adverbs that tell how do end in ly. Wildly, badly, slowly, and suddenly all end in ly, and all four tell how. But a great many adverbs have no ly at all, and a child who hunts for ly will walk right past them. Fast tells how, and it has no ly. The horses ran fast. Adverbs that tell when usually have no ly either. Soon, then, never, and often all tell when. Adverbs that tell where almost never have ly. Here, there, downward, and everywhere all tell where. Downward tells where the chariot went. Everywhere tells where the heat spread. So do not test a word by looking for ly. Ask the question instead.

An adverb can often move. Put it in a different spot in the sentence, and the sentence still means what it meant. Suddenly the chariot dropped. The chariot suddenly dropped. The chariot dropped suddenly. All three sentences say the same thing. That is a handy test. If a word can slide around the verb and nothing changes, you are probably holding an adverb. The ride ended when the king of the gods knocked the chariot out of the sky with a thunderbolt, and the boy never drove again. Read the whole story back and you will find it is told almost entirely in adverbs: too fast, wildly, downward.

An adjective and an adverb both describe. They do not describe the same kinds of words. An adjective modifies a noun. To modify a word means to tell more about it. A brave hero. A loud song. Brave modifies hero, and hero is a noun. An adverb modifies a verb. It can also modify an adjective or another adverb. The hero climbed slowly. Slowly modifies climbed, and climbed is a verb. In a very loud song, very modifies loud, and loud is an adjective. Many adverbs end in ly, and a great many do not.

Describing words often come in pairs. Quick and quickly. Loud and loudly. Brave and bravely. Only one word of the pair fits a sentence, and the sentence decides, not you. Here is how to pick, step by step. Step one, find the empty spot. Step two, hunt for the word that the empty spot is going to tell about. Step three, name that word out loud. Is it a noun or a verb? Step four, a noun needs the adjective. A verb needs the adverb. Never pick the form first. Find the word being modified first, every single time.

Work one. The wind blew ______. Step one, the empty spot sits after blew. Step two, it tells about blew. Step three, blew is a verb. Step four, a verb takes an adverb, so the answer is loudly. The wind blew loudly. Now work another. A ______ wind blew the ship off course. Step one, the empty spot sits in front of wind. Step two, it tells about wind. Step three, wind is a noun. Step four, a noun takes an adjective, so the answer is loud. A loud wind blew the ship off course. The steps never change. Only the word being modified changes.

Good and well are the pair that people mix up most. Good is the adjective. Well is the adverb. Midas had a good plan. Good modifies plan, and plan is a noun. Hermes ran well. Well modifies ran, and ran is a verb. So you can have a good day, and you can sleep well, but you cannot sleep good. Here is one warning. A few verbs show no action at all. Is and was are the main two. After is or was, the describing word reaches back to the noun in front of it. The bread is good. Good describes the bread, so good is the right form there. Nobody says the bread is well.

Adverbs compare, the same way adjectives do. Adverbs that end in ly never take an ending to do it. They put a whole word in front instead. Use more when two things are compared. Use most when three or more are compared. Hermes ran swiftly. Hermes ran more swiftly than Pan. Of all the gods, Hermes ran most swiftly. Do the same with loudly, slowly, and bravely. Pan sang more loudly than the wind. Short adverbs with no ly, like fast and soon, take er and est just like short adjectives: ran faster, ran fastest. A few adverbs refuse the whole rule. Well turns into better and best. Badly turns into worse and worst. Atlas held the sky better than anyone.