ADVERBS

★ Adverbs modify verbs.
★ Tell you how something is done.
Example: How does she sing? - She sings beautifully.

RULE: Adverbs are often formed by adding -ly to an adjective
Example: beautiful - beautifully; careful - carefully

★ Some adjectives DON'T CHANGE in the adverb form.
Examples: fast - fast; hard - hard

★ Good is an exception: The adverb form of 'good' is 'well'.
Example of incorrect use: He plays tennis good.

RULE: Adverbs can modify an adjective. In this case, the adverb is placed before the adjective.
Example: She is extremely happy; They are absolutely sure.

★Do NOT use 'very' with adjectives that express an increased quality of a basic adjective. Example: good - fantastic
Example of incorrect use: She is a very beautiful woman.

RULE: Adverbs of frequency (always, never, sometimes, often, etc.) usually come before the main verb
Examples: He is often late for class; Do you always eat in a restaurant?; They don't usually travel on Fridays.

★ Adverbs of frequency expressing infrequency are NOT usually used in the negative or question form.
Examples of incorrect use: Does she rarely eat fish?; They don't seldom go to the cinema.

★ Adverbs of frequency are often placed at the beginning of a sentence.
Example: Sometimes, he likes to go to museums.

★ Adverbs of frequency follow or come after the verb 'to be'.
Example: He is sometimes late for work.


5 TYPES OF ADVERBS
1. Adverbs of Manner: provide information on how someone does something.
For example: Ner drives very carefully.

2. Adverbs of Time: provide information on when something happens.
For example: We'll let you know our decision next week.

3. Adverbs of Frequency: provide information on how often something happens.
For example: They usually get to work at eight o'clock.

4. Adverbs of Degree: provide information about how much of something is done.
For example: They like playing golf a lot.

5. Adverbs of Comment: provide a comment, or opinion about a situation.
For example: Fortunately, there were enough seats left for the concert.


ADVERB FORMATION
Adverbs are usually formed by adding '-ly' to an adjective.
For example: quiet - quietly; careful - carefully; careless - carelessly

Adjectives ending in '-le' change to '-ly'.
For example: possible - possibly; probable - probably; incredible - incredibly

Adjectives ending in '-y' change to '-ily'.
For example: lucky - luckily; happy - happily; angry - angrily

Adjectives ending in '-ic' change to '-ically'.
For example: basic - basically; ironic - ironically; scientific – scientifically

Some adjectives are irregular.
Examples of common irregular adverbs: good - well; hard - hard; fast -fast

ADVERB SENTENCE PLACEMENT
1. Adverbs of Manner: AFTER the verb or entire expression (end of the sentence).
For example: Their teacher speaks quickly.

2. Adverbs of Time: AFTER the verb or entire expression (at the end of the sentence).
For example: She visited her friends last year.

3. Adverbs of Frequency: BEFORE the main verb (not the auxiliary verb).
Examples: He often goes to bed late.; Do you sometimes get up early?

4. Adverbs of Degree: AFTER the verb or entire expression (at the end of the sentence).
For example: She'll attend the meeting as well.

5. Adverbs of Comment: AT THE BEGINNING of a sentence.
For example: Luckily, I was able to come to the presentation.


Exceptions to Adverb Placement
Some adverbs are placed at the beginning of a sentence to provide more emphasis.
For example: Now you tell me you can't come!

Adverbs of frequency are placed after the verb 'to be' when used as the main verb.
For example: Jack is often late for work.

Some adverbs of frequency (sometimes, usually, normally) are also placed at the beginning of the sentence for emphasis.
For example: Sometimes I visit my friends in London.


ADVERBS OF FREQUENCY
Tell us how often:
something happens/ is the case;
happened/was the case;
will happen/will be the case, etc.

Some examples:
★ always
★ constantly; habitually; chiefly; predominantly; typically; continuously
★ usually; normally; mostly; generally; commonly; largely; regularly
★ often; frequently
★ repeatedly
★ sometimes, occasionally, sporadically, intermittently, spasmodically
★ rarely infrequently seldom
★ never

Where do adverbs come in the sentence?
1. If the sentence has one verb in it (i.e. no auxiliary verb) we usually put the adverb in the
middle of the sentence (i.e. after the subject and before the verb):

Position A
Subject: Tom
Adverb: usually
Verb: goes
Predicate: to work by car.

2. The adverb usually comes after the verb “be”:

Position B
Subject: Tom - Anne
Verb: is - isn’t
Adverb: often - usually
Predicate: late - early.

★ This is NOT the case IF we put the adverb at the beginning or end of the sentence.

★ This rule also does NOT apply to short answers:
Speaker A: Is she usually on time? - Tell her not to be late.
Speaker B: Yes, she usually is. - She never is.

★ The rule is BROKEN in other cases too:
Speaker A: What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at school?
Speaker B: I – normally – am - at school at this time, - but my teacher is ill.

Speaker A: You’re late again!
Speaker B: I – usually – am - late on Mondays because the traffic is so bad.

Speaker A: Tom is late again!
Speaker B: Tom – usually – is - late!; I – never – was - any good at maths.

3. If the sentence has more than one verb in it (e.g. auxiliary verb) we usually put the adverb after the first part of the verb:

Position C
Subject: I - Anne - The children
Verb 1: can - doesn’t - have
Adverb: never - usually - often
Verb 2: remember - smoke. - complained
Predicate: his name. - about the state of the school toilets.

Exception: In sentences with “have to” the adverb is in position A:
Subject: We
Adverb: often
Verb 1: have to
Verb 2: wait
Predicate: for the bus.

4. For emphasis we can put the adverb at the beginning or end of the sentence.
At the end is unusual (usually when we have forgotten to put it in earlier).

Position D
Adverb: Sometimes
Subject: we
Verb 1: go
Predicate: to school by bus.

Position E
Subject: We
Verb 1: go
Predicate: to school by bus
Adverb: sometimes

Exceptions:
★ “Always” CAN’T go at the beginning or end of the sentence.

★ “Never”, “seldom”, “rarely” CAN’T go at the end of a sentence,
and only go at the beginning of a sentence in “polemic statements”.
They also have to be followed by the word order for questions:

Never - has - there - been - a better time to overcome our differences!
Rarely - do - we - have - an opportunity like this to…
Seldom - had - the orchestra - given - a worse performance.

5. With adverbs of frequency in the question form, put the adverb before the main verb.

Position F
Auxiliary verb: Do
Subject: you
Adverb: often
Verb 1: go
Predicate: to the cinema?

Exceptions:
★ “Never”, “seldom”, “rarely” and other adverbs of frequency with a negative sense are NOT usually used in the question form.

6. When using adverbs of frequency in the negative form, put the adverb before the main verb.

Position G
Subject: They
Auxiliary verb: don’t
Adverb: often
Verb 1: go
Predicate: to the cinema.

Exceptions:
“Never”, “seldom”, “rarely” and other adverbs of frequency with a negative sense are NOT usually used in the negative form.

[Re: http://esl.about.com/library/grammar/blgr_adverbs_frequency.htm]