Adverbs

Adverbs are words we use to add information to a verb, adjective or even another adverb. They give us information about how much or how strong/weak something is (degree), how something is done (manner), time or how often something happens (frequency), where something happens (place) or connections between ideas or sequence (conjunctions).

Adverbs of degree

Adverbs of degree can tell us
- there is a lot of something: a lot, many, much.

- there is a small amount of something: little, a bit, some, any, none.

- something is increasing in intensity/amount: more, too, so, even, way, entirely.

- something is decreasing in intensity/amount: slightly, almost, partially, barely, hardly, less.

Countable and uncountable nouns

Countable nouns are things we can count - pens, cups, people, problems etc.

Uncountable nouns are things we cannot count (easily): most liquids (water, coffee, soup), most powders (sugar, salt), concepts (advice, trouble, love), processes (deliberation, production, most nouns ending in -tion or -ation) and categories (food, furniture, fish)

Countable nouns

Countable nouns can be singular or plural (add -s).

Countable nouns can be used with the article a/an in the singular form.

The verb after a singular countable noun has an -s added to it: has/is/does/goes/finishes/knows

The verb after a plural countable noun does not have an -s added to it: have/are/do/go/finish/know

Uncountable nouns

Cannot be made plural - no -s added

Cannot be used with a/an as this means one.

Treated as a singular noun for verb modification - add -s to the verb: has/is/does/goes/finishes/knows

You can change an uncountable noun into a countable noun by making it countable - water = a glass of water; paper = a piece of paper

quantifiers with countable and uncountable nouns

Some quantifiers can only be used with countable or uncountable nouns and others can be used with both.

Adverbs of degree as quantifiers

Adverbs of degree will change the intensity or amount of a verb, adjective or adverb. Look at these examples for the adjective 'hot'.

Adverbs of degree as quantifiers

Adverbs of degree will change the intensity or amount of a verb, adjective or adverb. Look at these examples for the verb 'move'.