Transcript Adverbs - Memphis City Schools
Business English at Work
© 2003 Glencoe/McGraw-Hill
Adverbs
Identify adverbs and the words they modify.
Objectives
and adverbs.
Recognize the importance of the placement of adverbs.
Form the comparative and superlative degrees of regular and irregular adverbs.
continued Business English at Work PP 13-1a
Adverbs
continued
Recognize and correct double negatives and
Objectives
Use special adverbs correctly.
Business English at Work PP 13-1b
Adverbs Adverb
An adverb answers these questions:
How? In what manner?
patiently, boldly, slowly, softly, enthusiastically
When?
recently, later, finally, daily, again, formerly
Where?
outside, here, down, forward, up, away
To what extent? To what degree?
extremely, very, too, rarely, completely, frequently
Business English at Work PP 13-2
Adverbs Adverbs —Modify Verbs
Place the adverb before or after the verb that is modified.
When businesses knowingly deceive customers, they are violating ethical standards.
Do not illegally copy paper or electronic documents.
Business English at Work PP 13-3
Adverbs Adverbs —Modify Adjectives
Place the adverb immediately before the adjective.
The courtesy of greeting others within your own firm is universally acceptable in the United States.
In some countries, greetings are very expressive and elaborate.
Downsizing is becoming an increasingly popular way for businesses to lower expenses.
Business English at Work PP 13-4
Adverbs Adverbs —Modify Other Adverbs
Place the adverb immediately before the adverb being modified.
We very precisely judged the commute time to our new client’s office.
Ruby did extremely well on the ethics section of her real estate exam.
Business English at Work PP 13-5
Adverbs Descriptive Adjectives Before Nouns
Add
ly
to an adjective root to form the majority of adverbs.
Adjective
cautious extreme perfect skillful
Adverb
cautiously extremely perfectly skillfully
Business English at Work PP 13-6
Adverbs Noun Base Used to Form Adjectives Ending in ly
Use root words to identify words ending in
ly
as adjectives or adverbs.
Noun
brother neighbor earth world love
Adjective
brotherly neighborly earthly worldly lovely
Business English at Work PP 13-7
Adverbs Adverbs Formed From Adjectives Ending in y
Change the
y
to
i
and add
ly
ending in y to form an adverb.
to an adjective
Adjective Adverb
busy easy heavy merry busily easily heavily merrily
Business English at Work PP 13-8
Adverbs Adverbs Formed From Adjectives Ending in ible or able
Drop the final
e
on adjectives that end in
able
or
ible
before adding the
y
to form the adverb.
Adjective
forcible terrible possible
Adverb
forcibly terribly possibly
Business English at Work PP 13-9
Adverbs Adverbs Formed From Adjectives Ending in ic
Add
ally
to adjectives ending in
ic
adverb.
to form the
Adjective
chronic logic magic scenic
Adverb
chronically logically magically scenically
Business English at Work PP 13-10
Adverbs Adverbs —Modify Adjectives
The following list includes some adverbs that do not end in
ly
.
again almost always down far fast hard more much near now nowhere often once sometimes soon then there too twice up
Business English at Work PP 13-11
Adverbs Do Not Hyphenate Adverbs Ending in ly
Examples
a carelessly written memo a richly deserved award an internationally recognized sign a highly successful business
Business English at Work PP 13-12
Adverbs Verbs —Action Versus Linking
Use an adverb to modify action verbs.
Tucker intentionally withheld confidential information.
The employee thoughtlessly made an inappropriate comment to Julie.
Use an adjective, not an adverb, after a linking verb to describe the subject.
The manager felt bad about the dependence on temporary workers.
Karen seems distraught over the missing computer disk.
Business English at Work PP 13-13
Adverbs Verbs —Both Linking and Action
Clarify the intent of the sentence before making a decision about such verbs as
look, taste,
or
feel.
Use adverbs when these words are action words.
He hurriedly looked for the contract on his desk.
Use adjectives when these words function as linking verbs.
Things looked bad for Jerome after he lost his job.
Business English at Work PP 13-14
Adverbs Adjectives and Adverbs With the Same Form
Some adverbs and adjectives that have the same form include
fast, first, last, early,
and
right.
Use an adjective to modify a noun or pronoun.
Turn left at the first stop sign.
Use an adverb to modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.
Return Andrew’s phone call first.
Business English at Work PP 13-15
Adverbs One-Syllable Adverbs
Add
er
to the positive form for its comparative degree.
Add
est
to the positive form for its superlative degree.
Positive Comparative Superlative
fast late soon faster later sooner fastest latest soonest
Business English at Work PP 13-16
Adverbs Two-Syllable Adverbs
Add
er
or the word
more
or the word
less
before the positive form for the comparative degree.
Add
est
or the word
most
the superlative degree.
or the word
least
for
Positive
quickly nearly
Comparative Superlative
more quickly (quicker) most quickly (quickest) more nearly most nearly
Business English at Work PP 13-17
Adverbs Three-Syllable Adverbs
Add the word
more
or the word
less
before the positive form to form its comparative degree.
Add the word
most
or the word
least
before the positive form to form its superlative degree.
Positive
efficiently dangerously Reliably
Comparative
more efficiently more dangerously more reliably
Superlative
most efficiently most dangerously most reliably
Business English at Work PP 13-18
Adverbs Irregular Adverbs
Use irregular comparisons for some adverbs.
Positive
well badly
Comparative
better worse
Superlative
best worst
Business English at Work PP 13-19
Adverbs Absolute Adverbs
Some adverbs do not allow for comparisons
no there too now here very past partly annually basically sometimes We feel that we need more telephone lines now.
Ethics concerns today are similar to those in the past.
Business English at Work PP 13-20
Adverbs Cautions for Using Not and Never
Use
not
in a negative statement.
Place
not
between the helping verb and the main verb in a sentence.
Some employees do not treat all customers with respect.
Use
never
“at no time.” as a stronger word than
not
to mean
Being rude to a customer is never acceptable.
Refrain from using
never
if
not
will suffice.
Business English at Work PP 13-21
Adverbs Cautions for Using Contractions
Use an apostrophe to take the place of the missing letter or letters in such words as
aren’t wouldn’t doesn’t hasn’t can’t don’t isn’t He doesn’t anticipate rewriting the code of ethics for several years.
She hasn’t missed a day of work this year.
Business English at Work PP 13-22
Adverbs Double Negatives
Double negatives are two negative words used in a sentence. This combination gives the clause a positive meaning rather than the intended negative meaning.
Incorrect
I have not seen no evidence of employee theft.
Correct
I have seen no evidence of employee theft.
I have not seen any evidence of employee theft.
Business English at Work PP 13-23a
Adverbs
continued
Double Negatives
Incorrect
I couldn’t hardly believe that the computer was missing.
Correct I
could hardly
believe that the computer was missing.
I could not believe that the computer was missing.
Incorrect
I can’t go nowhere until I help these customers.
Correct
I can go nowhere until I help these customers.
I cannot go anywhere until I help these customers.
Business English at Work PP 13-23b
Adverbs Placement of Only
Place the adverb
only
immediately before the word or group of words it modifies.
Only long-time employees can take vacations during June.
Long-time employees can take vacations only during June.
Business English at Work PP 13-24
Adverbs Adverb Clauses
Use subordinating conjunctions such as
after, although, before, because, if, unless, when,
and
while
clauses.
to introduce dependent adverb Place the adverb clause as closely as possible to the words modified.
Business English at Work PP 13-25a
Adverbs
continued
Adverb Clauses
Use commas after introductory adverb clauses that precede independent clauses.
Although he broke no laws, his actions were still unethical.
Do not use commas to set aside adverb clauses that follow independent clauses.
Plan to arrive 10 minutes before the meeting begins. We will start the meeting after serving refreshments.
Business English at Work PP 13-25b
Adverbs Farther/Further (Adverbs)
Use
farther
to refer to physical distance.
We traveled
farther
from the airport than we anticipated to find our hotel.
Use
further
to mean additional or additionally.
He explained
further
the reasons for adjusting our work schedules.
Business English at Work PP 13-26
Adverbs
Good/Well
Use
good
as an adjective.
Making ethical choices is often more than being a good person.
Use
well
as an adverb.
The new code of ethics has worked very well during the past year.
Use
well
as an adjective in reference to the state of someone’s health.
Although Anna was not well, she stayed at work long enough to complete writing the payroll checks.
Business English at Work PP 13-27
Adverbs
Most/Almost
Use
almost
as an adverb to mean “
nearly
.” Use
almost
if the word
nearly
can be substituted satisfactorily.
Almost all of us use our yearly vacation time.
Use
most
as a limiting adjective to modify a noun.
Most new supervisors have trouble with ethical situations.
Use
most
as the superlative degree in a comparison.
The speaker answered the question most effectively.
Business English at Work PP 13-28
Adverbs
Real/Really
Use
real
as a descriptive adjective to mean “genuine.” Do not use
real
to modify another adjective.
We never knew the real reason for losing the Manila contract.
Business English at Work PP 13-29a
Adverbs
continued
Real/Really
Use
really
as an adverb to mean “genuinely.” Substitute
very
determine if for the word
really really
to is the correct word.
Cynthia is really supportive of our efforts to improve customer satisfaction.
Business English at Work PP 13-29b
Adverbs
Sometime/Sometimes/Some Time
Use
sometime
as an adverb to mean “
at some unscheduled time
” or “
in the future
.”
Sometime next week we are meeting to revise our customer service policy.
Use
sometimes
as an adverb to mean “
on some occasions
.”
We sometimes waive late payment charges.
Business English at Work PP 13-30a
Adverbs
continued
Sometime/Sometimes/ Some Time
Use
some time
as a phrase in which the adjective
some
Some time
modifies the noun
time
. designates an “
amount of time.”
The revision of the ethics policy will take some time.
Business English at Work PP 13-30b
Adverbs
Sure/Surely
Use
sure
as an adjective.
They thought a lock on the supply cabinet was the sure solution for reducing theft.
Use
surely
doubt.” as an adverb to mean “without a
Ellen surely makes an excellent impression on customers.
Business English at Work PP 13-31
End of Business English at Work
© 2003 Glencoe/McGraw-Hill