Helping Verbs (Auxiliary Verbs)

Helping verbs, also known as auxiliary verbs, do not have meaning on their own. They are needed in order for a sentence to be grammatically correct. They do not tell us very much on their own and they are used with main verbs to make the sentence meaningful. Helping verbs determine the tense of verb forms and how the verb, as a whole, reveals the time or relative time of the action.

There are a total of 27 helping verbs in the English Language and we can further break them down into 3 categories ie Primary, Modal and Semi-Modal:-

Primary Helping Verbs (14 verbs)

• be, being, been, am, are, is, was, were (main)
• have, had, has (main)
• do, does, did (main)

Notice that verbs in the above three families may also stand alone and be the main verb of a sentence. e.g. She is in the shop (there is no other verbs in this sentence except “is” so it can act as main verb as well).

Modal Helping Verbs (10 verb)

• should, could, would
• may, might, must
• will, can, shall
• ought to

We use modal helping verbs to “modify” the meaning of the main verb in some way. A modal helping verb expresses necessity or possibility, and changes the main verb in that sense e.g. I may eat later, You should get it repaired, They might not come. (notice that “may, should, might” in these sentence have altered the meaning of the main verbs “eat, repaired, come”.
Semi-modal Helping Verbs (3 verbs)

• need, dare, used to

These are often called “semi-modals” because they are partly like modal helping verbs and partly like main verbs:

Tips on Helping Verbs:

• not every sentence will have a helping verb with the main verb
• there will always be a helping verb when you see a verb with “ing”
• sometimes a word will separate the helping verb from the main verb, like “not”
• Some sentences have 3 helping verbs to the main verb

Classification of Verbs

Sometimes we use TWO WORDS to complete the verb, e.g.

• The brother will return.
• The dog was injured.
• The room is crowded.
• The glasses were broken.

In some sentences THREE WORDS are used to complete the verb, e.g.

• The client will be delighted.
• The car should have stopped.
• The shop may be closed.
• The work had been done.

Why is this so?
The above examples will take us to the next topic : “Classification of Verbs”. Let us try to understand how these verbs are being formed to convey a better understanding.
Classification of Verbs
We divide verbs into two broad classifications:-

• Helping Verbs; also called Auxiliary Verbs
• Main Verbs; also called Lexical Verbs

Verbs - What is a Verb?

A Verb may be said to be the “doing word,” because it is used to make a statement about a person, animal, place or thing. It is perhaps the most important part of a sentence. The verb or compound verb asserts the meaning of the subject of the sentence and express action.

Some verbs convey action e.g. sing, dance, eat, cry, laugh etc. while some give the idea of existence, of state, of being e.g. be, seem, belong, believe, exist, respect etc.

The verb can be considered the king of a sentence in English Language. You can make a one-word sentence with any verb and it makes sense whereas you cannot do the same with any other type of words.

Dog trainers use the most one-word sentence using verbs e.g. “Run!”, “Sit!”, “Catch!”, “Fetch!”, “Stop!”, “Attack!” etc…

In a simple sentence, a verb always has a subject, in other words, verbs are words that tell the actions/states of the subject e.g.

• Mary feels happy {state}
• Edward drinks water (action)

There is something special about verbs – they change their forms according to time factor. Most other words (adjectives, prepositions, adverbs) do not change in form although “nouns” do have 2 forms (singular & plural).

• eat, eats, ate, eaten, eating
• draw, draws, drew, drawn, drawing

Countable Nouns vs Uncountable Nouns

UnCountable Nouns
A countable noun is the name of anything that we can count in both the singular and plural forms. The opposite of countable noun is the uncountable noun and the collective nouns.
For example: The boys helped to keep the toys after playing
Uncountable Nouns

An uncountable noun also called the mass noun is a noun that does not have a plural form which you could not count. An uncountable noun always take a singular verb (is, was) in a sentence. Uncountable nouns are similar to collective nouns and are the opposite of countable noun.
For example: The air is fresh and the sand is pearly white. (since air and sand are uncountable, is (verb) is used even if we are refering to abundant of air and plenty of sand.
Note: Both countable and uncountable nouns are concrete nouns.
Nouns that can be made countable and uncountable
I borrowed this from a website for its clear explanation
Sometimes, the same noun can be countable and uncountable, often with a change of meaning.

Countable Nouns	Uncountable Nouns
There are two hairs in my coffee!	I don’t have much hair.
There are two lights in our bedroom.	Close the curtain. There’s too much light!
Shhhhh! I thought I heard a noise.	It’s difficult to work when there is too much noise.
Have you got a paper to read? (= newspaper)	I want to draw a picture. Have you got some paper?
Our house has seven rooms.	Is there room for me to sit here?
We had a great time at the party.	Have you got time for a coffee?
Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s greatest works.	I have no money. I need work!

Note: Drinks are uncountable but if we wish to order a cup of coffee or 2 glasses of orange juice we can say “one coffee and two orange juice please”.

Tenses - The 12 Basic Tenses

1. The Past Simple Tense

When your wish to say that something happened, took place, or was finished at some time in the past, you should use the Past Simple Tense.

I spoke       We spoke
You spoke  You spoke

He/She/It spoke They spoke

• I travelled to Europe last year
• I read an interesting book yesterday.
• We spent last summer at the seaside.
• We met at the cinema two days ago.
• He fell off his horse last Monday.

When you wish to say that something happened that it was a person’s habit to do something again and again in the past, you should use either the Past Simple Tense or the words used to (do something).

When I was a boy I studied hard. OR When I was a boy I used to study hard. OR

When I was a boy it was my habit to study hard.

Years ago men believed that the earth is flat. OR Years ago men used to believe that the earth was flat. OR Years ago it was the habit of men to believe that the earth was flat.

2.  The Present Simple Tense

When you wish to say that the person does a thing always, sometimes, often, everyday, every week, usually etc, you should use the Present Simple Tense.

I go                        We go
You go                   You go
He/She/It goes        They go

• I go to school every morning. (It is my habit to go to school every morning.)
• I eat my dinner every night at eight o’clock. (It is my habit to eat my dinner at eight o’clock every night.)
• Men wear light suits in summer.
• My father works in an office.
• I always wake up early in the morning.
• Lazy boys usually fail in their examinations.

3. The Future Simple Tense

When you wish to say that something is going to happen, take place, or finish at some time in the future, you should use the Simple Future Tense.

I shall go                          We shall go
You will go                       You will go
He/She/It will go               They will go

• He will return next week.
• We shall finish our work in half an hour.
• Our examination will begin next month.
• I shall give you what I owe you in a day or two.
• Will you go with me to the cinema tomorrow?

4. The Past Continuous Tense

The Past Continuous Tense is used when we wish to speak of an action which is unfinished at some time in the past.

I was speaking We were speaking

You were speaking You were speaking

He/She/It was speaking They were speaking

• I was writing a letter when he entered the room.
• The boys were making a noise as I was coming up the steps.
• She was reading a book when the boy behind her kicked her.
• While we were travelling to school yesterday, I saw an accident.
• He jumped off the train while it was moving.

5. The Present Continuous Tense

When you wish to say that something is happening now or at this moment, you should use the Present Continuous Tense.

I am writing We are writing

You are writing You are writing

He/She/It is writing They are writing

• It is raining (now).
• (It is raining at this moment.)
• The sun is shining (now).
• The sun is setting (now).
• My father is writing a letter (now).

6. The Future Continuous Tense

Just as the Present Continuous Tense is used as a definite immediate future, so the Future Continuous is used as a definite but not-so- immediate future.

I shall be seeing We shall be seeing

You will be seeing You will be seeing

He/She/It will be seeing They will be seeing

• I shall be seeing you next week to discuss further.
• My mother will be seeing the doctor next Friday.
• The girls will be playing basket ball next Sunday.
• We shall be starting our third semester in September.
• He will be coming home for good by the end of this year.

7. The Past Perfect Tense

I had seen We had seen

You had seen You had seen

He/She/It had seen They had seen

Look at this sentence:-

After he had broken the window he ran away.

In this sentence there are two actions in the Past:-

(a) The action of breaking

(b) The action of running away

The action of breaking took place before the action of running away, and we therefore show this by putting the action that took place first in the Past Perfect Tense

8. The Present Perfect Tense

I have seen We have seen

You have seen You have seen

He/She/It has seen They have seen

Look at the following sentences:-

I have turned on the light

This means that I turned on the light some time ago and that it is still on. One result, therefore, of my past action is that the light is on at the present moment. Another result is that you may read a book, if you wish or do anything else, since the room is no longer in darkness.

I have opened the window.

This means that I opened the window at some time in the past and that it is still open. As a result of my past action, the window is open now. Also, fresh air can now come into the room through the open window.

9. The Future Perfect Tense

I shall have written We shall have written

You will have written You will have written

He/She/It will have written They will have written

Look at this sentence:-

I shall have read this book by six o’clock tonight.

This means that I have not yet read this book, but at six o’clock tonight, that is, at a time in the future, the reading of the book will be past.

10. The Past Perfect Continuous Tense

I had been working We had been working

You had been working You had been working

He/She/It had been working They had been working

The past perfect continuous tense is quite like the past perfect tense except it expresses longer actions in the past before another action in the past.

Look at the following examples:-

• The nurse was very exhausted as she had been working a 20-hour shift.
•  It was past her bedtime. She had been waiting to get home since 10 o’clock.
• My muscles ached after yesterday’s jog. I had not been running for a while now.

11. The Present Perfect Continuous Tense

I have been sitting We have been sitting

You have been sitting You have been sitting

He/She/It has been sitting They have been sitting

When you are using the Present Perfect Continuous Tense in speaking or informal writing you may contract the subject and the first auxiliary verb:-

For example: I’ve, We’ve, You’ve, He’s, She’s, It’s, They’ve or Tony’s.

• I’ve been sitting and reading for nearly 5 hours now.
• They’ve been working since dawn.

There are 2 uses for the present perfect continuous tense and are usually used in connection to the present and now or an action that started in the past and is still continuing now.

a. An action which has just recently stopped

• I am sleepy (now) because I have been waking up early these few days.
• The dog needs some water as it has been running.
• I am feeling tired. I have been working very hard lately.

b. An action continue till now

• I have been waiting for him since this morning. ( I am still waiting)
• She has been studying for her exam since 6 am (She is still studying now)
• Peter has been crying for his mother since last night (he is still crying now)

(Note here that we always use “for” and “since” in the present perfect continuous tense when we use it for (b) the action to continue till now)

12. The Future Perfect Continuous Tense

I will have been playing We will have been playing

You will have been playing You will have been playing

He/She/It will have been playing They will have been playing

When you are using the Future Perfect Continuous Tense in speaking or informal writing you may contract the subject and the first auxiliary verb:-

For example: I’ll, We’ll, You’ll, He’ll, She’ll, It’ll, They’ll

We usually use the future perfect continuous tense for long action before some time in the future. And this tense is used to:

• Determine how long the action will be in progress in the future
• Show the length of time the action will be in the future
• State the results of the action in the future
• Indicate a continuous action at a stated point and continue into the future
• Identify 2 future actions, one after another

Some examples of the future perfect continuous tense are:

• We will have been staying in this house for 3 years by end of December.
• By next year, my daughter will have been studying 4 years in the University.
• In two minutes, we will have been waiting one hour for the bus.
• Michael will have been working for 5 years next May.
• The bus driver will have been transporting my children for 2 years end of this month.
• The children will be tired as they will have been traveling for over 10 hours.
• My husband will have been working in China 8 years this February.

Tenses - “Past” - “Present” - “Future”

What is Tense?

Let’s look at tenses in a simplicity format by the timing of:-

“Past” - “Present” - “Future”

In English, the concept of tense is very important. “Tense” – a noun is defined as a form of a verb used to indicate the time and sometimes the continuation or the completeness of an action in relation to the time of speaking.

Tense is a way we use in English referring to the time of “Past” - “Present” - “Future”.

We have already seen how we can use the above 3 timings “Past” - “Present” - “Future” in the Simple Tense. We still have 3 more tenses to deal with. Listed are the 4 categories of tenses:-

• Simple Tense
• Continuous Tense (also known as “Participle Tense”)
• Perfect Tense
• Continuous Perfect Tense

We will deal with each tenses one by one so as not to “cloud one’s mind”.

Pronouns - Demonstrative, Interrogative, Relative, Indefinite

In addition to the commonly used and known “Personal Pronouns”, there are 4 more categories of pronouns which we can use to demonstrate, to interrogate, to relate and in indefinite form. They are as follows:-

1. Demonstrative Pronouns (this, these, that, those)
A demonstrative pronoun identifies a noun or a pronoun.

• this, that - will identify noun or pronoun in singular form.
• these, those - will identify noun or pronoun in plural form.
• this, these - to refer to objects that are nearby.
• that, those - to refer to objects that are farther away.

e.g. This is good but that is not suitable/These are good but those are not suitable.

2. Interrogative Pronouns

• (who, whom, which, what)
• (whoever, whomever, whichever, whatever) - compounds formed with suffix “ever”

An interrogative pronoun is used for asking questions, or to inquire.

• who, whom and sometimes which are used to refer to people

e.g.

• Whom did you speak to about our problems?
• Which boy did you give the chocolates to?
• Who is taking the blame?

3. Relative Pronouns

• (who, whom, that, which)
• (whoever, whomever, whichever) - compounds

A relative pronoun is used to link one phrase/clause to another.
e.g.

• There are 25 children in the class of which one will be awarded for best student.
• Of the 25 children who do you think will win?

4. Indefinite Pronouns

• all, another, any, anybody, anyone, anything, each, everybody, everyone, everything, few, many, nobody, none, one, several, some, somebody, someone.

An indefinite pronoun refers to a person or thing which is identifiable but not specific. They conveys the idea of all, any, none, some.
e.g.

• Some of them will be going home.
• All of us are astounded by the news.
• None did it because everyone thought someone will and at the end nobody did.

Pronouns - Forms of Personal Pronouns

As we know, pronouns take the place of nouns. If there is no pronoun, our sentences will be very boring as we will be repeating the subject noun over and over again.

For example: I think James is a nice guy. James is honest and helpful. I like James.

With pronoun: I think James is a nice guy. He is honest and helpful. I like him.

Personal Pronouns
There are 7 personal pronouns:

1. 1^st person singular (I) - note “I” is always written with a capital.
2. 1^st person plural (we)
3. 2^nd person (you)
4. 3^rd person singular masculine (he)
5. 3^rd person singular feminine (she)
6. 3^rd person singular neuter (it)
7. 3^rd person plural (they)

Each pronoun has a number of forms:

1. a subjective case form (I, you, he, she, it / we, you, they). This is used when they are the subject of a sentence e.g. I was happy to have met an old friend.

2. an objective case form (me, you, him, her, it / us, you, them). This is used when it is the object of verb or of a preposition.

e.g. Jackie will show us how it is done (the objective personal pronoun “us” is the direct object of the verb “show”).

e.g. The client will pass the order to him (the objective personal pronoun in this case is “him” which is the direct object of the preposition “to”).

3. a possessive case form (mine, yours, his, hers, its / ours, yours, theirs). This possessive pronoun show ownership without needing apostrophes unless you do a short form of “it is” = “it’s”)

e.g. These books are mine and those are his.

4. a possessive adjective case form (my, your, his, her, its / our, your, their).

This is also used as a possessor but this one acts as a pronoun or a predicate adjective.

e.g. These are my books and those are yours. (here “my” acts somewhat like an adjective to “books”.)

5. a reflexive form (myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself / ourselves, yourselves, themselves). This replaces the objective-case form in referring to the same entity as a subject.

e.g. You can do this task yourself as it is simple.

The above different pronouns, and the different forms of the pronouns, often have overlapping functions.

Concrete Nouns vs Abstract Nouns

Concrete nouns and abstract nouns are directly opposite of each other; one is used to describe tangible objects while the other describes the intangible, meaning objects of the senses….

Concrete Nouns
A concrete noun is the name of anything or anyone that we can perceive with our 5 physical senses, touch, see, taste, hear and smell. Its opposite is abstract noun.
For example: The teacher read the story to the students.

Abstract Nouns
An abstract noun is the name of anything which we cannot perceive through our 5 physical senses just the opposite of a concrete noun.
For example: The young girl jumped with joy on receiving her gift while her friends looked on with envy.

Nouns as Adjectives

An adjective is a word to describe a noun. Sometimes we use a noun to describe another noun. In that case, the first noun “acts as” an adjective.
Adjective/noun: happy boy, clever girl, smart worker
“Noun as adjective”/noun: plastic bottle, glass cover, bird cage


Rules of nouns as adjectives

• The “noun as adjective” will always come first, the second noun is the subject matter. Once you understand this rule, you will understand the meaning of a sentence.
  1. A race dog is a dog that runs in races
  2. A dog race is a race for dogs
  3. A toy house is a toy in the shape of a house
  4. A house toy is a toy for playing in the house, can be any type of toys
  5. A lighthouse is a beacon
  6. A house light is any lighting unit in the house

• Just like a real adjective, the “noun as adjective” is invariable. It is usually in the singular form. If there is a plural it is on the real noun only.

Correct Usage

• Toothbrush/Toothbrushes
• Plastic bottle/Plastic bottles
• Bird cage/Bird cages

Incorrect Usage

• Teethbrush/Teethbrushes
• Plastics bottle/Plastics bottles
• Birds cage/Birds cages

• A few nouns look plural but we usually treat them as singular (e.g. news, billiards, athletics, sports, clothes, accounts). When we use these nouns “as adjectives” they are unchanged:
• news report/news reports, billiards table/billiards tables, athletics game/athletics games, sports article/sports articles, clothes line/clothes lines, accounts clerk/accounts clerks

• Writing “nouns as adjectives”

We write the “noun as adjective” with the real noun in 3 different ways:

1. In two separate words (apple pie)
2. In two hyphenated words (tax-plan)
3. In one word (football)

There is no fixed rule for this. We sometimes use all the three different ways to write on single “noun as adjective” e.g. head master, head-master, headmaster

The rules of style that apply to dashes and hyphens have evolved to support ease of reading in complex constructions; editors often accept deviations from them that will support, rather than hinder, ease of reading.

• Saying “nouns as adjectives”

We always emphasize on the first noun that is the “noun in adjective” when speaking.

• More than one “nouns as adjectives”

We can use more than one “noun as adjectives” to describe a noun, just like we do in adjectives e.g “China team badminton coach”

• Combined “ nouns as adjectives” with adjectives

We can also combine adjective with “noun as adjective” to better describe a noun e.g. “the cute Italian football player”

Proper Nouns vs Common Nouns

A proper noun is the name of a person, animal, place or organization, for example, James, Snoopy, England, Paris or Motorola. A name is a noun, but a very special noun—a proper noun. Proper nouns have their own rules…..we always used capital letter for the first letter of a proper noun; examples as shown below:

Proper Nouns vs	Common Nouns
James, Elton	man, boy, father, son
Susan, Jane	woman, girl, mother, daughter
Pizza Hut, Walmart	eatery, megastore
Agilent, Toshiba	factory, company
Monday, October	day, month
Malaysia, London	country, city
Blue Ocean, Superman Returns	book, movie

Proper Nouns without THE

1. We do not use “the” with names of people
2. We do not normally use “the” with names of companies except if the registered name of the company starts with “The” e.g. The China Post.
3. We do not normally use “the” for banks, hotels, shops etc. named after a person with - ’s or -s e.g. McDonalds
4. We do not normally use “the” with names of places e.g. Malaysia, Europe, Paris except if a country is with the word “Republic”, “States” and “Kingdom” e.g. The People’s Republic of China, The United Kingdom, The United States of America.
5. We do not use “the” with “Dr/Mr/Mrs/President/Professor with name e.g Dr Watson, President Bush, Mr & Mrs Smith.
6. We do not use “the” with Lake/Mount with name e.g. Lake Michigan, Mount Everest.
7. We do not normally use “the” for streets, roads, square, parks e.g Victoria Street, Clove Hall Road, Tianmen Square, Hyde Park.
8. Many big, important buildings have names made of two words (for example, Kennedy Airport). If the first word is the name of a person or place, we do not normally use “the” e.g. St. Peter’s Church, Heathrow Airport

Proper Nouns with THE

1. We normally use “the” for country names that include “States”, “Kingdom”, “Republic” etc (as above).
2. We normally use “the” for names of canals, rivers, seas and oceans eg, the Suez Canal, the Yangtse River, the Dead Sea, the Atlantic Ocean.
3. We normally use “the” for plural names of people and places e.g. the Tans, the Smiths, the Virgin Islands, the Philippines, the Himalayas, the Alps.
4. We normally use “the” with the following sorts of names e.g. the Shangri-La Hotel, the Peking Restaurant, the Citibank, the White House, the Star Newspapers, the CNN.
5. We normally use “the” for names made with “…of…” e.g. the Straits of Malacca, the Stature of Liberty, the Bank of China.

Sometimes you will make proper nouns out of common nouns, as in the following examples: condominium = Gemdale Condominiums, mall = Queensbay Mall.

Nouns - What is a Noun?

A noun is a word used to name a person, animal, place, thing, and abstract idea. It is a name of anything! The bold words in the following sentences are nouns:

The cat is out of the bag.
My father works in the bank.
The train checker checks the passengers’ tickets.

The problem with this simple definition is that it does not explain why “love” is a noun but can also be a verb.
A clearer way of looking at nouns is by its ending, its position and its function.

Noun words ending in

1. ity} sensitivity, creativity, nationality
2. ment} judgement, appointment, contentment
3. ness} greatness, gentleness, kindness
4. ation} plantation, temptation, orientation
5. hood} knighthood, boyhood, livelihood
6. ful} spoonful, plateful, cupful (this is not a fixed rules as some words ending in -ful can be adjectives for example careful, beautiful, pitiful, powerful

Noun position in a sentence
We can easily recognise nouns in the position of a sentence which often comes after a determiner word like a, an, the, this, my, such etc:

• a cat
• an appointment
• the condominium
• this plantation
• my handbag
• such creativity

Nouns also often comes after one or more adjectives:

• a black cat
• a business appointment
• the 5-star condominium
• this rubber plantation
• my pink beaded handbag
• such intelligent creativity

Noun function in a sentence
Nouns have specific function in a sentence, for example:

• subject of verb: Children play quietly.
• object of verb: She loves cats.
• subject and object of verb: Tellers dispense money.

Not all subjects or objects of a sentence is always a noun. It could be a pronoun or a phrase. His children play quietly - “children” is the noun but “His children” is the subject.

Conjunctions

What are Conjunctions?

Conjunctions are words used to link words, phrases and clauses to make them into a more meaningful sentence.  For examples:-

• Abdul is singing while taking a shower.
• Are buses and taxis considered public transportation?
• I can meet you before you leave.

There are 3 categories of conjunction:-

1. Coordinating Conjunctions ~~ and, but, or, nor, for, so , yet ~~ You use coordinating conjunction to join individual words, phrases and independent clauses.  Please note that “but” and “for” can be used as prepositions.
2. Subordinating Conjunctions ~~ after, although, as, because, before, how, if, once, since, then, that, though, till, until, when, where, whether, while ~~ A subordinating conjunction introduces a dependent clause showing the relationship between the independent clause(s) and the dependent clause(s).
3. Correlative Conjunctions ~~  both…and, either…or, neither…nor, not only…but also, so…as, whether…or ~~ Correlative conjunctions always appear in pairs.  They are used to link relevant in a sentence.  Technically correlative conjunctions consist simply of a coordinating conjunction linked to an adjective or an adverb.

Articles

An article is a word that combine with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun. There are only 3 articles in the English Language in two categories; the definite article (the) and the indefinite article (a, an).

Definite article (the)

A definite article (the) is used before singular and plural nouns that refer to a particular member of a group.

The cows are in the field.

Indefinite article (a, an)

An indefinite article(a, an) is used before singular nouns that refer to any member of a group. An is used when the next word begins with a vowel or a silent (unpronounced) h, as in “an animal” or “an hour.”

A cow is an animal.

Partitive article (some, any)

A partitive article indicates an indefinite quantity of a mass noun; there is no partitive article in English, though the words some or any often have that function.

Do have some fun with any of these toys.

Zero article

A zero article is the absence of an article; for example, in indefinite plural:

Cows and dogs are animals.

for example, in definite proper noun

I am climbing Mount Everest

— as opposed to—

I am climbing the highest mountain

In informal writing, such as notes or appointments , the definite article and some other particles are often omitted, for example, Must pick up clothes from laundrette today.

Adverbs

An Adverb is a word which modifies or adds to the meaning of a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.

Adverbs may be divided, according to their use, into the following classes:-

TIME – before, now, since, then, already, soon, seldom

Example:- We have met before

PLACE – here, there, everywhere, nowhere.

Example:- They came here yesterday.

MANNER – badly, easily, slowly, well.

Example:- The tall boy won easily.

DEGREE – almost, much, only, quite, very, rather

Example:- The old lady walked very slowly.

NUMBER – once, twice.

Example:- They ran twice round the playground.

QUESTIONING – where, when, how.

Example:- When did you see him?

AFFIRMATION and NEGATION – yes, certainly, no, not

Example:- She can certainly swim.

I have not read the book

(Many adverbs are often used as connecting words and therefore become conjunctions.)

NOTE – The majority of Adverbs are formed from corresponding Adjectives by adding –ly, e.g. quickly, bravely, seriously, happily, clearly, slowly, quietly, angrily, fatally, suitably.

Examples:

Dinner will soon be ready. (time)

There lay the object of our search. (place)

The man walked slowly across the field. (manner)

The apples were quite good. (degree)

I once saw an eagle kill a rabbit. (number)

Where did you find that knife? (questioning)

He can certainly boast about his adventures. (affirmation)

We did not go to the concert. (negation)

List of common verbs with suitable adverbs

Here is a list of common verbs with choices of suitable adverbs compiled as examples:-

Verbs	Adverbs
acted	quickly, suddenly, warily
answered	correctly, immediately, tartly
ate	greedily, hungrily, quickly, slowly
bled	freely, profusely, slightly
bowed	humbly, respectfully, stiffly
caressed	fondly, gently, lovingly
charged	bravely, desperately, furiously
chuckled	artfully, gleefully, happily
crept	quietly, silently, softly, stealthily
decided	carefully, eventually, immediately
explained	briefly, clearly, concisely, vaguely
fell	heavily, quickly, suddenly
flogged	brutally, cruelly, unmercifully
fought	bravely, furiously, gamely
frowned	angrily, sulkily, worriedly
injured	accidentally, fatally, seriously, slightly
left	hurriedly, quietly, suddenly
listened	anxiously, attentively, carefully
lost	badly, heavily, sportingly
mumbled	angrily, inaudibly, indistinctly
pondered	deeply, seriously, thoughtfully
pulled	hastily, strongly, vigorously
ran	hurriedly, quickly, rapidly, slowly
remembered	clearly, distinctly, faintly, slightly
sang	loudly, softly, sweetly, tunefully
shone	brightly, brilliantly, clearly, dimly
shouted	frantically, joyfully, jubilantly, loudly, suddenly
slept	fitfully, lightly soundly
smiled	broadly, happily, ruefully, sweetly
sneered	insolently, impudently, tauntingly
spent	foolishly, freely, recklessly, sparingly
spoke	clearly, distinctly, earnestly, loudly plainly, slowly
sprang	hurriedly, lightly, quickly, suddenly
staggered	awkwardly, drunkenly, weakly
strove	bravely, desperately, manfully
stuttered	excitedly, haltingly, painfully
trembled	fearfully, frightfully, visibly
waited	patiently, anxiously
walked	clumsily, haltingly, quickly, slouchingly, slowly, smartly
wept	bitterly, distractedly, sadly, touchingly
whispered	audibly, quietly, softly
yielded	stubbornly, weakly, willingly

COMPARISONS OF ADJECTIVE

As you know adjectives are used to describe the nouns and here I wish to show you that they are also used to compare two or more different objects while describing them. Here are two rules for use in such comparison:

1. Positive, Comparative & Superlative

The Positive is used when speaking of or describing an object, eg. short, big.

The Comparative is used when comparing two objects and is formed by adding “-er” to the Positive, e.g. shorter, bigger.

The Superlative is used when speaking of more than two objects and is formed by adding “-est” to the Positive e.g. shortest, biggest.

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
big	bigger	biggest
far	farther	farthest
fast	faster	fastest
gay	gayer	gayest
great	greater	greatest
high	higher	highest
late	later	latest
long	longer	longest
old	older	oldest
small	smaller	smallest
smart	smarter	smartest
tall	taller	tallest
thin	thinner	thinnest

The following are exceptions to the rule which you will have to learn by heart.    

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
bad	worse	worst
good	better	best
little	less	least
many	more	most
much	more	most

Examples:

• Peter is shorter than his brother by almost a head.
• He is the least surprised over the news compared to the others.
• I am older than you by 5 years.
• Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world.

2. Using “More” & “Most” for adjectives with two or more syllables

Generally for adjectives of two or more syllables “more” is used comparatively, and “most” is used superlatively, e.g. careful, more careful, most careful.

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
beautiful	more beautiful	most beautiful
brilliant	more brilliant	most brilliant
cautious	more cautious	most cautious
comfortable	more comfortable	most comfortable
generous	more generous	most generous
gracious	more gracious	most gracious
handsome	more handsome	most handsome
ignorant	more ignorant	most ignorant

Examples:

• This sofa is the most comfortable among all displayed in the showroom.
• Sally is more beautiful now compared to herself before the makeover.
• Kelly is the most brilliant kid in the whole classroom.
• Uncle Sam is the most generous among the members of this big family.