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CHAPTER XVIII.

ADVERBS.

188. An Adverb is a word which modifies the meaning of a verb, adjective, or other adverb.

Verbs usually indicate an action, and this action may be performed in various ways and in different circumstances. These variations in the conditions under which the action takes place are expressed by adverbs. Thus the action asserted in the sentence He bowled' is described as limited or modified, as regards the time when it occurred, if I say 'yesterday'; as regards the place, if I say 'here'; as regards the manner, if I say 'badly.' The vagueness of the statement 'He bowled' has been in large measure removed when I say 'Yesterday he bowled here badly.' Just as adjectives limit the application of nouns to things, so adverbs limit the application of verbs to actions. Just as the words 'clever boy' are applicable to fewer objects than the word 'boy,' so the words 'bowled yesterday' are applicable to fewer actions than the word "bowled.'

Again, Adjectives denote attributes, and these attributes are such as, in many instances, but by no means in all, vary in degree. One way of indicating this variation is by comparison another is by the use of adverbs which denote degree. If the reader will refer to the chapter on the Inflexion of Adjectives, he will see that the Demonstrative

Adjectives, eg. this, that, first, second, do not admit of Comparison at all; that the same thing is true of the definite Quantitative Adjectives, like none, both, and the Cardinal Numerals; and that even of the Qualitative Adjectives there are several which cannot be compared. Hence it is only to some adjectives that adverbs can be applied. Moreover it is only some adverbs which are applicable to adjectives. Adverbs of time, place, manner, cannot be used to qualify adjectives, though they qualify verbs. The same remarks apply to the qualification of adverbs by other adverbs. We can say 'very bad,' 'very badly,' but there is no meaning in saying 'here bad,' 'hither badly,' ' anyhow bad,' 'then badly,' for though these words may possibly occur together in sentences, reflexion will show that in such cases it is the verb, and not the adjective or adverb, which is modified.

189. We may classify Adverbs on three different principles.

I. As Simple and Conjunctive.

Most adverbs are simple. They contain a meaning in themselves: 'He thinks so now,' 'I live here,' 'We were greatly pleased.'

A few however have a meaning only when they are taken in connexion with another clause. 'He came when,' 'I waited while,' 'They are sitting where,' are meaningless assertions until the sentences are completed: 'He came when I called,' 'I waited while he wrote a letter,' 'They are sitting where we left them.' These adverbs have the force of conjunctions in joining clauses together. Hence they are called Conjunctive Adverbs. The reader will observe that in possessing this connecting force they resemble the so-called relative pronouns. In 'I know who it is,' the clauses 'I know,' 'it is,' are united by the relative pronoun who: in 'I know where it is,' they are united by the conjunctive adverb where.

190. II. According to their Meaning.

I. Time

2. Place

when? now, to-day, then, yesterday, soon, to-morrow how long? always, ever

how often? twice, yearly, rarely

where? here, near, below

whence? hence, thence

whither? hither, thither

in what order? secondly, lastly

3. Degree, or Quantity how much? scarcely, quite, little, exactly

4. Manner, or Quality how?

5. Certainty

6. Reason and Consequence

well, ill, and adverbs in -ly

certainly, not, perhaps

why, therefore, thus

191. Yes and No. What are we to call the words Yes and No?

They are usually classed as Adverbs of Affirmation and Negation, or, to use the term employed in our table, Adverbs of Certainty. Yet they are not exactly adverbs, for we cannot use them to modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs: we cannot say 'He yes did it,' 'He is yes good,' 'He acted yes wisely.' In some respects they resemble Interjections, but they are not, like them, the expression of a sudden feeling. They are really equivalent to sentences: 'Did he say so?' 'Yes,'-that is, 'He said so': 'No,'-that is, 'He did not say so.' As they are certainly words, we must either make them a new Part of Speech, which seems undesirable, or include them with Adverbs or with Interjections, though different from both. The student will of course understand that no, meaning none, is an adjective: 'no money,' 'no friends.'

192. III. According to their Origin or Mode of Formation.

The following are the principal modes in which Adverbs are formed:

I. Adverbs from Adjectives.

2.

Adverbs from Nouns in their oblique cases.

3. Adverbs from Pronouns.

4. Compound Adverbs.

193.

Illustrations of these Modes of Formation.

1 (a). The usual adverbial suffix is -ly, a corruption of like: so, 'godlike' became 'godly.'

(b). In Old English, adverbs were formed from adjectives by adding -e: fast-e, hard-e. This suffix disappeared along with many of our other inflexions, and adjective and adverb were no longer distinguishable in form. 'A fast rider': 'He rode fast.'

2. The comparative and superlative forms of such adverbs as are referred to above in 1 (b) are the same as those of the adjectives: 'A faster rider': 'He rode faster.'

The comparative and superlative forms of several adjectives which have irregular comparison are used adverbially also. See p. 115.

With these exceptions, more and most are generally employed in the comparison of adverbs.

3. Relics of case-inflexions appear in some adverbs :

(a) genitive ending -s is present in needs, unawares, and disguised in once, twice.

(b) dative plural ending -um survives in seldom and in the archaic whilom, 'formerly.'

(c) instrumental case is seen in why, the (in 'the more the better,' originally thi), and how.

4. The survival of inflexions is illustrated by the adverbs which are derived from the pronouns he, who, and the demonstrative adjective the.

5. In a few cases a compound adverb is formed from two words written in one: meanwhile, straightway, yesterday, thereupon, herein, hitherto, aboard (where a is a corruption of on), perchance, elsewhere, whensoever,

194.

The following points deserve attention :

(a) Words belonging to other parts of speech are sometimes used as adverbs:

Nouns for adverbs: 'He went home,' 'I don't mind a rap,' 'The wound was skin deep.'

Pronouns for adverbs: 'somewhat steep,' 'none the worse.' Verbs for adverbs: 'It went crash through the window,' 'Smack went the whip.'

(6) Adverbs are sometimes used with nouns as if the adverbs were adjectives: 'The then prime-minister,' 'The above remarks,' 'My arrival here,' 'His journey abroad.'

(c) Is there any difference of meaning between 'He arrived safe' and 'He arrived safely'?

The adjective safe marks a quality of the agent he, the adverb safely marks the mode of the action arrived. If his horse ran away, and he narrowly escaped being upset, he might arrive 'safe,' but he certainly would not arrive 'safely,' that is, 'in a safe manner.'

QUESTIONS.

I. What difficulty would arise in conversation, if there were (a) no adjectives, (b) no adverbs?

[Illustrate the difficulty by an example of this sort. By the aid of adjectives we can distinguish different varieties of things, each of which distinctions would require a separate noun, if we had no adjectives. Thus, if we take wine as our noun, and good, old, and red, as its limiting adjectives, with these four words we can mark eight distinctions: viz., (putting initial letters to represent the words) W, GW, OW, RW, GOW, GRW, ORW, GORW, and for these eight distinctions we should need eight nouns. This gives a very inadequate idea however of the economy of words which adjectives enable us to effect. For if we take the same three adjectives good, old, and red, and change the noun from wine to velvet, we shall need another eight nouns to express the varieties of velvet; another eight would be required to express the varieties of curtains, and so on. The three nouns wine, velvet, and curtains, in combination with the adjectives good, old and red, would need twenty-four words instead of six.

The same point might be illustrated as regards verbs and adverbs. By combining write, ride, walk, with gracefully, slowly, well, we express by means of six words twenty-four distinctions. If we had no adverbs and wished to mark these distinctions, we should do so either (1) by using phrases composed of a preposition and a noun, e.g. 'with grace,' ' in a slow manner,' 'in a good style,' or (2) by adding twenty-one verbs to our vocabulary.]

2. Express by adverbs the adverbial phrases in the following sentence:To tell the truth I want the money in the course of the next few hours, and if you will let me have it at the present moment, without asking for what purpose it is required or in what manner I am going to spend it, I shall feel obliged to an extraordinary extent.'