LEARNER'S ENGLISH GRAMMAR 2004 by Masaya Oba

6-1 [Adverb(AD), Verb Expansion(V+AD)]
Among major morphemes, there is a group which expresses when, where, how, and so on. These morphemes are called an adverb or AD. In the following the adverb "again" expands the verb "try".

     (1)  Try again.

The diagram of (1) will be,

     (2)      (Try again.)    [Expansion]
                   V
                  
               V      AD
             (try)  (again)

6-2 [Meanings of Adverbs]
Adverbs mean the following.

   (i) Time & Place                           (Lobeck, p.176)
     (3)  Time: now, then, immediately, daily, etc.
     (4)  Place: here, there, etc.
  (ii) Manner & Frequency
     (5)  Manner: quickly,  quietly,  slowly,  carefully,  etc.
     (6)  Frequency: always,  never,  seldom,  often,  etc.
 (iii) Speaker's Attitude
     (7)  Attitude: fortunately,  hopefully,  obviously,  etc.
     (8)  Possibility: probably,  certainly,  allegedly,  etc.
     (9)  Aspect: still,  yet,  already,  anymore,  usually,  etc.
  (iv) Other
    (10)  Focus: even,  only,  too,  etc.

6-3 [Adverbs with/without "-ly"]
Adverbs are divided into two types. The first has one morpheme and the second has two or more morphemes.

   (i) Adverbs of One Morpheme
     (11)  again,  well,  hard,  just,  etc.
  (ii) Adverbs of Two or More Morphemes 
     (12)  slowly,  outdoors,  side-ways,  schoolboy-fashion,   etc.

The majority of the second type are adverbs with "-ly" at the end. The "-ly" is a minor morpheme which means {Turn into an adverb} or {Adverbialization}. The morpheme "-ly" is a convertor(CVT) and can be added to most adjectives to make an adverb(AD). Thus, the word "slowly", for instance, is made up of the adjective "slow" plus the adverbializer "-ly".

     (13)      (slowly)
                  AD
                 
              A      CVT
            (slow)  (-ly)

The adverbializer "-ly", as a convertor, changes the adjective "slow" into the adverb "slowly"; this is an example of conversion.

6-4 [Scopes of Adverbs]
An adverb(AD) usually expands or modifies a verb(V). But some adverbs expand an adjective, another adverb, and even a whole unit of a noun plus a verb, or an S(cf.9-1).

   (i) Adverbs expanding a verb
     (14)  He talks differently.
  (ii) Adverbs expanding an adjective
     (15)  This is too expensive.
 (iii) Adverbs expanding an adverb
     (16)  She drives so carefully.
  (iv) Adverbs expanding a unit of a noun plus a verb, or an S
     (17)  Fortunately, he did not die.

The diagrams of (14) to (17) are respectively:

     (18)    (talks differently)
                  V
                 
              V       AD
          (talks)   (differently)

     (19)    (too expensive)
                  A
                 
              AD      A
            (too)   (expensive)

     (20)    (so carefully)
                  AD
                 
              AD      AD
             (so)   (carefully)

     (21)    (Fortunately, he did not die)
                  S
                 
              AD      S
      (Fortunately)  (he did not die)

     In the above cases of expansion, the expanded part is called the scope. In (18), "talk" is the scope of "differently", in (19) "expensive" is the scope of "too", in (20) "carefully" is the scope of "so", and in (21) "he did not die" is the scope of "fortunately".

6-5  [Two or More Adverbs: V - AD1 - AD2]
     When two or more adverbs appear at the end of a sentence, some linguists claim that the approved order is,

     (22)   V ... Manner--Place--Time

Examples:

     (23) a.  I worked hard yesterday.         (Swan, p.27)
          b. *I worked yesterday hard.
     (24) a.  She sang beautifully in the town hall last night.
          b. *She sang beautifully last night in the town hall.
          c. *She sang last night in the town hall beautifully.
          d. *She sang in the town hall beautifully last night.