What Is an Adverb?
English & Language Arts · Grammar and Language Conventions · Grades 2–4
Meaning at a glance
An adverb is a word that tells more about a verb: how, when, where or how often something happens.
Also searched as: adverbs, ly words.
Understand it simply
Adverbs answer questions about an action: How? (slowly), When? (soon), Where? (here) and How often? (always).
Many adverbs end in -ly, but not all of them do. Fast, soon, here and never are adverbs too.
See it work
Find the adverb that tells how the children walked:
The childrennoun walkedverb slowlyadverb home .
Avoid this confusion
Not every -ly word is an adverb. Friendly and lovely are adjectives: a friendly teacher. Also, some adverbs do not end in -ly: “She ran fast.”
Try it yourself
Work these out first, then check your answers below.
Find the adverb: “Mariama spoke softly.”
In “We arrived early”, what does the adverb early tell us?
Is “friendly” an adverb?
Check your understanding
Show the answer to question 1
Answer: softly
Softly tells how Mariama spoke.
Show the answer to question 2
Answer: When we arrived.
Adverbs can tell how, when, where or how often. Early tells when.
Show the answer to question 3
Answer: No. It is an adjective.
In “a friendly teacher” it describes the noun teacher. Ending in -ly does not make a word an adverb.
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You now know what adverb means. Keep going with a full lesson, then explore the ideas that connect to it.
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- Adverbs (Grade 2)
- Adjectives and adverbs (Grade 3)
- Parts of speech (Grade 4)
Practise
Practise with Learning Lab questions for the lesson Adverbs (Grade 2), with an explanation after each answer.
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Sources and review
This explanation was written from Courseversity lesson content (see the lessons above). An outside reference check is still on the editorial to-do list.
Written by: Courseversity editorial team (AI-assisted draft).
Review status: checked against the sources above. Educator review is pending, so please tell us if anything looks wrong.
Last updated: 27 October 2026.