How to Use Adverbs in English ALL You Need to Know

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hi everybody welcome back to ask Alisha

the weekly series where you ask me

questions and I answer them

maybe first question this week comes

from Sanju hi Sanju Sanju says hi Alicia

I would like to know how to use adverbs

and their correct position in sentences

and I also want to know the different

kinds of adverbs we can use in sentences

okay

adverbs are tricky yes so for this I’m

going to focus on two kind of broad

types of adverbs one I’m going to talk

about the ones that we use to modify

just verbs or to modify like adjectives

and phrases and second I’ll talk about

adverbs that we use to modify whole

sentences so first let’s take a look at

adverbs that we use to modify like verbs

and adjectives so these types of adverbs

they make the meaning more specific so

like they make the meaning of a verb a

little bit more restrictive so it

becomes a more specific sentence so an

example she walked slowly in this

sentence slowly is the adverb slowly

modifies the verb walked so we’re

learning here

how did she walk she walked slowly so

she walked slowly is a more specific

sentence than just she walked let’s look

at another example we arrived late in

this sentence late is the adverb the

verb that it’s modifying is arrived so

instead of just saying we arrived we can

say we arrived late this gives us more

specific information about the situation

we’re learning when did they arrive we

arrived late so late is the adverb here

one more example this view is very

beautiful here very is the adverb in

this case it’s modifying an adjective

not a verb the adjective is beautiful so

we want to ask the question how

beautiful was the view very beautiful so

in this way we can modify

Erbs we can modify adjectives and even

phrases in this simple way so with that

in mind now let’s take a look at adverbs

that can be used to modify entire

sentences so sometimes these adverbs can

be used to modify just verbs yes but

they can also be positioned so that they

modify entire sentences an example sadly

we lost the match here sadly is the

adverb it modifies the sentence we lost

the match interestingly we never

received a call from our client here

interestingly is the adverb it modifies

the sentence we never received a call

from our client so the positioning here

is kind of important you can position

the adverbs at the beginning of the

sentence or at the end of the sentence

but I would make one point if you’re

gonna position the adverb at the end of

the sentence use a comma before the

adverb so if you do this without a comma

and you make a sentence like with the

first example situation we lost the

match sadly it might sound like the team

members were actually like sad in the

match so there might like create some

confusion if you put a comma though

before your adverb at the end of the

sentence it makes things much clearer

for your reader the same thing applies

in the second example situation we never

received a call from our client

interestingly it’s kind of confusing

like you might think like you never

received an interesting call from your

client it might create some confusion so

adding a comma there can help make

things clearer so if you want to do that

you can put it at the end of the

sentence I personally prefer in most

cases to put the adverb if it’s a

sentence modifying adverb I prefer to

put it at the beginning of the sentence

to prevent any of this confusion while

yes you can make some changes in their

positioning if you’re ever not sure

where to place the adverb place it as

closely as possible to the word that

it’s modifying so for example the first

example sentence was very simple she

walked slowly but if there’s more

information like she walked slowly and

we want to talk about a road - it’s much

clearer to say

she walked slowly down the road than it

is to say she walked down the road

slowly so in that second sentence slowly

and the verb that it’s modifying walked

are very far apart in the sentence so in

very complex sentences it can get

confusing it’s better to keep your

adverbs and the words that they modify

close together if possible so I hope

that this helps you understand a bit

about placement of adverbs and how and

where we use them thanks very much for

sending this question in okay let’s move

on to your next question next question

comes from Diana hi Diana Diana says hi

Alicia which one is correct write

something in the chat or on the chat for

example the YouTube chat during the live

stream Thanks oh yeah use in so this is

something I think I say during the live

stream like send us your messages in the

chat or I see something in the chat or

write that in the chat send your example

sentences in the chat when you want to

talk about chat rooms online on YouTube

whatever please use the preposition in

to do that I hope that that helps you

thanks very much for the question okay

let’s move on to your next question next

question comes from kes savaris vera

Dara’s on hi again Kosovars can Savard

says hi Alicia when can we use hi deer

and other salutations and emails Thanks

nice question so if you’re emailing a

close colleague or a close co-worker

there are three that I would recommend

you can use hello first name hi first

name or hey first name I would use hey

only with colleagues or with coworkers

that you are very close to it sounds

quite casual and it might sound a little

bit impolite it might sound a little too

casual if you don’t know the other

person very well if you use one of these

plus like mr. or mrs. or MS or something

like that it sounds a little weird like

it might sound a little bit kind of off

balance if you use hey mister so-and-so

like some professors I know and some

like instructors at least in the u.s.

don’t mind that kind of thing but in

some cases it can sound a little bit

strange if you’re ever not

sure what level of formality to go with

like should I use hey should I use high

should I use hello just go with hello

like hello first name for someone that

you know fairly well hello is nice you

can use hello mister or hello missus

hello miss as well so hello is kind of

the standard level for more formal

salutations you can use dear yes I use

dear when I’m writing to someone that I

feel is a bit above me and maybe I don’t

know that person if you want to make it

even more formal use dear mr. MS mrs.

whatever plus their last name don’t use

first names if they have a title you

should use that title as well but in

general I think most email

correspondence usually uses hello or

dear in one of those patterns that I’ve

just mentioned those are probably the

most standard ways to greet people in

emails so I hope that this helps you

thanks very much for the question okay

let’s move on to your next question next

question comes from Reuben hi Reuben

Reuben says can you explain the

difference between the words garbage

rubbish and trash yep

they mean the same thing garbage rubbish

and trash mean the same thing but

rubbish is used in British English we

don’t really use the word rubbish in

American English also we tend to use the

words garbage and trash when we mean a

garbage can or trash can we don’t always

say where’s the garbage can we might

just say where’s the garbage or where’s

the trash but we mean where is the

garbage can or where is the trash can

so trash and garbage can also be used as

very rude words to talk about people

that you dislike so you might hear this

in media I personally don’t like to use

those words to talk about people but you

may hear it sometimes rubbish as well as

trash and garbage can also be used to

talk about things you think are of poor

quality so like oh man this phone case

was trash or oh man this shirt is trash

something that’s a very poor quality you

can use garbage trash rubbish

but again British English uses rubbish

we don’t really use this word in

American English so I hope that that

helped

they mean really the same thing when

you’re talking about waste thanks very

much for the question hope that that

helps you let’s move on to your next

question next question comes from a

jealous Polly day I’m not sure if I’m

saying that right I apologize if I’m not

but a jealous says uh hi Alicia what

does the phrase knuckle under mean also

what is the correct usage of I with was

and when is were used with I thanks

interesting I have never actually heard

the expression knuckle under but I

researched it and knuckle under means

like to submit or to yield so like when

someone is like pressuring you or trying

to get you to do something and you

finally give up and you like agree okay

fine I’ll do that thing you give in

that’s called

knuckle under to knuckle under it’s like

you can imagine that like someone uses

their knuckle so this part of the body

is called the knuckle you can kind of

imagine someone applies their knuckles

to apply pressure to someone to get them

to do something so this might be a

helpful image when you finally agree to

that thing you like go under their

knuckles like they’ve pushed you into

the situation or into a task that you

really didn’t want to do or it was

difficult to agree to so that’s the

meaning of knuckle under some examples

we won’t knuckle under to their demands

keep pushing them they’ll knuckle under

regarding your second question about

using I was and I were the short answer

is that we use I was to begin simple

past tense statements we use I were to

begin statements that are not true they

are unreal statements for example I was

a teacher five years ago and if I wear a

teacher I would teach math so in the

first example sentence it’s a simple

past tense statement I was a teacher

five years ago I use I was to show that

in my second example sentence if I were

a teacher I’m explaining something that

is not true it’s an unreal situation so

in this case we imagine I am NOT a

teacher but so I want to explain if I

were a teacher I would teach math so

when we introduce these unreal

situations we use I were so for some

more example sentences and