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Unit 10: Parts of Speech and Common Errors in English

5. Adverbs of number describe “how often’. notes

Example: I once saw a yellow beetle.
6. Adverbs of interrogation are used in questions

Example: Where do you stay?

7. Adverbs of affirmation/negation.

Example: They are not here.

adjuncts, Disjuncts and conjuncts

Regardless of its position, an adverb is often neatly integrated into the flow of a sentence. When
this is true, as it almost always is, the adverb is called an adjunct. (Notice the underlined adjuncts
or adjunctive adverbs in the first two sentences of this paragraph.) When the adverb does not fit
into the flow of the clause, it is called a disjunct or a conjunct and is often set off by a comma
or set of commas. A disjunct frequently acts as a kind of evaluation of the rest of the sentence.
Although it usually modifies the verb, we could say that it modifies the entire clause, too. Notice
how “too” is a disjunct in the sentence immediately before this one; that same word can also
serve as an adjunct adverbial modifier: It’s too hot to play outside. Here are two more disjunctive
adverbs:

Example: 1. Frankly, Mary, I don’t give a damn.
2. Fortunately, no one was hurt.
Conjuncts, on the other hand, serve a connector function within the flow of the text, signaling a
transition between ideas.

Example: 1. If they start smoking those awful cigars, then I’m not staying.
2. We’ve told the landlord about this ceiling again and again, and yet he’s
done nothing to fix it.
At the extreme edge of this category, we have the purely conjunctive device known as the
conjunctive adverb (often called the adverbial conjunction):

Example: John has spent years preparing for this event; nevertheless, he’s the most
nervous person here.
I love this school; however, I don’t think I can afford the tuition.

relative adverbs

Adjectival clauses are sometimes introduced by what are called the relative adverbs: where, when,
and why. Although the entire clause is adjectival and will modify a noun, the relative word itself
fulfills an adverbial function (modifying a verb within its own clause).
The relative adverb where will begin a clause that modifies a noun of place:

Example: My entire family now worships in the church where my great grandfather
used to be minister.

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