For example, adverbs can address the questions of, “How? How much? In what condition? When? Where? Why?” At this time, you may also want to have students ask, “Does the word end in –ly?” This is an easy way for younger students to identify adverbs.
For example, adverbs of time include answers to questions regarding frequency and timing. Soon, early, and tomorrow are adverbs of time. Adverbs of location help to answer the question of, “Where?” Upstairs, downstairs, and inside are all adverbs of location. Adverbs of manner help to answer the question of, “How?” Sadly, quietly, and quickly are all adverbs of manner.
Give yourself plenty of teaching time for this conversation, as it might take several minutes. Expect younger students to have fewer questions. They’ll likely require more instruction on the basics of sentence construction as well.
For example, for a pairing of rabbit/hop, a sentence might look like, “A rabbit hops hurriedly. ” This is an exercise that is suitable for all levels. For beginner students, start out the list with a few examples that they can mirror. You should get a number of different sentence suggestions for each pairing. That is part of the exercise. It shows how adverbs of manner can define a sentence. For example, for a pairing of dog/bark, a sentence might look like, “A dog barks loudly. ” Or, “A dog barks excitedly. ”
For example, a student might say, “A shooting star falls downwards. ” If a student tries to use the word “towards,” you’ll need to explain that that is a preposition. Because this exercise requires a wide-ranging vocabulary, it is better suited for moderate- or advanced-level students.
To mix it up, ask questions from both the past and present. For example, you might ask, “How long have you been in school?” Your students could answer, “For 5 years. ” This is great exercise for beginner students, as it eases them into an understanding of adverb importance.
Record their responses on the board. Go through and circle the adverbs. They’ll find that they just provided a number of adverbs very quickly. All levels of students can benefit from this teaching exercise.
For example, your students might transform the word “loud” into “loudly. ”
It’s important that the initial statement is false or inaccurate because this allows the student’s partner to play the part of teacher and offer a correction. An example pairing might be a first sentence of, “The dog barks quietly. ” The corrected sentence might be, “The dog barks loudly. ” Don’t just stick to 2 rounds of this exercise. The students should go back and forth with the same sentence multiple times. Advanced students, in particular, can usually keep this game going for up to 30 minutes. For example, the first student might say, “The athlete moves inelegantly. ” The second student might alter it to, “The athlete moves quickly. ”
Other prepositions that your students can use, include up, over, under, and through. For example, a student might state,” The ceiling is up there. ” Or, “my desk is over there. ” This is a fun exercise for all levels of students, as it gets them connecting adverbs to their environment.
Some common adverbs of frequency are: sometimes, rarely, almost never, hardly ever, always, and usually. This is an exercise more effective for advanced students, due to the complex nuances between the various adverbs.
