ADVERB

Adverbs are words that modify

• a verb (He drove slowly. — How did he drive?)
• an adjective (He drove a very fast car. — How fast was his car?)
• another adverb (She moved quite slowly down the aisle. — How slowly did she move?)

As we will see, adverbs often tell when, where, why, or under what conditions something happens or happened. Adverbs frequently end in -ly; however, many words and phrases not ending in -ly serve an adverbial function and an -ly ending is not a guarantee that a word is an adverb. The words lovely, lonely, motherly, friendly, neighborly, for instance, are adjectives:

 There are several types of adverb:

manner - place - time - frequency - degree.

There are different places where you can put the adverb.

ADVERBS OF MANNER - these answer the question how?

This adverb usually comes after the direct object or if there is no direct object, after the verb:

ADVERBS OF PLACE - these answer the question where?

This adverb usually comes after the object, otherwise after the verb:

Note: somewhere, anywhere, follow the same rules as some and any:

ADVERBS OF TIME - these answer the question when?

This adverb usually comes either at the very beginning of the sentence or at the end.

Afterwards we decided to go by car. I've done that journey before.

Note: yet and still: yet should be placed at the end of the sentence.

Still should be placed before the verb, except with the verb 'to be' when it comes after.

ADVERBS OF FREQUENCY - these answer the question how many times?

This adverb comes after the verb 'to be':

She is always honest.

Comes before simple tenses of all other verbs:

They sometimes spend the whole of Saturday fishing.

Comes after the first auxiliary in a tense consisting of more than one verb:

I have often wondered how they did that.
I can sometimes go without food for days.

Note: with 'used to' and 'have' the frequency adverb is usually placed in front:

ADVERBS OF DEGREE - these answer the question to what extent?

This adverb can modify an adverb or an adjective and comes before the word it modifies:

The bottle is almost full, nearly empty.
They should be able to pass their exams quite easily.

The following adverbs of degree can also modify verbs:

almost, nearly, quite, hardly, scarcely, barely, just

INVERSION

If you begin a sentence with one of the following, the normal word order changes - the verb comes first followed by the subject:

never, seldom, scarcely ..... when, no sooner ..... than, nowhere, in no circumstances, on no account, only then, not only         

 

Question Tags

English Grammar Rule

Question tags are short questions at the end of statements.

They are mainly used in speech when we want to:

Question tags are formed with the auxiliary or modal verb from the statement and the appropriate subject.

A positive statement is followed by a negative question tag.

A negative statement is followed by a positive question tag.

When the verb in the main sentence is in the present simple we form the question tag with do / does.

If the verb is in the past simple we use did.

When the statement contains a word with a negative meaning, the question tag needs to be positive

Some verbs / expressions have different question tags. For example:

I am - I am attractive, aren't I?

Positive imperative - Stop daydreaming, will / won't you?

Negative imperative - Don't stop singing, will you?

Let's - Let's go to the beach, shall we?

Have got (possession) - He has got a car, hasn't he?

There is / are -

Conditional sentences

Conditional sentences are sentences expressing factual implications, or hypothetical situations and their consequences

There are three types of the if-clauses.

type	condition
I	condition possible to fulfill
II	condition in theory possible to fulfill
III	condition not possible to fulfill (too late)

Form

type	if clause	main clause
I	Simple Present	will-future (or Modal + infinitive)
II	Simple Past	would + infinitive *
III	Past Perfect	would + have + past participle

                       

Gerunds

A gerund is a verbal that ends in -ing and functions as a noun. The term verbal indicates that a gerund, like the other two kinds of verbals, is based on a verb and therefore expresses action or a state of being. However, since a gerund functions as a noun, it occupies some positions in a sentence that a noun ordinarily would, for example: subject, direct object, subject complement, and object of preposition. 

A gerund is a form of a verb used as a noun, whereas a participle is a form of verb used as an adjective or as a verb in conjunction with an auxiliary verb.

In English, the present participle has the same form as the gerund, and the difference is in how they are used.

Points to remember:

1. A gerund is a verbal ending in -ing that is used as a noun.
2. A gerund phrase consists of a gerund plus modifier(s), object(s), and/or complement(s).
3. Gerunds and gerund phrases virtually never require punctuation.