ADVERBS – LESSON 04 – 3A Definition 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:  That lovely woman lives in a friendly neighborhood. If a group of words containing a subject and verb acts as an adverb (modifying the verb of a sentence), it is called an Adverb Clause :  When this class is over , we're going to the movies. When a group of words not containing a subject and verb acts as an adverb, it is called an adverbial phrase . Prepositional phrases frequently have adverbial functions (telling place and time, modifying the verb):  He went to the movies .  She works on holidays .  They lived in Canada during the war . And Infinitive phrases can act as adverbs (usually telling why):  She hurried to the mainland to see her brother .  The senator ran to catch the bus . But there are other kinds of adverbial phrases:  He calls his mother as often as possible . Adverbs can modify adjectives, but an adjective cannot modify an adverb. Thus we would say that "the students showed a really wonderful attitude" and that "the students showed a wonderfully casual attitude" and that "my professor is really tall, but not "He ran real fast." Click on "Lolly's Place" to read and hear Bob Dorough's "Get Your Adverbs Here" (from Scholastic Rock, 1974). Schoolhouse Rock® and its characters and other elements are trademarks and service marks of American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. Used with permission.