什么是副詞？

在英語中，副詞是修飾動詞，形容詞或其它副詞的詞匯，如now，then，today，tomorrow和carefully等。注意下面幾個句子：

Mary smiled sweetly.
Those mangoes were very sweet.
She spoke quite loudly.

在例句1中，副詞sweetly描述Mary是如何微笑的。它修飾的是動詞smiled。在例句2中，副詞very涉及的是與芒果甜度有關的事情。它修飾形容詞sweet。在例句3中，副詞quite描述的是he談話的方式。它修飾副詞loudly。

應注意，副詞有時可以放在句子前面，專門修飾整個句子，而不是特定單詞。

例句4：Unfortunately no one was present there。（等同于It was unfortunate that no one was present there。）

例句5：Probably I am mistaken。（等同于It is probable that I am mistaken。）

副詞的類型

副詞有不同類型，下面分別對它們舉例說明：

— 時間副詞：回答“when”這一問題的詞匯。例如，today，yesterday，now，before，daily，already，since，ago和never等。

I met him yesterday.
His father died two years ago.
I have seen him before.
They have already come.
We will have to start now.

— 頻率副詞：回答“how often”等問題。如often，always，once，never，again，seldom和frequently等。

We seldom go out on Sundays.
I have seen him only once.
He called again this morning.
We must always try to do our best.

— 地點副詞：回答的是“where”等問題。例如：here，there，up，down，everywhere，out和in等。

She sat down.
He looked up.
I searched for him everywhere.
Come in.

— 方式副詞：回答“how”或“以何種方式”等問題的詞匯。這類副詞幾乎包含所有結尾為-ly的副詞。例如：quickly，carefully，sweetly，clearly，bravely, beautifully，well和fast。

The soldiers fought bravely.
This essay is well written.
she walked slowly.
The baby slept soundly.