Adverbs 副词
Helen: I can barely contain my excitement… I'm going to a concert tonight so I'm pretty excited.
Rosie: I'm glad you came in here using lots of adverbs Helen, because that's what we're going to be talking about today.
Helen: I wasn't talking about adverbs. I was talking about the concert tonight, which is going to be absolutely brilliant.
Rosie: And you used the adverbs barely, pretty and absolutely when you said you could barely contain your excitement, that you were pretty excited and the concert's going to be absolutely brilliant. All those words are adverbs, which are words that describe a verb or an adjective.
Helen: Adverb 副词,用来修饰动词 或形容词,形容其程度和方式。Oh right, so today's question is about adverbs, then?
Rosie: Yes. Today we're going to answer the following question from Sun Ling, from ShenZhen:
Question
I know how to use adverbs in this way in which adverbs after verbs. But I don't know how to understand when adverbs plus adjectives. For example: "Apart from the wear and tear, they look remarkably similar to their modern day versions." In our daily life language, adverbs play an important role, so that makes me very confused!Helen: Sun Ling 知道副词和动词搭配是怎么回事儿,可是她对副词和形容词的搭配就不是很明白。So what exactly is the difference?
Rosie: Let's start by looking at some examples of how adverbs are used with verbs:
Inserts
Will you try to walk a bit more quickly? You're as slow as a snail!He closed the door quietly because he didn't want to wake me up.
You're looking very smart today! What's the occasion?
Rosie: In the first sentence, the adverb we heard was quickly and it describes the verb walk: to walk quickly. So quick is an adjective and describes a noun. And to make this an adverb, we just put the letters –ly on the end.
Helen: 单词 quick 是一个形容词“快”,当我们在单词后面加上 –ly 这就成了一个副词,用来描述一个动词,比如:Could you walk more quickly?
Rosie: And in the second example we heard: He closed the door quietly. Here the adverb is quietly and it describes the verb.
Helen: 在这些例子中我们在形容词后面加上了 –ly, 让它们变成了副词。不过不是所有的副词都以 –ly 结尾。例如刚才最后一个例子中 you're looking very smart, 副词是 very 用来修饰形容词 smart, 说明程度, smart, 是精神,很精神呢?就是 very smart.
Rosie: In all these examples, adverbs describe verbs. So let's look at some examples where adverbs describe adjectives – which in case you don't remember are describing words like boring, great or beautiful.
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I've bought you three different types of biscuits and you don't like any of them. You're not easily pleased, are you?
Apart from the wear and tear, they look remarkably similar to their modern day versions.
Rosie: So the adverbs used in these examples are easily and remarkably – and instead of describing a verb they describe the adjectives pleased and similar.
Helen: 以上例句里的副词描述的是形容词而不是动词。不过,同样的副词也可以描述一个动词,例如:I did it easily 这里副词 easily 用来描述动词 did. 当然它也能描述形容词,比如:you're not easily pleased. 这里 easily 描述的是形容词 pleased容易满足的。
Rosie: Well, I hope we've answered your question Sun Ling and that you're not even more confused than before!
Helen: 如果你有英语问题,请和我们联系,我们的邮箱是 questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk. So, can I finally talk about the concert I'm going to tonight?
Rosie: Yes, you can - as long as you use lots of adverbs to describe your verbs and adjectives.
Helen: Well, I've been waiting for tonight eagerly and patiently. The singer is just amazingly good and the guitarist plays powerfully yet beautifully… I want to be blissfully happy by the end of it…
Rosie: Yeah, alright, alright…