What is an Adverb? Definition and List of Adverbs for Kids

Are you a kid that has a homework assignment asking for you to find the adverb in the sentence and are now asking yourself what is an adverb?  Are you a parent at home trying to help your child with their homework and forgot what an adverb is?  The parts of speech can be difficult to remember especially if you are learning them for the first time or have been out of school for a while.  Don’t worry in this article you will find out what an adverb is, how to find them in a sentence, and a list of adverbs for reference.

Adverb Definition

An adverb is a word that modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb.  What does that mean?  An adverb describes actions and other descriptive words.  You might be thinking isn’t that what an adjective does?  The English language can be confusing.  An adjective only describes a noun or pronoun, an adverb describes everything else.  An adverb also answers a question where, when, how, and how often.

Here is an example:

The curious toddler quietly opened the front door.

Curious is an adjective because it is describing the toddler (the noun).

Quietly is the adverb because it is describing how the toddler opened the door.

Example 2

The nervous girl waited anxiously to get on the school bus.

Nervous is an adjective because it is describing the girl (the noun)

Anxiously is an adverb because it is describing how the girl waited for the bus.

How to Find an Adverb in a Sentence

There are a couple of ways to find an adverb in the sentence.  One trick to finding an adverb in the sentence is to look for the word with a ly at the end. Most adjectives turn into adverbs by adding a ly at the end of the word.

Example adverbs that end with ly

Happily
Kindly
Loudly
Nicely
Yearly

Another trick to finding an adverb in the sentence is to look for the interrogative adverb.  These are adverbs that begin with a question.

example

Where are you going?

Where is the adverb

How did you do that?

How is the adverb

When will you be back?

When is the adverb

The word who would not be an interrogative adverb.  It is an interrogative pronoun. 

List of Adverbs for Kids

How                        Where                   When                How Often

Accidentally           Anywhere               After                    Always

Angrily                    Away                     Already               Never

Awkwardly              Down                    Before                 Once

Bitterly                    Downstairs            Early                   Rarely

Boldly                      Everywhere          Finally                 Seldom

Carelessly               Far                        Last                    Sometimes

Charmingly              Here                    Late                     Twice

Cleverly                   Inside                  Later                     Yearly

Dangerously            Near                   Now

Eagerly                    Nearby               Recently

Effortlessly               Nowhere            Soon

Excitedly                  Outside               Yesterday

Forcefully                 There

Gracefully               Underground

Happily

Jokingly

Kindly

Lazily

Loudly

Nervously

Nosily

Quietly

Rudely

Sadly

Silently

Sharply

Silently

Skillfully

Slowly

Surely

Tastefully

Thankfully

Violently

Visually

Warmly

Wisely

Youthfully

Zig Zag

Click here for more information on Adjectives

Click here for more information on Nouns