Think of this Small Thing like remedial school for the organizationally and grammatically challenged.
Wait, this oughta help:
Wikipedia says:
An adverb is a part of speech. It is any word that modifies any part of language other than a noun (modifiers of nouns are primarily adjectives and determiners). Adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives (including numbers), clauses, sentences and other adverbs.
Adverbs typically answer questions such as how?, in what way?, when?, where?, and to what extent?. In English, they often end in -ly. This function is called the adverbial function, and is realized not just by single words (i.e., adverbs) but by adverbial phrases and adverbial clauses.
Our challenge today is to bring the oft-undervalued, but hard-working, adverb to life by putting it to good use.
Complete the following sentence.
I ____(adverb)___ _____(verb)_____ ____(adverb)____ the ___(noun)____.
Example:
I thoroughly cleaned under the couch. Or,
I haphazardly dusted above the fridge. Or,
I very lightly scrubbed between the tiles during my shower.
You could get freakishly fancy and do something like,
Working quickly, I deftly moved the couch to carefully clean underneath it before Price is Right came on TV, however, I quite suddenly realized that I'd completely forgotten that I'd already done it thoroughly yesterday.
Today's Small Thing is to pick a small task that adverbs can be applied to:
Where: over, under, beneath, inside, on, through
How: quickly, painstakingly, expertly, clumsily, lovingly, fiendishly
When: before, after, during, already, whenever, concurrently
Intensifiers: very, quite, truly, seemingly, completely
Connectors: however, with, without, in spite of, conversely, because
Feel free to enlist the help of school-age children and retired English teachers to assist you in creating your grammatically exciting action....then do it!
POINTS: 60 because this one takes brain cells, and we're not used to that around here.
BONUS POINTS: 20 Share your adverbial action in the comments!
