ADVERB (Lat. adrerbium-, from ad, to + VCrimM, word, verb, "the word" of a sentence par excellence. A literal translation by the Roman grammarians of the nk. i7ritiAqua, cpir rhe'ma, tram fci, cpi, at + Apa, rhemia, word, verb). As an adjective is joined to a noun, so is an adverb joined, for analogous purpose:, to a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. From the frequency mitt' which adverbs are joined to verbs, only the adverbs of degree modifying other parts of speech, they get their name. An adverb cannot lie the subject, the copula, or the predicate of a proposition; and is, therefore, a secondary part of speech, logically speaking. According to their signification, adverbs may be divided into (1) adverbs of place and direc tion, as where, towards; (2) of time, as crcr, inimcdiately: (:1) of degree, as eery, almost : (4) of manner, as thus, wisely; (5) of belief or doubt, as perhaps, no, etc. It is commonly said that "sonic adverbs admit of comparison:" as if in this respect they differed from adjectives. The truth is that adverbs admit of comparison under the same limitations, neither more nor less, that restrict the comparison of adjectives.
Thus, soon is compared as naturally as hard. now or thus cannot be compared, neither can woolen nor circular; and in both eases for the same reason—the sense forbids it. The laws of euphony prevent alike miserable and miserably from being compared grammatically, i.e., by the addition of cr and est : but both admit of logical comparison by the use of more and most. A large class of adverbs in English are formed from adjectives by annexing the syllable ly, which is derived from the word like. Most lan guages have some such means of distinguishing the adverb from the adjective, but in German they are alike. Adverbs in general may be looked upon as abbreviations of phrases; thus, here= in this place, then= at that time, wisely =like a wise man. Combinations of words that can thus be represented by a single adverb, and all combinations that are analogous, though they may have no single word equivalent to them, are called adverbial expressions.