- What is an adverb of quantity?
- Examples of adverbs of quantity
- Sentences with adverbs of quantity
- Other types of adverb
We explain what adverbs of quantity are, their function, examples and their use in sentences. Also, other types of adverbs.
What is an adverb of quantity?
It is called adverbs of quantity or adverbs of degree to one of the different classes of adverb that exist in the Spanish language, that is, a type of words that modify the verbs, adjectives or other adverbs, and even to prayers whole. Its name comes from the Latin word adverbium, made up of the words ad- ("Towards") and verbum ("verb").
Adverbs are words whose form does not usually vary and that normally have a lexical meaning, which refers to the circumstances such as the actions expressed in the sentence occurred. This means both the place, the form or the time in which the events occurred, the perspective from which they are viewed, or the relationships of degree or quantity. The latter deal with the adverbs of quantity or degree.
As we just said, these adverbs express the number of things or the proportion between them, and together with the adverbs of time, place and manner, they constitute the adverbs that we use to refer to the reality concrete, rather than reality subjective and mental, as with the adverbs of doubt, exclamation or order.
Examples of adverbs of quantity
Possible examples of an adverb of quantity are: much, little, very, very much, very little, too much, enough, more, less, something, almost, so much, so, nothing, everything, approximately, practically, how much, just, even, excessively, and so on.
Sentences with adverbs of quantity
As an example of its use, the following sentences have adverbs of quantity:
- At the protest there were a lot of people: about two thousand, approximately.
- You brought enough food to the picnic.
- I can speak some French.
- I have just enough to survive.
- The thieves took whatever they could find.
- My grandparents found very few opportunities abroad.
- That dog is so ferocious that it bites everything it finds.
- The tower is very tall, as high as a mountain.
- He was close to graduating from college.
Other types of adverb
In addition to adverbs of quantity, we can cite other types of adverb, such as:
- Adverbs of place. They introduce a spatial relationship in the sentence, which means that they indicate where a referent is located or where an event occurs. For example: there, here, there, outside, up, down, inside, between, etc.
- Adverbs of manner. They simply refer to the way something is done or the way things happened. For example: fast, good, bad, better, quick, regularly, etc.
- Time adverbs. They introduce a temporal relationship in the sentence, that is, they describe when an action is performed or what historical time we are talking about. For example: before, after, later, while, formerly, etc.
- Adverbs of doubt. They introduce into the sentence a notion of probability, possibility or uncertainty, which refers to the issuer's point of view. For example: maybe, maybe, probably, possibly, etc.
- Adverbs of order. They express a chronological or continuity relationship in the referents of the sentence, that is, they say what goes first and what goes after. For example: first, then, after, etc.
- Affirmative and negative adverbs. Obviously, they affirm or deny what is said in the sentence, expressing a certain degree of agreement by the issuer with respect to what is said. For example: yes, no, certainly, exact, never, never, etc.
- Interrogative and exclamatory adverbs. Give rise to prayers interrogatives or exclamatory. They are easily recognized because they should always be accentuated. For example: where, when, how, what, who, etc.