She sang clearly and beautifully.
They help to combat the problem at source, rather than superficially.
changing word order after adverbials
6.15 When clauses begin with an adverbial, the normal order of subject and verb is sometimes changed. For example, after adverbials of place, the verb usually comes before the subject. For more information about adverbials of place, see the section beginning at paragraph 6.53.
Next to it stood a pile of paper cups.
Beyond them lay the fields.
This also happens when broad negative adverbs such as hardly and barely, and some other negative words are placed at the beginning of the clause. For more information about these, see paragraphs 5.47 to 5.91.
Never in history had technology made such spectacular advances.
Seldom can there have been such a happy meeting.
Both of these cases are particularly common in written stories. A change in the normal order of subject and verb can occur after other adverbs, but only in poetry or old-fashioned English. The following example is from a Christmas carol written in 1843:
Brightly shone the moon that night, though the frost was cruel.
Adverbs
Types of adverb
6.16 There are several types of adverb:
Adverb forms and meanings related to adjectives
-ly adverbs
6.17 Many adverbs are related to adjectives. The main relationships and rules of formation are explained below.
Many adverbs are formed by adding -ly to an adjective. For example, the adverbs quietly and badly are formed by adding -ly to the adjectives quiet and bad.
Most of the adverbs formed in this way are adverbs of manner, so some people refer to adverbs of manner as -ly adverbs.
Sit there quietly, and listen to this music.
I didn’t play badly.
He reported accurately what they said.
He nodded and smiled warmly.
For more information about adjectives, see Chapter 2.
spelling
6.18 Some -ly adverbs have slightly different spellings from the adjectives they are related to, for example nastily, gently, terribly, academically, truly, and fully. For information about these adverbs, see the Reference Section.
6.19 Not all adverbs ending in -ly are adverbs of manner. Some are adverbs of degree, such as extremely and slightly: see the list at paragraph 6.45.
I enjoyed the course immensely.
Sales fell slightly last month.
A few are adverbs of time, duration, or frequency, such as presently, briefly, and weekly: see the lists of these in Chapter 4.
At 10.15 a.m. soldiers briefly opened fire again.
These allegations are currently being investigated by my legal team.
Others are adverbs of place, such as locally and internationally, linking adverbs such as consequently, or sentence adverbs such as actually. For lists of adverbs of place, see the section beginning at paragraph 6.53. For lists of sentence adverbs, see Chapter 9.
They live locally and they have never caused any bother.
These efforts have received little credit internationally.
They did not preach. Consequently, they reached a vastly wider audience.
There still remains something to say. Several things, actually.
adverb meaning
6.20 Most adverbs formed by adding -ly to an adjective have a similar meaning to the adjective, for example quietly and beautifully have similar meanings to quiet and beautiful.
She is thoughtful, quiet and controlled.
‘I’m going to do it,’ I said quietly.
His costumes are beautiful, a big improvement on the previous ones.
The girls had dressed more beautifully than ever, for him.
6.21 Some -ly adverbs have a different meaning from the meanings of their related adjectives. For example, hardly means not very much or almost not at all and is not used with any of the meanings of the adjective hard.
This has been a long hard day.
Her bedroom was so small she could hardly move in it.