Which adverbs are important in academic writing?

This is the third and final chapter about Adverbs. To complete this reader, read each chapter carefully and then unlock and complete our materials to check your understanding.   

– Review the key facts about adverbs

– Determine which adverbs are common in academic English

– Unlock, download and complete Chapter Worksheets to check progress and understanding and improve proficiency

Chapter 3

Having now explored adverbs in some depth, discussing their form, function and distribution in Chapter 1 and their sixteen types and three categories in Chapter 2, this third and final chapter deals with their use in academic contexts. By studying this chapter, you’ll review the sixteen adverb types in brief and will learn which adverbs are most common in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and which should be avoided. After completing this reader, don’t forget to unlock and complete our Chapter Worksheets to check your knowledge of adverbs and improve your overall English proficiency.

What are the key facts about adverbs?

As mentioned in Chapter 1 and 2, adverbs are one of most variable of all the word types in that their form, function and distribution is quite varied. This can make adverbs challenging to identify and master. In case you’re a student that’s jumped straight to Chapter 3 to find out about adverbs in academic contexts, let’s summarise what we’ve discussed so far:

 

  • many (but not most) adverbs are formed from adjectives using the suffix ‘-ly’
  • adverbs can modify adjectives, adverbs, verbs, prepositional phrases and sentences
  • adverbs tend to express how, when, where, how often or to what extent
  • adverbs are often quite flexible in where they can be placed within a sentence
  • adverbs can be categorised into adjunctive, conjunctive and disjunctive types, each of which can be divided into a number of subcategories due to their shared meaning or grammar

 

Which adverbs are common in EAP?

To help students who are writing academic essays or designing academic presentations, we’ve included a list below of almost 100 high-frequency academic adverbs. It might be a good idea to learn the grammar and meaning of these words and incorporate them into your academic language:

 

above, accordingly, accurately, adequately, also, approximately, basically, clearly, closely, commonly, consequently, considerably, conversely, correctly, directly, effectively, either, equally, especially, essentially, explicitly, extremely, fairly, far, frequently, fully, further, furthermore, generally, greatly, hence, highly, however, increasingly, indeed, independently, indirectly, individually, inevitably, initially, largely, less, mainly, more, moreover, most, namely, necessarily, normally, notably, often, only, originally, over, partially, particularly, potentially, previously, primarily, purely, quite, readily, recently, relatively, secondly, significantly, similarly, simply, socially, solely, somewhat, specifically, strongly, subsequently, successfully, then, there, thereby, therefore, thus, traditionally, typically, ultimately, virtually, voluntarily, wholly, widely

What are the 16 types of adverb?

Among the adjunctive, conjunctive and disjunctive categories of adverb we discussed earlier, there are sixteen types of adverb. That’s a lot to learn! Thankfully, we’ve included each type with an example for you below. However, if you’d like to study these types in more detail, consider returning back to Chapter 2 where more examples are provided.

Adjunctive

  1. Adverbs of degree: The student completely forgot about studying for the exam.
  2. Adverbs of frequency: It will take the students forever to get a high score on the test.
  3. Adverbs of manner: The tutor resentfully answered yet another student email.
  4. Adverbs of place: The students who were absent were falling behind.
  5. Adverbs of time: The teacher is too tired and will have to mark the exams later.

 

Conjunctive

  1. Additive adverbs: Additionally, VOCs significantly impact air quality.
  2. Contrastive adverbs: VOCs are not the primary cause, however.
  3. Listing adverbs: Finally, there are the multitude of greenhouse gases.
  4. Resultative adverbs: Therefore, pulmonary cancer rates are increasing.
  5. Relative adverbs: 4 o’clock is when the exam will finish.
  6. Interrogative adverbs: When will the exam end?

 

Disjunctive

  1. Adverbs of attitude: Smith (2020) correctly delineates the issue.
  2. Adverbs of certainty: These results are undeniably conclusive.
  3. Adverbs of doubt: Such findings are only theoretically conclusive.
  4. Hedging adverbs: This decrease is possibly due to government policy.
  5. Source adverbs: According to Smith (2020), emissions are increasing.

 

Which types are common in academic language?

When using English for Academic Purposes (EAP), it’s important to recognise which adverb types are common and which are infrequently used. We’ve therefore summarised their use for you in the following table. Those types with the most ticks (ü) are the most important to study as they are used most frequently:

3 of 3 Chapters Completed

Downloadables

Once you’ve completed all three chapters in this short reader about Adverbs, you might then wish to download our Chapter Worksheets to check your progress or print for your students. These professional PDF worksheets can be easily accessed for only a few Academic Marks.

Chapter 1 explores the topic: How do adverbs function in English grammar? Our Chapter 1 Worksheet (containing guidance, activities and answer keys) can be accessed here at the click of a button. 

Chapter 2 explores the topic: What are the 3 categories and 16 types of adverb? Our Chapter 2 Worksheet (containing guidance, activities and answer keys) can be accessed here at the click of a button. 

Chapter 3 explores the topic: Which adverbs are important in academic writing? Our Chapter 3 Worksheet (containing guidance, activities and answer keys) can be accessed here at the click of a button. 

To save yourself 2 Marks, click on the button below to gain unlimited access to all of our Adverbs Chapter Worksheets. This All-in-1 Pack includes every chapter, activity and answer key related to this topic in one handy and professional PDF.

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