Adverbs

What Is (and Is Not) an Adverb in CGEL

This page explains how The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (CGEL) defines and identifies adverbs, and clarifies several common misconceptions inherited from traditional grammar.

CGEL treats adverb as a lexical category, not a semantic role or a syntactic function.

Category vs Function (Foundational Distinction)

CGEL strictly separates:

  • Category: what kind of word something is
    (noun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, determiner)

  • Function: what role it plays in a structure
    (subject, complement, adjunct, modifier, predicative complement, etc.)

A word can be an adverb by category without functioning as an adverbial.

This distinction underlies everything that follows.

What an Adverb Is (CGEL Perspective)

An adverb is identified by a cluster of morphosyntactic properties.
There is no single defining test.

Core diagnostics (converging evidence)

A word counts as an adverb if it satisfies enough of the following:

2.1 Inflectionless form

Adverbs do not inflect for:

  • number

  • tense

  • agreement

  • case

Examples:

  • very, often, virtually, almost

(This property is necessary but not sufficient.)

Distribution distinct from adjectives

Adverbs:

  • cannot normally function as predicative complements

  • cannot directly modify nouns

Contrast:

  • The task is impossible (adjective ✔︎)

  • ✘ The task is virtually (adverb ✘)

Characteristic modification targets

Adverbs typically modify:

  • verbs (run quickly)

  • adjectives (virtually impossible)

  • other adverbs (very slowly)

  • clauses (frankly, I disagree)

This is a distributional tendency, not a rule.

Morphology (supporting evidence only)

Many adverbs are formed with -ly:

  • virtually, simply, frankly

But:

  • not all adverbs are -ly (very, quite, almost)

  • not all -ly forms are adverbs (friendly = adjective)

So morphology supports classification but never determines it.

Interim conclusion

In CGEL, adverb is a lexical category identified by formal behavior, not by meaning.

What an Adverb Is Not

3.1 An adverb is not defined as “a word that modifies a verb”

This traditional definition fails immediately:

  • very cannot modify verbs
    ✘ very run

  • almost rarely modifies verbs directly

  • not does not “modify” in any ordinary semantic sense

Yet all are adverbs.

CGEL therefore rejects semantic definitions of adverbs.

An adverb is not the same as an adverbial

Adverbial is a function, not a category.

Examples:

  • She left yesterday → adverbial ✔︎

  • She spoke quietly → adverbial ✔︎

But in:

  • The task was virtually impossible

virtually is:

  • an adverb (category)

  • a degree modifier (function)

  • not an adverbial

Because it modifies an adjective inside an AdjP, not the clause.

“Focus adverb” is not a CGEL term

CGEL does not use:

  • focus adverb

  • focusing adverb

Instead it distinguishes:

  • focus adjuncts (function)

  • degree modifiers

  • other modifier types

Thus:

  • only, even, also → adverbs functioning as focus adjuncts

  • virtually, almost, mainly → adverbs functioning as degree modifiers

Example: virtually

The task was virtually impossible.

Analysis:

  • virtually → adverb (category)

  • modifies impossible (adjective)

  • function = degree modifier

  • expresses approximation (“in effect, but not literally”)

It is:

  • ✔︎ an adverb

  • ✔︎ a modifier

  • ✘ not an adverbial

  • ✘ not a focus adjunct

Why CGEL Treats “Adverb” as a Residual Category

CGEL openly acknowledges that adverbs are the least homogeneous major category.

They are partly defined by:

  • what they are not

    • not nouns

    • not verbs

    • not adjectives

    • not prepositions

This is why CGEL relies on converging diagnostics rather than definitions.

6. Summary (CGEL-Aligned)

  • Adverb = lexical category

  • Identified by formal distribution, not meaning

  • Adverbial = clause-level function (not synonymous)

  • Many adverbs are modifiers inside phrases, not adverbials

  • Labels like focus adverb are pedagogical, not CGEL

A word is an adverb because of how it behaves syntactically —
not because of what it “modifies” or what it “means”.

7. Common Pitfall (One-Line Warning)

If a definition of adverb mentions “modifying verbs”, it is not CGEL-compatible.