English Short Notes:Adverbs Rules

What are Adverbs?

An adverb is a word that tells us more about a verb. It "qualifies" or "modifies" a verb. Lets try to understand this with a small example.

Adverb Example: 
Sunaina walks gracefully (The word 'gracefully' is an adverb. It modifies the verb 'to walk'.)

Shortcut Rule 1 : The adverbs 'too much' is used with nouns and 'much too' is used with adjectives.
Too much pain / Too much insincerity (Nouns)
Much too painful / much too careless (Adjectives)

Shortcut Rule 2 : Before the word 'Enough' an adjective under positive form should be used.

Shortcut Rule 3 : The adverb quite ('quite means perfectly/ completely) should not be used with the adjective 'Handsome'.

Shortcut Rule 4 : Late / Lately. The adverb 'late' indicates time and lately means recently.

Shortcut Rule 5 : When we begin a sentence with 'seldom / never / hardly / rarely / scarcely / barely  / neither / never, the rule of inversion should be applied (i.e.,) an auxiliary verb is used before the subject.

Shortcut Rule 6 : The adverbial phrase 'No less than' should be used with uncountable nouns whereas 'No fewer than' is used with countable nouns.

Shortcut Rule 7 : The adverb (As) is not used after call and consider.

Shortcut Rule 8 : The derived adjectives such as interested / pleased / satisfied / delighted are used with 'much' but not 'very'.

Shortcut Rule 9 : The adverb 'very' is used with positive adjectives and 'much' with comparative adjective forms.

Shortcut Rule 10 : 'Very much' should be used with comparative forms. 

Examples :
Hardly he goes to school. ☓
Hardly does he go to school. ✔
Seldom I got to films. ☓
Seldom do I got to films. ✔
No sooner the school bell rings than all the boys go to their class rooms. ☓
No sooner does the school bell ring, than all the boys go to their class rooms.✔
After Only + adverbial expression.
Only by working hard, he got success. ☓
Only by working hard, did he get success. ✔
Not only but also
Not only she reads but also she writes. ☓
Not only does she read but also writes. ✔
He was punished for coming lately. ☓
He was punished for coming late.  ✔
He is quite handsome. ☓
He is very handsome. ✔
He is more intelligent enough to follow you. ☓
He is intelligent enough to follow you. ✔
She is enough lucky to get the job. ☓
She lucky enough to get the job. ✔
His failure is too much painful for me ☓
His failure is much too painful for me  ✔
His wife's rude behavior gives him much too pain ☓
His wife's rude behavior gives him too much pain ✔
There were no less than forty people who were killed in the accident. ☓
No fewer than forty people were killed in accident. ✔
He called me as a fool ☓
He called me a fool. ✔
I always consider him as my brother. ☓
I always consider him my brother. ✔
I am very interested to play cricket. ☓
I am much interested to play cricket. ✔
He is very clever to understand it. ✔
He is much clever to understand it. ☓
It is very much better to stay here tonight. ✔