What Adverbs Are and How to Use Them

Khan Academy

This engaging grammar tutorial introduces students to the concept of adverbs by contrasting them with adjectives. The narrator clarifies that while adjectives modify nouns, adverbs modify "everything else"—specifically verbs and adjectives. Using a helpful visual analogy, the video treats adverbs like "stickers" that can be applied to action words to describe how an action is performed, such as running "slowly." The video explores two main functions of adverbs: modifying verbs (action words) and modifying adjectives (descriptive words). Through clear handwritten examples, the narrator demonstrates how adverbs like "very" or "slightly" change the intensity of an adjective like "hungry." The lesson concludes by explaining the common structural rule that many adverbs are formed by simply adding "-ly" to an existing adjective, providing examples like converting "nice" to "nicely" and "cheerful" to "cheerfully." For educators, this video serves as an excellent foundational lesson on parts of speech. The "sticker" analogy provides a concrete visual metaphor that helps abstract grammatical concepts stick for younger learners. Teachers can use this resource to introduce sentence expansion, precise writing skills, and the mechanics of word formation. It effectively simplifies the definition of adverbs without oversimplifying the usage, making it a versatile tool for elementary language arts instruction.