Chicago Style Workout 51: Adverbs

/ January 26, 2021

GO SLOW(LY)

Adverbs: An Amazingly Versatile Part of Speech

This month we return to chapter 5, on grammar—specifically, paragraphs 5.156–71, which cover adverbs. Adverbs are not only amazingly versatile; they’re also incredibly useful. Find out how useful by taking this quiz.

(Hint: The words specifically, amazingly, and incredibly in the previous paragraph are all adverbs, but they’re not the only ones.)

Subscribers to The Chicago Manual of Style Online may click through to the linked sections of the Manual (cited in the answers). (We also offer a 30-day free trial of CMOS Online.)

Note: Style guides and dictionaries sometimes disagree. This quiz is designed to test your knowledge of The Chicago Manual of Style.

[Editor’s note: This quiz relies on and links to the 17th edition of CMOS.]

Chicago Style Workout 51: Adverbs

1. An adverb can modify only an adjective, a verb, or another adverb.
2. “Hopefully, this will all be over soon.” In that sentence the word “hopefully” functions as
3. Many adverbs are formed by adding ‑ly or ‑ally to
4. All words ending in ‑ly are adverbs.
5. The word “clockwise” is an example of an adverb formed by adding a suffix to
6. Many adverbs do not end in ‑ly or any other suffix.
7. When the adjectives “fast” and “slow” are used adverbially (as in drive fast or go slow), they are called _____ adverbs.
8. Adverbs don’t generally modify linking verbs. For example, to say that you are unwell or unhappy, you would write “I feel bad,” not “I feel badly.”
9. An adverb should never be placed between an auxiliary verb and the principal (or main) verb. For example, you should write “public opinion is divided sharply,” not “public opinion is sharply divided.”
10. A split infinitive should always be corrected by moving the adverb so that it precedes or follows the verb phrase.

 

Top image: Go Slow, by Peter O’Connor. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. Modified for post.

Ready for another quiz? Click here for the full list.

Please see our commenting policy.

Related posts

4 thoughts on “Chicago Style Workout 51: Adverbs”

  1. I think question 10 is poorly worded. The explanatory paragraph provided discusses why “fixing” a split infinitive is not always a good solution, not that a split infinitive cannot always be fixed by moving the adverb. I think the question sentence is technically true.

    • You make a very good point, and you’re not the only one. So we’ve now adjusted the question to change “can always be corrected” to “should always be corrected.” Award yourself an extra ten percent. 🙂

Comments are closed.