In a general sense, we know that adverbs are words that modify a verb or an adjective in detail with additional information. They are amongst the eight parts of speech, and we almost use them regularly in our sentences to convey a complete thought.
Moreover, we need to know that there are different functions that adverbs perform, according to which they are classified into various types. And today’s topic, adverbs of affirmation or negation, is one of such types of adverbs. In a simple sense, adverbs of affirmation or negation are words that declare something true or make a negative statement. In other words, we can say that they either confirm or deny a particular action in a sentence.
However, adverbs of affirmation and negation are two separate groups of words that can be differentiated concerning their purposes. So, let us get into a detailed discussion to have a thorough idea.
What are adverbs of affirmation and negation?
Just like any other adverbs, adverbs of affirmation and negation also describe and modify a verb by providing additional information about its state. They reinforce the action word in a sentence and declare whether the speaker is certain or doubtful about the occurrence of the action of a verb.
Adverbs of Affirmation
The following are the examples of the adverbs of affirmation:
Certainly, definitely, truly, exactly, clearly, really, indeed, etc.
These adverbs confirm the actions of the verb by showing the level of certainty of the speaker. That means they modify a verb by describing that the speaker is absolutely sure about what they have announced.
Thus, we can say that adverbs of affirmation are the kind of words that declare what the speaker is saying, is certain to happen, and there remains no room for doubts. Remember that these types of words can be used only when one is sure about something. If there is any confusion, we cannot apply them in a sentence.
If it is still not clear, look at the example sentences given below.
- I will definitely come back to you.
- She is certainly going to win the match.
We can notice that adverbs like “definitely and certainly” modify the verb by declaring that the action is sure to occur.
Adverbs of Negation
Now we come to the adverbs of negation. These adverbs are words like never, no, any, not, etc. This is a type of adverbs that are opposites of affirmative adverbs. That means they modify a verb by showing that the speaker is uncertain or unsure about the action verb.
In a simple sense, they negate the sentence by declaring the action is not going to occur or is certain to fail. Here, there is room for doubts, and these words are applied when the speaker’s words have a low level of certainty.
Let us look at some sentence examples.
- There is no chance of winning this time for them.
- He has never seen this sport before. I’m sure he’ll get confused.
As we can notice, the bolded words declare that the speaker hardly believes there is any chance of the action occurring.
So, adverbs of affirmation and negation are words that declare something that is either certain or uncertain to happen. In simple words, we can sum up that adverbs of affirmation confirm an action while adverbs of negation negate a verb in a sentence.
