Attitude Adverbs – Examples

As we all know, adverbs are words that belong to the core units of English grammar. They are the words that act as modifiers of other elements in a sentence or a clause. Adverbs carry a wide range of information without which our sentences would not be complete.

Well, that is only the basic understanding of adverbs. It is important to know that adverbs modify verbs or other words in different ways. Different sets of words perform different functions, according to which adverbs get classified into small types. In this post, we will cover one such unit known as the attitude adverbs.

Attitude adverbs, as the name suggests, can be defined as the type of adverbs that indicates the attitude of a speaker towards something in a sentence. Although they are easy to understand, most tend to confuse their uses. So, let us discuss this in detail to know further about this type of adverb.

What are attitude adverbs?

By definition, attitude adverbs are the words that help express the attitude of a person, the speaker, towards a state or action being discussed in the sentence.

In simple words, attitude adverbs are the type of adverbs that indicates what attitude the speaker or a person is holding against a particular action. Is a person happy, sad, confused, or uncertain? We use attitude adverbs to provide that information in a sentence.

Attitude adverbs are words like clearly, really, hopefully, obviously, apparently, fortunately, frankly, personally, simply, surprisingly, etc. These words are generally applied to refer to a complete sentence and not just a small phrase.

Let us look at some examples.

• Apparently, the game begins at 6 pm.
• Unfortunately, we don’t have any help to provide.
• I would obviously want to come to your place.
• Frankly, I don’t know if you should play.

As we can see, the bold words give information about the speaker’s feelings towards a particular action or situation. Hence, they are said to be attitude adverbs.

Usage of attitude adverbs

From the example sentences given above, we notice that most of the attitude adverbs are placed at the beginning of the sentence. Well, that is the standard form of an attitude adverb. However, attitude adverbs have a very flexible nature. This means the position of the adverbs can change accordingly to lay more emphasis.

For example:

At the beginning of a sentence:

Unfortunately, I won’t come.

At the end:

They won the match, surprisingly.

In the middle of the sentence:

They would obviously want to rest for a while.

Also, another important thing to notice is that most attitude adverbs are the same as adverbs of manner, meaning these words can function as both attitude and manner adverbs in a sentence. Therefore, it depends on the way they are being used to identify whether it is a manner adverb or attitude.

For example:

• Clearly, it’s a win-win game. (Attitude adverb)
• I don’t think I can hear you clearly. (Manner adverb)

So, attitude adverbs are frequently used words that help us describe a speaker’s feelings towards something.