What is an Adverb? An adverb is a word that is used to change, modify or qualify several types of words including an adjective, a verb, a clause, another adverb, or any other type of word or phrase, with the exception of determiners and adjectives, that directly modify nouns. A good way to understand adverbs is to think about them as the words that provide context. Specifically, adverbs provide a description of how, where, when, in what manner and to what extent something is done or happens. Normally, we can spot an adverb by the fact that it often ends in –ly, but there are lots of adverbs that don’t end in this way. Moreover, adverbs can be used in many combinations with each other.