How are they adverbs?

Question

Can you tell (explain to) me how they are adverbs? I think adverbs answer questions like how much, where, and in what degree. I think an adverb can modify an adjective or another adverb. When it does, does it function to answer one of those questions (I think there are more to the list than the ones listed - the list I listed is exhaustive, I think).

1. Despite the illness, she was frolicking with her friends regardless.

2.His relations with friends, differences of opinion notwithstanding, were good.

3.It was bulks, perhaps three feet long.

Avangi · Accepted Answer

1. Despite the illness, she was frolicking with her friends regardless.
2.His relations with friends, differences of opinion notwithstanding, were good.
3.It was bulks, perhaps three feet long.
1. Regardless describes the action - how she was frolicking - regardless of the illness.

2. The adverbial meaning of "notwithstanding" here amounts to "even though differences of opinion existed." I can see it modifying the verb (were) or the adjective complement (good).

3. I think "perhaps three feet long" is parenthetical, giving additional information about "it." So the phrase is adjectival, describing the pronoun subject of the sentence (which is also "bulky.")

There may be various ways to break the phrase down. I think it's like "The glass was nearly half full," where "nearly" is obviously an adverb. I don't know if we'd say that both "half' and "full' are adjectives, or that "half" is an adverb.

BTW, I'm not sure you're using "exhaustive" as you intend to. An exhaustive list is one which lists absolutely everything in a category, "exhausting" all possibilities. An exhaustive search would look in every possible location until all possibilities had been exhausted.

(Perhaps you understood this.)

Cool Breeze · Answer

Opinions vary about parts of speech. It's a matter of how you define them. Different classifications are used by different grammarians and there are also differences between different languages. There are parts of speech - or word classes, as they are also called by some - that exist in some languages but not in some others. For instance, in Finnish we have a part of speech called "particles." Not all Anglo-Saxon grammarians use that term. Because English is spoken in so many countries, grammarians understandably disagree to some extent on what label to put on some words. Let them all become happy with their beliefs!

If you are interested, I think you can find information about these things on the web.

CB

Mxreader · Answer

Well said CB.

How are they adverbs?

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