An adverb is a word that modify verbs, adjectives or another adverb. Adverbs often answer the question of where, when and why something happened. When teaching ESL speakers about the use of adverbs, it is helpful to provide exercises focusing on frequently used adverbs.

Types of Adverbs
ESL exercises on adverbs should focus on the types of adverbs based on what they help describe. Adverbs of manner focus on the question of how, adverbs of place focus on the question of where, adverbs of time focus on when and adverbs of frequency explain how often something happens. Another type of adverb is that of degree, which answers the question of extent.

Editing
Students should be given several sentences, some with mistaken adverbs and others with the correct usage. Students should then edit the mistakes by fixing the sentences.

Fill in the Blank
Write five sentences for each type of adverb and give a list of possible answers. Students should fill in the blank sentences with the correct answer. Each sentence should make sense after review.

Underlining and Sentence Charting
Students should be given several examples of sentences with adverbs and underline the adverb used in each sentence. This helps them to identify the adverbs in the sentences, as well as learn about adjectives and nouns. You can also have students chart the sentence to learn other parts of grammar and sentence patterns. This can also help students learn how to identify the adjective that the adverb modifies.

Forming Adverbs
Give students a chart of nouns, verbs and adjectives. Students should take the word given and then turn it into an adverb. For instance, bright may be turned into brightly and cruel may be turned into cruelly. Many adverbs can be formed by adding an "ly" to the end of the word that is an adjective. You should also cover irregular adverbs, which do not end in "ly."