2nd grade FCPS kid doesn't know what an adverb is. Is that normal?

[Anonymous]

4th grade MCPS kid did not know this. I just asked.

[Anonymous]

My 6th grader learned it this year, but the teacher covered it a little last year, too. I think adverbs are a very complicated concept for a 2nd grader.

[Anonymous]

Is this a joke? I teach English grammar for a living and have taught at every level. Many college students couldn't tell you what an adverb is. It is appropriate instruction in the upper elementary grades at the earliest, but these days if it's taught at all it's taught in high school. A second grader does not need to know what an adverb is. They might not even be using them when they speak.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:4th grade MCPS kid did not know this. I just asked.

Husband with degree from UVa (in engineering) also didn't know.

[Anonymous]

My 2/3 grader (split class) in totally different state learned this this year. I just asked her what an adverb is and she couldn't remember

[Anonymous]

I had to google what it was.

[Anonymous]

I have an MS in math and couldn't remember. Maybe if my degree was in English...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this a joke? I teach English grammar for a living and have taught at every level. Many college students couldn't tell you what an adverb is. It is appropriate instruction in the upper elementary grades at the earliest, but these days if it's taught at all it's taught in high school. A second grader does not need to know what an adverb is. They might not even be using them when they speak.

Almost every second grader I know uses words like "fast" and "slow" or "when" and "where". They don't know that they're adverbs, but they can use them correctly.

[Anonymous]

I'm about to reveal my ignorance (thank goodness this is an anonymous forum!) but isn't an adverb basically just a word that describes the verb in a sentence? As in -- the verb is what was done, and the adverb is how it was done or another quality about it? That is what I remember being taught, as well as the hint that adverbs often ended in -ly. If that's true, it doesn't seem too far-fetched to think a 2nd grader could learn a basic definition. I.E. The boy ran quickly - boy= subject, ran=verb, quickly=adverb. No?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm about to reveal my ignorance (thank goodness this is an anonymous forum!) but isn't an adverb basically just a word that describes the verb in a sentence? As in -- the verb is what was done, and the adverb is how it was done or another quality about it? That is what I remember being taught, as well as the hint that adverbs often ended in -ly. If that's true, it doesn't seem too far-fetched to think a 2nd grader could learn a basic definition. I.E. The boy ran quickly - boy= subject, ran=verb, quickly=adverb. No?

Adverbs also describe adjectives. Or other adverbs. Yes, -ly is a good start. But it goes on from there.

[Anonymous]

I don't think it at all unusual for a second grade not to know an adverb. I think I might have been in fifth grade when I learned it. I know that I knew by then because we diagrammed sentences in fifth grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this a joke? I teach English grammar for a living and have taught at every level. Many college students couldn't tell you what an adverb is. It is appropriate instruction in the upper elementary grades at the earliest, but these days if it's taught at all it's taught in high school. A second grader does not need to know what an adverb is. They might not even be using them when they speak.

Almost every second grader I know uses words like "fast" and "slow" or "when" and "where". They don't know that they're adverbs, but they can use them correctly.

Uhhhh...?

[Anonymous]

Heck, most adults do not know what an adverb is. And, many cannot use them correctly.

Have you ever asked someone, “How are you?” And their response is “Good.”

Nope. “Good" is generally an adjective. “Well” would be the correct response, as in “I am doing well.” “Well” is an adverb.

[Anonymous]

An adverb is a word...
that modifies a verb...
It modifies and adjective,
or else another adverb.
And so that you see that it's positively, absolutely, very, very, necessary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Heck, most adults do not know what an adverb is. And, many cannot use them correctly.

Have you ever asked someone, “How are you?” And their response is “Good.”

Nope. “Good" is generally an adjective. “Well” would be the correct response, as in “I am doing well.” “Well” is an adverb.

Good is an informal response and socially acceptable. I wouldn't say someone doesn't know what an adverb is if they answer "how are you" with "good."