This Dictionary of Adverbs is in the series of three other dictionaries of the author published earlier in 2002, 2003 and 2004. It is not exhaustive in the sense that it contains all the adverbs of the rich English language. It is on the contrary, a select catalogue of adverbs which the author deemed useful for students at school and college as well as for lay men and women keen to learn the correct usage of adverbs and their identification.
Each adverb here has generally been used in two illustrative sentences, some times in more than two sentences (numbered 1, 2, 3, 4 and so on) and its meaning given at the end of the first sentence, but if the meanings differ, then at the end of each sentence. For example the word 'about' may mean all round (He has to go a long way about) or it may mean near (I dropped the coin somewhere about here). Similarly 'closely' may mean in a very searching manner (The suspect was closely interrogated by the police), or in a very near relationship (She is closely related to me) or densely, with very little space between the lines (The review contained three closely typed pages). Even when the meaning is the same, more than one sentences have been framed for the sake of clarity, variety and emphasis. Figurative use of adverbs has also often been made, for the sake of aesthetic flavour as for example : 'It was raining beastly hard', 'She talked to her friend breezily about her new affair', 'He craftily made his way into her heart', 'You will have girl friends galore in Amsterdom to keep you hooked to that place'; so on and so forth. The purpose is to make the book both useful and interesting.
