2.3 Explicitly Teach the "When," the "Where," the "How," and the "Why": Adverbs

The next building block we teach is adverbs. The function, or job, of an adverb is to tell more about the action, like the word quickly does in this sentence: 

The penguin swam quickly. 

How did the penguin swim? Quickly. Quickly is your adverb!

We explicitly teach students about adverbs with a function-first approach (label later) by asking questions. 
 

In this section, we’ll show you how to use these function-first questions to help your students identify adverbs.
 

Let’s look at this sentence:

In the morning, the gardener carefully plants the seeds in the garden to grow beans.

You can identify the adverbs — and adverb phrases — by asking these questions:

When did the gardener plant the seeds? — in the morning
Where did the gardener plant the seeds? — in the garden
How did the gardener plant the seeds? — carefully
Why did the gardener plant the seeds? — to grow beans

You’ll notice, of course, that, except for the word carefully, these answers aren’t just single words. When we talk about the when, where, how, and why, we’re talking about all the words needed to convey the information. Why did the gardener plant seeds? To grow beans! That’s three words that make up an adverb phrase. 

Identifying words, phrases, and clauses that tell you more about the action helps us better understand what we read. The table below shows the functions, or roles, that adverbs have in expanding an action. 

Before you teach this model lesson, you'll want to download these free function question cards.

In this section we'll give you examples of how to teach each of the four questions for identifying adverbs in sentences. Depending upon your students you may start by introducing one or two at a time. You can decide which would be best to start with!

Here’s how you could begin:

Sometimes we want to tell more about an action, or verb, like the words run, swing, or jump. We can do that by adding words and phrases that answer "When?", "Where?", "How?", and "Why?" about the action.

Let’s look at how we can add information about the action by answering these questions.  

Show students the "When?" card. 

Words that answer "When?" tell us a specific time or period of time. Listen to these sentences for the word or phrase that tells you when the action happens.

Write these sentences on the board:

Yesterday the dog barked.
During the summer the plants grew.

Say,

Let’s read this sentence together: Yesterday, the dog barked. 

If I ask the question "When did the dog bark?", we would say yesterday. 

Now, let’s read the next sentence: During the summer the plants grew. 

When did the plants grow? 

Students say,

During the summer.

Show students the "Where?" card. 

Words that answer "Where?" tell us a location. Listen to these sentences for the word or phrase that tells you where an action happens.

Write these sentences on the board:

Carrots grow here.
The dog barked in the yard.

Let’s read this sentence together: Carrots grow here. 

If I ask the question "Where do carrots grow?" We would say here. 

Now, let’s read the next sentence: The dog barked in the yard. 

Where did the dog bark?

Students say,

In the yard.

Show students the "How?" card. 

Words that answer "How?" tell us the way something is done. Listen to these sentences for the word or phrase that tells us how the action happens.

Write these sentences on the board:

Pumpkins grow slowly.
The dog barked with great excitement.

Let’s read this sentence together: Pumpkins grow slowly. 

If I ask the question "How do pumpkins grow?" We would say slowly. 

Now, let’s read the next sentence: The dog barked with great excitement. 

How did the dog bark?

Students say, 

With great excitement.

Show students the "Why?" card. 

Words that answer "Why?" tell us the reason something happened. Listen to these sentences for the word or phrase that tells us why the action happened.

Write these sentences on the board:

The tent fell due to the strong wind.
The dog barked because someone was at the front door.

Let’s read this sentence together: The tent fell due to the strong wind. 

If I ask the question "Why did the cactus fall?" We would say due to the strong wind. 

Now, let’s read the next sentence: The dog barked because someone was at the front door. "Why did the dog bark?"

Students say,

Because someone was at the front door.

Say,

The words and phrases that answer these questions "When?", "Where?", "How?", and "Why?" are called adverbs.