Adverbs and adverbial phrases
Concepts
Theory
Imagine a box.
Pretty boring, right? Now how about this one?
That’s what an adverb can do to your sentence. Using just a word (or sometimes a group of words), it can modify a sentence like “She sang.” to “She sang beautifully.”
There are many different types of adverbs, but here are the most common.
Sometimes, a single sentence may have more than one type of adverb too.
She always drives cautiously on slippery roads.
Here,
- “always” is an adverb of frequency
- “cautiously” is an adverb of manner
- “on slippery roads” is an adverbial phrase of place
This is a very richly-worded sentence. We should hope to write such nice sentences.
Do not overuse adverbs and adverbial phrases. Take a look at this monstrosity.
“During the early morning, slowly and carefully, he quietly tiptoed across the creaky wooden floor, making his way towards the small, cramped, and stuffy room located at the end of the dark and narrow hallway.”
Misconceptions
- Adverbs are always used to modify verbs: Although adverbs often modify verbs, they can also modify adjectives, other adverbs, and even entire clauses. For example, in the sentence “She is very pretty,” the adverb “very” modifies the adjective “pretty.”
- Adverbial phrases always come at the beginning of a sentence: Adverbial phrases can be located at the beginning, middle, or end of a sentence, or even across multiple sentences. For example, “After the storm passed, we went outside to assess the damage” and “We went outside to assess the damage after the storm passed” both use an adverbial phrase that modifies the verb “went.”