How we make adverbials
An adverbial can be an adverb:
He spoke angrily.
They live here.
We will be back soon.
or an adverb with an intensifier:
He spoke really angrily.
They live just here.
We will go quite soon.
or a prepositional phrase:
He spoke in an angry voice.
They live in London.
We will go in a few minutes.
or a noun phrase:
It rained this morning.
They went to Cambodia last summer.
or a clause:
They went to the mountains because they like to ski.
She played tennis when she was young.
Where adverbials go in a sentence
Level: beginner
We normally put adverbials after the verb:
He spoke angrily.
They live just here.
We will go in a few minutes.
If the verb has an object or complement we put the adverbial after the object or complement:
He opened the door quietly.
She left the money on the table.
We saw our friends last night.
You are looking tired tonight.
But adverbials of frequency (how often) usually come in front of the main verb:
We usually spent our holidays with our grandparents.
I have never seen William at work.
If we want to emphasise an adverbial, we can put it at the beginning of a clause:
Last night we saw our friends.
In a few minutes we will go.
Very quietly he opened the door.
If we want to emphasise an adverb of manner, we can put it in front of the main verb:
He quietly opened the door.
She had carefully put the glass on the shelf.
Adverbials of manner
Level: beginner
Adverbs of manner are usually formed from adjectives by adding –ly:
| bad > badly | quiet > quietly | sudden > suddenly |
but sometimes there are changes in spelling:
| easy > easily | gentle > gently | careful > carefully |
The adverb formed from good is well:
You speak English very well.
Adverbs of manner normally come after the verb:
He spoke angrily.
or after the object:
He opened the door quietly.
Level: intermediate
If an adjective already ends in -ly, we use the phrase in a …. way to express manner:
silly: He behaved in a silly way.
friendly: She spoke in a friendly way.
A few adverbs of manner have the same form as the adjective:
They all worked hard.
She usually arrives late/early.
I hate driving fast.
| Be careful! |
|---|
| hardly and lately have different meanings from hard and late: He could hardly walk. = It was difficult for him to walk. I haven’t seen John lately. = I haven’t seen John recently. |
We often use phrases with like as adverbials of manner:
She slept like a baby.
He ran like a rabbit.
Adverbials of manner and link verbs
We very often use adverbials with like after link verbs:
Her hands felt like ice.
It smells like fresh bread.
| Be careful! |
|---|
| We do not use adverbs of manner after link verbs. We use adjectives instead:They looked happy. (NOT That bread smells delicious. (NOT |
Adverbials of place
Level: beginner
Most adverbials of place are prepositional phrases:
They are in France at present.
Come and sit next to me.
But we also use adverbs:
| abroad | downstairs | nearby | overseas |
| ahead | here | next door | there |
| away | indoors | out of doors | upstairs |
They are abroad at present.
Come and sit here.
We use adverbials of place to describe location, direction and distance.
Location
We use adverbials to talk about where someone or something is:
He was standing by the table.
You’ll find it in the cupboard.
You’ll find it inside.
Sign your name here – at the bottom of the page.
Stand here.
They used to live nearby.
Direction
We use adverbials to talk about the direction in which someone or something is moving:
Walk past the bank and keep going to the end of the street.
It’s difficult to get into the car because the door is so small.
They always go abroad for their holidays.
Distance
We use adverbials to show how far things are:
Birmingham is 250 kilometres from London.
We live in Birmingham. London is 250 kilometres away.
Level: intermediate
We often have an adverbial of place at the end of a clause:
The door is very small, so the car is difficult to get into.
We’re in Birmingham. London is 250 kilometres away.
Our house is down a muddy lane, so it’s very difficult to get to.
Can I come in?
Adverbials of time
Level: beginner
We use adverbials of time to describe:
- when something happens:
I saw Mary yesterday.
She was born in 1978.
I will see you later.
There was a storm during the night.
- how long:
We waited all day.
They have lived here since 2004.
We will be on holiday from 1 July until 3 August.
- how often (frequency):
They usually watched television in the evening.
We sometimes went to work by car.
Adverbials of probability
Level: beginner
We use adverbials of probability to show how certain we are about something. The commonest adverbials of probability are:
| certainly | definitely | maybe | possibly |
| clearly | obviously | perhaps | probably |
Adverbials of probability 1
maybe and perhaps usually come at the beginning of the clause:
Perhaps the weather will be fine.
Maybe it won’t rain.
Other adverbs of possibility usually come in front of the main verb:
He is certainly coming to the party.
Will they definitely be there?
We will possibly come to England next year.
or after the present simple or past simple of be:
They are definitely at home.
She was obviously very surprised.
But these adverbs sometimes come at the beginning of a clause for emphasis:
Obviously she was very surprised.
Possibly we will come to England next year.
Comparative and superlative adverbs
Comparative adverbs
Level: beginner
We can use comparative adverbs to show change or make comparisons:
I forget things more often nowadays.
She began to speak more quickly.
They are working harder now.
We often use than with comparative adverbs:
I forget things more often than I used to.
Girls usually work harder than boys.
Level: intermediate
We use these words and phrases as intensifiers with comparatives:
| much | far | a lot | quite a lot |
| a great deal | a good deal | a good bit | a fair bit |
I forget things much more often nowadays.
We use these words and phrases as mitigators:
| a bit | slightly | rather |
| a little | a little bit | just a little bit |
She began to speak a bit more quickly.
Level: beginner
Superlative adverbs
We can use superlative adverbs to make comparisons:
His ankles hurt badly, but his knees hurt worst.
It rains most often at the beginning of the year.
Level: intermediate
We use these words and phrases as intensifiers with superlatives:
| easily | by far | much |
When we intensify a superlative adverb, we often put the in front of the adverb:
In our office, Jill works by far the hardest.
Of the three brothers, Brian easily runs the fastest.
Level: beginner
How to form comparative and superlative adverbs
We make comparative and superlative adverbs using the same rules as for comparative and superlative adjectives. For example:
| One syllable: Jill works fast. | > | faster | > | fastest |
| One syllable ending in –e: They arrived late. | > | later | > | latest |
| Two or more syllables: Alan finished the test quickly. | > | more quickly | > | most quickly |
| well: She speaks English well. | > | better | > | best |
| badly: She speaks German badly. | > | worse | > | worst |
| far: He’ll go far. | > | farther/further | > | farthest/furthest |