Free Grammar Resources | How To Make Adverbials

Adverbials are a versatile and essential part of speech in English that modify or describe verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, or entire sentences.

They add detail to the action, providing information about

(how | when | where | to) what extent something happens.

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.

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.

More Lessons ➧ Here

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