Adverb Placement and Classification in English

An adverb in English modifies (or describes) a verb (the action word of a sentence). Adverbs can provide information about the manner, frequency, degree or place of an action or verb, as well as other aspects, but they can also modify adjectives and other adverbs as you will see in the examples given.

It is often said that an adverb is generally placed after the verb it modifies in an English sentence, and while it does frequently appear here and provides clarity in this place, an adverb can be located in various positions within a sentence, and its placement depends on the specific adverb, the context, and what it is modifying. Adverb placement is flexible in English and varies depending on the desired emphasis and style of communication.

This post will go on to break down adverb placement in detail, but first, let’s have a look at the appearance and classes of adverbs.

You may have noticed that adverbs tend to end in -ly. Around 70 to 80% of English adverbs end in the suffix -ly.

An adjective form that describes a noun, will appear as an adverb with -ly added to describe a verb:

• A happy smile. (adjective)
• She smiled happily. (adverb)
• A bright sun. (adjective)
• The sun shone brightly (adverb)
• A slow talker. (adjective)
• He talks slowly. (adverb)
• A frequent visitor. (adjective)
• She visits frequently. (adverb)

For more on adjectives, please see the post on these.

However, the English language has a wide variety of adverbs, and there are many that do not follow this recognisable pattern:

• She visits often.
• We will arrive soon.
• They travel everywhere.
• She performed well.
• He drives too fast.

It should be noted for clarity that there are also words that end in -ly that are not adverbs:

• A friendly dog.
• An early train.

The main classes of adverb

Adverbs of manner

Adverbs of manner are adverbs that describe how an action is performed and often end in -ly. Their placement within a sentence is flexible:

• She sings beautifully.
• Quickly, he finished his homework.
• He finished his homework slowly.

Adverbs of degree

Adverbs of degree describe the degree or intensity of an action or adjective and also often end in -ly. These adverbs can often be positioned flexibly within a sentence:

• I am extremely grateful.
• I am continually harassed.
• She is incredibly intelligent.

Adverbs of frequency

Adverbs of frequency describe how often an action occurs and are usually flexible in their sentence placement:

• They visit us daily.
• I rarely eat fast food.
• Often, we meet for a coffee.

Adverbs of time

Adverbs of time indicate when an action took place. Similar to adverbs of frequency, their placement within a sentence is fairly flexible:

• We will meet tomorrow.
• Tonight, we will start the project.
• I’ll see you then.
• Soon, I’ll be back.

Adverbs of place

Adverbs of place indicate where an action occurs and these end in -ly less often. These adverbs are not typically placed at the start of a sentence:

• They went everywhere.
• I’ll see you there.
• She lives nearby.
• I’m going upstairs.

Additional categories

Adverbs of certainty: These adverbs express the level of certainty or probability of an action or statement. Examples include ‘certainly’, ‘definitely’, ‘maybe’ and ‘probably’.

Adverbs of purpose: These adverbs describe why an action is performed. Examples include ‘intentionally’, ‘accidentally’, ‘purposely’ and ‘willingly’.

Adverbs of comparison: These adverbs are used to compare actions or qualities. Examples include ‘more’, ‘less’, ‘as’ and ‘than’.

Adverbs of sequence: These adverbs show the order or sequence of actions. Examples include ‘first’, ‘secondly’, ‘finally’ and ‘meanwhile’.

Adverbs of interrogation: These adverbs are used to ask questions and often start with question words. Examples include ‘when’, ‘where’, ‘why’ and ‘how’.

Adverbs of negation: These adverbs express negation or denial. Examples include ‘not’, ‘never’, ‘nowhere’ and ‘neither’.

Adverbs of affirmation: These adverbs express agreement or confirmation. Examples include ‘certainly’, ‘indeed’ and ‘surely’.

Adverbs of exclamation: These adverbs convey strong emotions or surprise. Examples include ‘wow’, ‘alas’ and ‘oh’.

With regards to the placement of adverbs, not all adverbs can be flexibly placed without affecting the meaning of a sentence or sounding awkward. Adverbs that primarily modify verbs, other adverbs or adjectives often work better in specific positions within a sentence closely related to the word they are modifying. However, adverb placement depends on the specific adverb and the intended emphasis within the sentence.

Some possible positions for adverbs in English are:

Front adverb placement

Often, adverbs that provide important context or emphasise a point are placed at the beginning of a sentence or before the subject. In formal writing, some adverbs are placed before the subject to create emphasis or draw attention to it.

At the beginning of a sentence

Some adverbs can be placed at the beginning of a sentence for emphasis or to provide context:

• Suddenly, there was a loud noise.
• Unfortunately, I can’t make it to the meeting.
• Rarely do they visit this part of town.
• Never have I seen such a beautiful sunset.

Before the subject

In formal or literary writing, certain adverbs can be placed before or after the subject of the sentence to create emphasis:

• Quietly, she entered the room.
• Surprisingly, he won the award.
• Sneakily, they crept across the room.
• Interestingly, he chose to study History.

Mid adverb placement

Most adverbs can be placed comfortably between the subject and the main verb. When a sentence has an auxiliary (modal or helping) verb, adverbs often appear between the auxiliary and the main verb:

Before the main verb

• She always smiles.
• He rarely eats.
• They often travel.
• They quickly ran off.

Between the auxiliary verb and the main verb

Please see the relevant post for further explanation on auxiliary verbs.

• She has always loved singing.
• He will certainly come to the party.
• They have never been to Europe.

End adverb placement

Adverbs often appear at the end of a sentence, especially when they modify the entire sentence rather than just one specific word, or when there is no auxiliary verb. Adverbs can also be placed after the direct object if they modify the verb rather than the entire sentence:

After the main verb

• She sings passionately.
• He played skilfully.
• They arrived early.
• You walk briskly.

After the object of the main verb

• She sings opera passionately.
• He played the piano skilfully.
• They arrived at the station early.

Adverb placement with adjective and adverb modifiers

When adverbs modify adjectives or other adverbs, they are generally placed immediately before the word they are modifying:

Adverbs modifying other adverbs

• She sang very loudly.

In this example, ‘loudly’ is the adverb used to describe the verb ‘sang’, and ‘very’ is an additional adverb that describes the degree of loudness.

Adverbs modifying adjectives

• The cake is incredibly delicious.

In this example, the word ‘delicious’ is an adjective describing the noun, ‘cake’, and ‘incredibly’ is the adverb that modifies that adjective rather than a verb as in most cases.

Adverb placement with comparative and superlative forms

When comparing two things, adverbs typically appear before the comparative adjective or adverb:

• She runs faster than him.

In superlative forms, adverbs usually precede the superlative adjective or adverb:

• This is the most beautiful place I’ve seen.

Adverb placement with negative adverbs

Negative adverbs such as ‘not’ are typically placed immediately before the main verb:

• She did not eat breakfast.

Adverb placement in questions

In questions, adverbs often appear at the beginning or end of the sentence, depending on the type of question:

• Did she go quickly?
• Quickly, can you solve this puzzle?

A note on verbs that use adjectives not adverbs

There are some exceptional verbs that are not described by adverbs, but use adjectives.

The logic behind this is that the adjective is describing the state of the noun rather than the action of the verb itself.

The following is the list of these exceptional verbs that are described by adjectives, with corresponding examples of how those adjectives normally appear as adverbs describing a verb:

• to Appear: I appear warm but I speak warmly
• to Be: I am beautiful but I smile beautifully
• to Feel: I feel happy but I laugh happily
• to Look: you look terrible but you write terribly
• to Seem: he seems contented but he talks contentedly
• to Smell: he smells awful but he plays awfully
• to Sound: that sounds tuneful but one plays tunefully
• to Taste: it tastes great but it improves greatly

In all the above examples, those verbs are taking an adjective to describe the state of the noun or pronoun that is the subject of the sentence.

However, that same verb, if it is representing an action rather than a state of being, does take an adverb:

• to Appear: I appear warm but I appear suddenly
• to Look: you look terrible but you look at me grumpily
• to Smell: he smells awful but he smells the coffee thoughtfully
• to Taste: it tastes great but she tastes the cake contemplatively

This list of verbs is not exhaustive and you may encounter other verbs that can also express a state of being as well as an action.

A note on adverbials

An adverb and an adverbial are related concepts in grammar, but they serve different functions within a sentence.

An adverbial is a broader term that refers to a word, phrase or clause that functions as an adverb in a sentence. For further explanation of a clause in grammar, please see the relevant post.

Adverbials also function as adverbs because they provide additional information about the relationship between two clauses or thoughts, or about an action or state described in a sentence. Adverbials can include not only single adverbs but also adverbial phrases or clauses.

Adverbial phrase

• She sang in the shower.

In the example above, ‘in the shower’ is an adverbial phrase indicating where she sang.

Adverbial clause

• After finishing her homework, she went to bed.

In this case, ‘After finishing her homework’ is an adverbial clause indicating when she went to bed.

Adverbial conjuncts or connectors

Adverbial conjuncts, also called adverbial connectors, help connect ideas and clarify the relationships between sentences or clauses, making a text more coherent and facilitating the flow of information.

Words such as ‘however’, ‘furthermore’, ‘moreover’ and ‘nonetheless’ are considered adverbials. These words are particularly desirable in academic writing because they are used to link or transition between ideas within a sentence or between sentences.

• She wanted to go to the party; however, she was feeling unwell.
• The restaurant had excellent reviews. Furthermore, it was conveniently located.
• She had little experience in the field; nonetheless, she took on the challenging project.

Conclusion

Adverbs can appear in various places within a sentence; the location of adverbs can alter the meaning of a sentence and the strategic choice of adverb placement helps emphasise particular aspects of a sentence. Adverbs can modify adjectives and other adverbs as well as verbs. Adverbs can be classed according to their functions. Adverbs often end in -ly, but not always.

While adverbs are specific words that modify various elements in a sentence, adverbials serve the function of providing context and detail in a sentence and can be phrases or clauses as well as single words.

If you have any questions, suggestions or comments, please do get in touch.

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