Adverbial phrases and clauses -- ENGLISH TITLES EIGHT

EXTRA NOTES ON ADVERBS/ADVERBIAL PHRASES/ADVERBIAL CLAUSES

Adverbs modify verbs. By modify, we mean they provide more information about the verb in a sentence. 

1. The old woman is walking. 

   Subject               verb 

From the sentence above, we are told the action of the subject (the old woman). However, the adverb can give us deeper insights or more information or details about the action in the sentence. So, let's introduce an adverb.

2. The old woman is walking slowly. 

        Subject               verb       adverb

Did you see that additional detail? That is an adverb. It provides an extra detail, an additional information. 

We can still go on to provide some extra details about the action of the subject in our example above. 

3. The old woman is walking slowly on the pavement. 

   Subject                   verb        adv.1     adv.2

In the example above, the adverb slowly tells us how (i.e. the manner in which) the action is done; and the adverb on the pavement (i.e. the place) tells us where the action occurred. 

We yet can still go on to provide some extra details about the action of the subject in our example above. 

          Subject         verb      adv.1   adv.2 

4. The old woman walked slowly on the 

                     adv.3

pavement yesterday. 

In the example above, the adverb slowly tells us how (i.e. the manner in which) the action occurred; and the adverb on the pavement (i.e. the place) tells us where the action occurred; and the adverb yesterday tells us when the action occurred. 

We yet can still go on to provide some extra details about the action of the subject in our example above. 

            Subject         verb   adv.1 adv.2  adv. 3

5. The old woman walked very slowly on the 

                     adv.4               adv.5

pavement yesterday  because of her pains.

In the example above, the adverb slowly tells us how (i.e. the manner in which) the action occurred; and the adverb very tells us the extent or degree (or tells us more about the manner in which the action occurred) and the adverbial phrase on the pavement (i.e. the place) tells us where the action occurred; and the adverb yesterday tells us when the action occurred; and the adverbial phrase because of her pains tells us why the action occurred. 

One, from the examples above, it is obvious that there can be more than one adverb in a sentence. As much as five in a single sentence, as it is shown in the last example. 

Two, adverbs are very mobile. In other words, adverbs can occur just anywhere within a sentence. For example:

1. Yesterday, they were at the cinema. 

(Adverb at the beginning of a sentence.)

2. They were at the cinema yesterday.

     (Adverb at the end of a sentence.)

3. They were, yesterday, at the cinema. 

     (Adverb in between a sentence.)

Quietly frankly, the third example provided is very rare. Occasionally you see it in news reports. 

However, you must have probably observed that there are certain adverbs that are usually used: 

1. After the subject: 

i. They always play football. 

ii. Athletes usually avoid fasting. 

iii. I frankly disagree! 

It is hardly the case that you will see these verbs used thus: 

Athletes avoid fasting usually. However, you can have: They play football always.

2. In between the auxiliary and the lexical verb: 

i. I will always love you. 

(That famous line from a R&B singer)

ii. Dayo will usually read at a chapter of a novel. 

iii. You can also become a computer nerd.

Three, certain adverbials are introduced by prepositions. So, what we usually will refer to as prepositional phrases can also be said to be adverbs/adverbial phrases. For example: 

1. John is at home. 

     (John is WHERE?)

2. The students are in their classrooms.

     (The students are WHERE?)

3. It is pathetic they live on the streets. 

    (It is pathetic they live WHERE?)

4. They arrived in the early hours of the day. 

     (They arrived WHEN?)

5. On a beautiful day in May, he was born. 

     (WHEN was he born?)

You probably have observed that the prepositional phrases function as adverbial phrases of time and place (location). 

I shall get back to some of these examples when we discuss adjectival phrases. See link below

http://olabanjititles.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-adjectival-phrase-english-titles.html?m=1

Adverbs/Adverbial phrase/Adverbial clause

An adverb modifies a verb, an adjective, and another adverb. Let's break it down.

An adverb modifies:

a verb: The old woman walked slowly.

an adjective: The old woman walked too slow. 

another adverb: The old woman walked too slowly.

TYPES OF ADVERBIAL PHRASE/CLAUSE

Adverbial phrase/adverbial clause of time

The adverb of time will answer the question when. 

1. He went out this morning. 

(He went out WHEN?)

2. The candidates arrived very early. 

     (The candidates arrived WHEN?)

3. The ambulance arrived immediately after the accident. 

      (The ambulance arrived WHEN?)

When he arrived Lagos, he was as happy as lark. 

Grammatical name and grammatical function

The ambulance arrived immediately after the accident. 

Grammatical name: Adverbial phrase of time

Grammatical function: It modifies the verb "arrived".

When he arrived Lagos, he was as happy as lark. 

Grammatical name: Adverbial clause of time

Grammatical function: It modifies the verb "was".

Adverbial phrase/Adverbial clause of place

The adverbial phrase/clause of place will answer the question where.

We met there. 

(We met WHERE?)

1. The students are seated in their classrooms. 

     (The students are seated WHERE?)

2. The books are on the book shelf. 

     (The books are WHERE?)

3. They met at a restaurant in town.

     (They met WHERE?)

4. The students are seated where it has been reserved for them. 

Grammatical name and grammatical function

The students are seated in their classrooms. 

Grammatical name: Adverbial phrase (place)

Grammatical function: It modifies the verb 'are seated.'

The students are seated where it has been reserved for them. 

Grammatical name: Adverb clause (place)

Grammatical function: It modifies the verb 'are seated.'

Adverbial phrase/Adverbial clause of reason

The adverbial phrase/clause of reason will answer the question why.

1. He was sacked because of his laziness. 

2. He was sacked because he was lazy. 

Grammatical name and grammatical function 

1. He was sacked because of his laziness. 

Grammatical name: Adverbial phrase (reason)

Grammatical function: It modifies the verb "was sacked".

2. He was sacked because he was lazy.

Grammatical name: Adverbial clause (reason)

Grammatical function: It modifies the verb "was sacked".

Adverbial phrase/Adverbial clause of manner

The adverbial phrase/clause of manner will answer the question how.

The children matched too quickly. 

Adverbial phrase of frequency

The adverbial phrase of frequency will answer the question how often.

1. Muslims pray fives times daily.

    (Muslims pray HOW OFTEN?)

2. He does exercises twice a week.

    (He does exercises HOW OFTEN?)

Adverbial phrase/Adverbial clause of degree

The adverbial phrase/clause of degree will answer the question, to what extent.  

1. The old woman walked too slowly. 

     (The old woman walked HOW?)

2. Usain Bolt runs very fast. 

    (Usain Bolt runs how?)

Adverbial phrase/Adverbial clause of condition 

1. If necessary, I will be there.

2. Until her arrival, nobody goes home.

Grammatical name and grammatical function

1. If necessary, I will be there.

Grammatical name: Adverbial phrase of condition

Grammatical function: It modifies the verb "will be". 

2. If it is necessary, I will be there.

Grammatical name: Adverbial clause of condition

Grammatical function: It modifies the verb "will be". 

NB: Carefully pay attention to the underlined expressions in examples (1) and (2), and take note of the difference. It is the verb that makes the difference. A clause must have a verb while a phrase does not. Our definition of a verb is a group of words without a verb. The definition is consistent with how WAEC test candidates. 

3. Until her arrival, nobody goes home.

Grammatical name: Adverbial phrase of condition

Grammatical function: It modifies the verb "goes". 

4. Until she arrives, nobody goes home.

Grammatical name: Adverbial clause of condition

Grammatical function: It modifies the verb "goes". 

The adverbial clause of condition can also be expressed thus:

Had I known, I wouldn't have done it instead of being rendered If I had known, I wouldn't have done it. 

Had I known, I wouldn't have done it.

Grammatical name: Adverbial clause of condition

Grammatical function: It modifies the verb "wouldn't have done".