6.1 Ways of expressing adverbial modifiers

An adverbial modifier may be expressed by:

1. An adverb (sometimes preceded by a preposition).

e.g.: Jane sings beautifully.

2. An adverbial phrase, with an adverb as headword.

e.g.: We met ten years ago and parted two years later.

3. A noun, pronoun or numeral preceded by a preposition or prepositional nominal phrase.

e.g.: A dim light was burning in the archway under the inner gate.

Behind him he could hear Kristie sobbing.

We met in 1975.

4. A noun without a preposition or a non-preposi­tional noun phrase, the latter usually containing such words as this, that, every, last, next.

e.g.: Wait a minute!

Come this way, please.

We meet every day.

5. A non-finite verb form:

a) a gerund or a gerundial phrase.

e.g.: Remember to open the window before doing your morning exercises.

b) an infinitive or an infinitive phrase.

e.g.: The problem is too difficult to solve.

We’ve come here to ask you a favour.

c) a participle or a participial phrase.

e.g.: Sighing, Betty returned to the kitchen.

Pounding the house, they entered a quiet, walled garden.

6. A predicative complex:

a) a gerundial construction.

e.g.: Are you angry because of my being late?

b) a for-to-infinitive construction.

e.g.: The problem is too difficult for a child to solve.

c) a non-prepositional or prepositional absolute construction.

e.g.: The meal over, they went to the fuel store.

I don’t want to quarrel with the children listening.

7. An adjective, an adverb, a participle, a noun, a prepositional phrase, an infinitive, an infinitive or participial phrase introduced by a conjunction.

e.g.: I’ll come earlier if necessary.

Her conduct when there was most unaccountable.

When argued with, Ida had one answer.

As a little girl she used to make daisy-chains.

I began to wonder whether he'd manage to give an interview while still in his right mind.

He quickly did this, and while doing it dropped his umbrella.

As if to bring matters to a focus, Tess’s father was heard approaching at that moment.

8. A Clause (as part of a complex sentence).

e.g.: Won’t you stay till the rain stops?

6.2. Semantic classes of adverbial modifiers The adverbial of place

This adverbial expresses:

a) Place proper.

e.g.: John was born in Australia, but lives in England.

b) Direction or destination.

e.g.: He moved to Australia in 1975.

c) Distance.

e.g.: He lives far from his parents.

The identifying questions are where? for place proper, where to? where from? - for direction, where? how far? - for distance.

The adverbial of time

The adverbial of time has four variations:

a) The adverbial of time proper denotes the time of some event.

e.g.: We shall meet tomorrow.

When angry count a hundred.

b) The adverbial of frequency indicates how often the event denoted by the predicate takes place. It is mostly placed before the notional part of the predicate (if it is expressed by an adverb).

e.g.: I am always careful.

Does he ever visit museums? - Once in a blue moon.

Adverbials of frequency are expressed by adverbs and adverbial phrases.

c) The adverbial of duration indicates the period of time during which some event takes place. They are often expressed by preposi­tional phrases with prepositions for, during, since, till, until. The preposition since denotes the starting point and the preposition till/until - the final point of some period.

e.g.: Have you been there long? - A couple of hours.

They want to rest (for) a day or two.

d) The adverbial of time relationship presents the idea of time as related to some other event in time. This adverbial is expressed by such adverbs as still, yet, already, at last, before, after, by a noun, a gerund, or a prepositional phrase with the prepo­sitions by, before, after.

Thus the sentence It was still raining implies that it had been raining for some time before.

He hasn’t given his consent yet means that up to now we do not know anything about his consent.