Adverbial
An adverbial is a word or phrase that functions as a significant clause constituent that typically expresses/gives information about place (in my living room), time (in April), or manner (in a strange way).
What is an Adverbial?
An adverbial is a word or phrase that is used as an adverb to modify a verb or clause. Adverbs can be used as adverbials, but other words and phrases can be utilized this way, including preposition phrases and subordinate clauses. They can be used differently in a sentence to create different effects.
Adverbials are used to describe how, where, or when something happened. They are like adverbs, typically made up of more than one word.
What are Fronted Adverbials?
Fronted adverbials are single words used at the beginning of sentences to give more information about the action in the main clause. They are “fronted” because they have been moved to the front of the sentence or in front of the verb. A comma must follow them.
Examples of Fronted Adverbials:
Fronted adverbials include the following words in bold:
- Occasionally, she would share her sweets.
- All of a sudden, he ran away.
- Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do about it.
What is an Adverbial Phrase?
Adverbial phrases help us understand things more clearly. An adverbial expression consists of two or more words that tell us more about a verb or an adjective. They appear as part of a sentence; if they are removed, it would no longer make sense. They tell us how, where, when, how long, and why something has happened.
Examples of Adverbial Phrases:
Adverbial phrases can use the following words in bold:
- He sat in silence.
- She drove the car as carefully as possible.
- He spoke to his best friend almost every day.
Different types of adverbials
There are a whole bunch of different types of adverbials that we use in the English language. They all have slightly different roles that help shape a sentence’s meaning. Here are some other kinds of adverbials that you may have heard of:
- Complements: a word, phrase, or clause that is necessary to complete the meaning of a sentence. If they are removed, the sentence will not make sense grammatically.
- Adjuncts: are part of a sentence’s core meaning, but the sentence still makes sense without them.
- Prepositions: some prepositions like ‘inside’ or ‘outside’ may be used as an adverbial to specify a location.
- Conjuncts: words that link two phrases or sentences together, for example, ‘however’ or ‘therefore.’
- Disjuncts: words that stand outside the syntactic structure of a text they are commenting on. They comment on the content or manner of what is being said or written. For example, phrases like ‘without a doubt’ and ‘hopefully.’
Adverbials vs adverbs
So what exactly is the difference between adverbs and adverbials? Although adverbs and adverbials are similar because they share the same modifying function, they do slightly different things. Adverbials perform functions in sentences, whereas adverbs focus on modifying verbs and actions within a sentence.
They are very similar and easy to get confused, and the difference between adverbs and adverbials isn’t always clear, so don’t worry if you feel a little lost. Here are two example sentences, one with an adverb and one with an adverbial:
Adverb: he stood and waited patiently
Adverbial: he stood and waited by the exit
