Teaching English through e-learning

Position of adverbs / adverbs phrases

Adverbs / Adverb phrases of time, place and manner

 We usually put adverbs of time (e.g. then, in 1972, nowadays), adverbs of place (e.g. there, at home, to New York) and adverbs of manner (e.g. quickly, carefully, creatively, dramatically)at the enf of a clause.

The last invasion of England took place in 1066.

When did you live there  ?

We can emphasize adverbs  of time and place by putting them at the beginning of the clause:

In 2001 I decided to give up my job and go back to college.

At home I always feel calm and relaxed.

Adverb of frequency, certainty and degree

We usually put adverbs of frequency (e.g. never, often, usually, frequently), adverbs of certainty (e.g. definitely, probably, certainly) and adverbs of degree (e.g. completely, mostly, mainly) in the middle of a clause, between the subject and the verb,

We often take the train to college.

You probably left your mobile phone in the taxi.

His work mainly focuses on the human body.

With the verb to be , we put the adverb after verb.

She is probably the best person for the job.

His later works are often very large.

With auxiliary verbs, we put the adverb between the auxiliary and the main verb.

We have often laughed at his jokes.

She was definitely staying in the big hotel.