In grammar an adverbial is a word (an adverb) or a group of words (an adverbial phrase or an adverbial clause) that modifies or tells us something about the sentence or the verb. The word adverbial is also used as an adjective, meaning 'having the same function as an adverb'. Look at the examples below:
Danny speaks fluently. (telling us more about the verb)
Adverbials operate at sentence level as sentence elements, as in the example below:
Lorna ate breakfast yesterday morning. (SUBJECT + VERB + OBJECT + ADVERBIAL)
adverbials most commonly take the form of adverbs, adverb phrases, temporal noun phrases or prepositional phrases. Many types of adverbials (for instance reason and condition) are often expressed by clauses.
James answered immediately. (adverb)
James answered in English. (prepositional phrase)
James answered this morning. (noun phrase)
James answered in English because he had a foreign visitor. (adverbial clause)
An adverbial is a construction that modifies, or describes, verbs. When an adverbial modifies a verb, it changes the meaning of that verb. Word groups that are also considered to be adverbials can also modify verbs: for example, a prepositional phrase,a noun phrase, a finite clause or a non-finite clause.
In every sentence pattern, the adverbial is a clause element that tells where, when, why, or how. There can be more than one adverbial in a sentence. In addition, the same adverbial can be moved to different positions in a sentence.
One way to analyze sentence structure is to think in terms of form and function. Form refers to a word class--such as noun, verb, adjective, adverb, and preposition--as well as types of phrases, such as prepositional phrase, nominal clause, and adverbial clause. Function refers to the function of the form in a sentence. For example, the function of a prepositional phrase in a sentence may be adverbial; that is, it modifies a verb.
Types of adverbials which form sentence elements
Adverbials are typically divided into four classes:
adverbial complements (i.e. obligatory adverbial) are adverbials that render a sentence ungrammatical and meaningless if removed.
John put the flowers in a vase.
adjuncts: these are part of the core meaning of the sentence, but if omitted still leave a meaningful sentence.
John helped me with my homework.
conjuncts: these link two sentences together.
John helped so I was, therefore, able to do my homework.
disjuncts: these make comments on the meaning of the rest of the sentence.
Surprisingly, he passed all of his exams.
Rosa León B.
adv 6
