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up vote 8 down vote favorite

I know that the pattern manner-place-time shouldn't be taken too seriously if one wants to speak natural English.

In real life, people rarely use a string of adverbs. Speakers will easily break the pattern for emphatic or stylistic reasons (usually placing the adverb at the beginning of the sentence). Other factors such as length and specificity will also override the arrangement.

But I'm constructing illustrative sentences that highlight (and stick to) the Royal Order of Adverbs.

What all the online sources are doing is mixing adverbs and prepositional phrases, but I can't have the concept of prepositional phrases in my examples just yet. This means I should include only one-word or two-word adverbs (without prepositions).

So, I have these:

  • He sat quietly upstairs all day.
  • She waited impatiently outside this morning.
  • They gather noisily downtown every Saturday night.

Are the sentences above still correct, as in natural-sounding? Somehow they started sounding a bit off to me. I guess I just need to test them with a second pair of ears.

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The order of the adverbials reads naturally enough to me, but I'd expect to find such sentences in writing rather than in speech. – Barrie England Aug 25 '12 at 20:21
They all sound perfect to me. Moreover, all of the other five orders sound markedly worse. – Daniel Harbour Aug 25 '12 at 21:00
Thanks, @BarrieEngland, Daniel. This is exactly the kind of input I need – Cool Elf Aug 26 '12 at 4:47
For naturalness, I would use loudly instead of noisily. FWIW, I find the place-manner-time orders just as natural if not moreso than the originals. – Rachel Aug 27 '12 at 11:06

3 Answers

up vote 4 down vote accepted

Yes - I can't find anything grammatically wrong, but certainly your second example doesn't sound natural. It's probably, as you imply, that a lot of information is being condensed into a small space, when it might be better put in extended constructions (get a move on with those prepositional phrases!) or even more than one sentence.

She waited outside this morning.

She waited impatiently outside.

??She waited impatiently this morning.

She waited impatiently outside the school this morning.

She waited - impatiently - outside, this morning.

She waited outside this morning. Impatiently.

Of course, there are some who would say that outside is an intransitive preposition in your second example (and in four of mine).

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I think what doesn't sound natural is the im-patient part coupled with waited. IF I am talking about how I accidentally shut my dog outside and said, "She waited patiently outside all morning." That sounds perfectly find to me and is something I would say. – Jim Aug 25 '12 at 22:01
@Edwin, yeah, I guess I should start introducing prepositional phrases. I also agree about the "clutter." And, although "outside" is a one-word deal in its own right, the tendency to use it here as a preposition is stronger (like in your 4th example). – Cool Elf Aug 26 '12 at 5:15
@Jim, thanks for your comment as well. To avoid getting extraneous issues in the way of the illustration (and to be safe), I think I'll change the adverb to "patiently." – Cool Elf Aug 26 '12 at 5:22
@Jim: I agree. I wonder what rule of combining adverbs this would fall under!? I think the Royal Order is probably best introduced when the students have graduated - or, if the need arises before then, solely as a rule of thumb. It would be a lot more practical to give a 'stick to one adverb at a time where possible, or check with a native speaker for how it sounds' rule of thumb to learners. – Edwin Ashworth Aug 26 '12 at 8:09
up vote 4 down vote

Why not consider placing the manner adverb before the verb

  • He quietly sat upstairs all day.
  • She impatiently waited outside this morning.
  • They noisily gather downtown every Saturday night.

While this may give a bit more weight to the manner over the place or time, that is often the dominant theme - how they are behaving is often more important than where or when. If one of the other characteristics were more important, that could be the leading form

  • All day he sat quietly upstairs.

  • Downtown they gather noisily every Saturday night.

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the thought has actually crossed my mind to transfer just the manner adverb before the verb. This is still in line with the other answer of avoiding too much "clutter" in the string. As for the beginning of the sentence though, I'm supposed to go into that after the "pure" example of all adverbs stuck at the end – Cool Elf Aug 26 '12 at 5:28
These all sound less natural to me (native speaker) than the originals. – Rachel Aug 27 '12 at 11:11
up vote 0 down vote

While there is nothing ungrammatical about your examples, they do sound cluttered. I agree that beginning the sentence with an adverb sounds more natural. This also adds to sentence fluency and variety of sentences in a block of text.

To avoid adverb clutter, although this might upset the Royal Order (which has a warm place in my heart), I prefer:

  • This morning, she waited outside impatiently.
  • Every Saturday night, they noisily gather downtown.

In looking at other suggestions, it seems the temporal adverb phrase is the more favorable to move to the beginning of the sentence. Interesting that manner and place still fall in that order in my ears.

Incidentally,

Downtown, every Saturday night, they gather noiselessly.

makes a great opening line for the next hit suspense film blockbuster.

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