Questions tagged [adverbials]
An adverbial is any syntactic constituent able to take the place of an adverb, including adverbial phrases and adverbial clauses. These can serve as complements or as modifiers.
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Is “senior year” a direct object or something else in “I played my senior year”? What about “perfect game” in “I threw a perfect game”?
In the sentence “I played my senior year” (Referring to baseball) would senior year be an adverbial phrase or a direct object?
Would the same apply to “I threw a perfect game”? In the second example ...
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Are "many times", "a few times", "most days", etc. frequency adjuncts/adverbials? If so, of what type?
Huddleston and Pullum (2002) divide frequency adjuncts/adverbials into bounding (how many times) and non-bounding (how often). This is similar to Quirk et al's "definite" and "...
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What exactly are "indicators" (in the context of supplements) according to CGEL?
In CGEL, in the section on "supplements", there is a short subsection on "indicators" (pages 1354 and 1355). These are defined as follows: "Supplements may contain ...
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What is the function of "their way" in "they went their way"?
Go is clearly an intransitive verb. This source {Chomp Chomp_Robin L. Simmons} says:
Some verbs, such as arrive, go, lie, sneeze, sit, and die, are always intransitive; it is impossible for a logical ...
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Why is "The government tomorrow will reveal its budget for the coming year" wrong/unnatural?
McCarthy (2021) gives these four examples of how adverbials are "mobile":
Tomorrow, the government will reveal its budget for the coming year.
The government will tomorrow reveal its ...
user466721
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How to use adverbial phrases with season/year?
Time adverbial phrases seem very confusing. Google doesn’t show any past questions on this. I’d like to ask how I should write a sentence with a temporal phrase indicating season and year:
[subject] [...
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Using a comma with a conjunction to separate long phrases [duplicate]
Every guide I've looked up says you should not use a comma along with a conjunction that joins phrases. However, this rule often seems to be broken for longer phrases.
For example, every major Bible ...
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The independence "one from the other": an adverbial phrase?
This question is originally posted on ELL. I repost it here on EL&U mutatis mutandis following the advice I got there.
This is the sentence in question from The Cambridge Companion to Chomsky by ...
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Is the phrase "for us to put the books on" an adjectival or adverbial phrase? [closed]
I'm wondering whether the boldfaced phrase is adjectival or adverbial:
John cleared the desk for us to put the books on.
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What does “any longer” mean when it falls in the middle of the sentence instead of at the end?
The bold part of this sentence is extremely hard for me to understand:
There is also a tendency to imply a crisis to which one goes and then in some way retreats from. Now I can’t see that crisis any ...
user442526
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Julie's guests arrived slightly earlier/ more early
The task is 'Complete the sentences by changing the words in brackets into comparative adverbs'.
The sentence is 'Julie's guests arrived slightly ... (early) than she expected'.
Finally, the answer is ...
user442526
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Present participle result
I need your valuable comments on the following two sentences regarding the meaning of participle clauses:
Economists often criticize rent control, arguing that it is a highly inefficient way to help ...
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When can you leave out the word "for" in a sentence?
When can you leave the word "for" out of a sentence?
Examples:
They have been married ten years.
They have not had a holiday for ten years.
I have searched for an answer to this question, ...
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Ambiguity of adverbials
For this sentence:
People in my group are willing to share what they learn not only at work but also off work.
I want not only at work but also off work to modify learn instead of share.
How to ...
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Does the term USING in the sentence act as gerund or participle? [closed]
Whether they are good or bad, we can draw a comparison using their behaviour!
Is using a gerund/present participle in this sentence?
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Is ‘when regarding’ in this sentence a preposition, meaning on the subject of/ in respect to, or a verb meaning thinking of/considering?
A recent troubling MIT study, revealed that fake news diffused significantly farther, faster, deeper and more broadly than the truth, with the effect even more pronounced when regarding political news ...
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Can "in front of" be used as a time adverbial?
At my workplace, which is a large multinational corporation with a non-English speaking headquarter, I often hear "in front of" being used in the meaning "before".
Some examples:
&...
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What's the difference between "in the same year" and "the same year"? [closed]
It remained constant at this level till May the same year.
In this sentence, can we use 'in' before the noun phrase 'the same year'?
What is the difference between 'in the same year' and 'the same ...
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Are subjuncts, disjuncts, and conjuncts types of adjunct?
In many examples of modern grammar, the five key components of clause structure are defined as subjects, objects, verbs, complements, and adjuncts. My question is simple: do subjuncts, disjuncts (...
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Is 'so much as' an adverbial modifier in this example?
He took my money without so much as a thank you.
In this sentence, is 'so much as' an adverbial modifier (adjunct) of the indefinite article (determiner) 'a'? Or can we interpret it as a correlative ...
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In the centuries after the group separated/had separated?
In the centuries after the group separated, they evolved in opposite directions.
Shouldn't the former part of the sentence be in past perfect and 'had separated' be used instead of just 'separated'?
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What is the function of "Monday?"
What is the function of "Monday?" Is it a direct object of starts or an adverb?
Mask mandate starts Monday.
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juxtaposition of adverbials
Consider the following succession of sentences:
Everyone struggles.
Inevitably everyone struggles.
Everyone inevitably struggles.
At certain times, everyone struggles.
Everyone struggles at certain ...
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Which part of speech is "as" in each example of mine?
I've come across something that has stumped me a bit.
I think that the following usage of "as" is conjunctive. Am I correct?
He is the same as the dog is.
Is the following usage of "...
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Why do these sentences take the "as" phrase following the verb?
I was learning computer science recently, and I found a expression on books that seems a little bit weird to me.
The first sentence is:
It's essential to maintain the invariant that all children of a ...
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Are the infinitive phrases adverbial or adjectival in these sentences?
I am looking for water to drink.
The infinitive "to drink" is obviously an adjectival infinitive that modifies "water".
I am looking for water to quench my thirst.
I feel iffy ...
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What is the reason for skipping the preposition "on"? [duplicate]
In Goggle Ngram Viewer I found these sentences:
How are you enabled to say it was Monday that you saw him?
It was Monday that I was sworn as a witness.
It was on Monday that he called at my house.
...
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Adverbial adjectives [duplicate]
Continuing from this question about a cloze reading test, in the construction
If a conversation starts angry, it will almost certainly continue angry.
or the song lyrics
Start angry... end mad...
...
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Double fronted adverbials with the same meaning
For me, double fronted adverbials make sense and sound fine when they have different meanings or tones, for example:
Slowly, without enthusiasm, he picked up the board and...
But in some texts I've ...
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Sentence adverbs and the user's attitude
According to Disjunct_(linguistics)
[S]entence adverbs convey the mood, attitude or sentiments of the speaker.
Yet,
Sentence adverbs form a completely standard aspect of English grammar,
but there ...
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When can we reduce "while clause" as in "don't eat lying down" and "don't talk facing the fan"?
It seems like native speakers say "don't eat lying down" and "don't talk facing the fan" when they mean "don't eat while lying down" and "don't talk while facing the ...
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“Statues carved in a row”
Overseas ESL students were asked to transform a sentence into passive voice. One gave an unexpected answer, and their teacher consulted with me.
Original: The people of Rapa Nui carved huge statues ...
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Difference between "besides", "apart from" and "except for". Prepositions vs adverbials
I am studying discourse markers and ended up checking online (in crownacademyenglish) about the difference between these expressions.
Firstly, this website affirms that they are prepositions, which I ...
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Are adverbial modifiers in decline?
Words such as rather and quite are characteristically used in English to modify meaning,
According to Paul Baker in Lancaster University:
complex and understated forms of speech are in decline.
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Is "by..." an adverbial phrase?
Adverbial phrases are known to answer questions related to how, when or where something was done.
Is this considered as an adverbial phrase?
By pressing the button, she opened the door and left the ...
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Should a two-word noun that modifies be hyphenated?
I came across the sentence "He is Fibonacci spiral attractive," and my first thought was that "Fibonacci spiral" should be hyphenated. I consulted my sister, and she thought it ...
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Was it common in Shakespeare's time for adverbial phrases and objects to precede the verb in spoken English?
I'm trying to come up with a list of differences between Shakespeare's manner of writing and modern English, and one of the big differences I've noticed is that Shakespeare often seems to put ...
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Does "So as long as" mean the same as "Just as long as" in this sentence?
I have a question regarding a sentence in this Meta post:
Votes reversed by the detection script can be re-cast by the user at a later time, so long as the user does not again engage in serial voting ...
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Why is "for six years" not the adverbial complement in this sentence?
Identify the adverbial complement in the following sentence:
I have been living in Ireland for six years.
a) I haveb) been livingc) in Ireland (correct answer)d) for six years (your answer)
Why is &...
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Dropping "when" in an adverbial clause renders this sentence ungrammatical?
Please consider these sentences side by side:
When walking in a dark alley, you should be cautious.
When walking in a dark alley, be cautious.
Walking in a dark alley, be cautious.
Walking in a dark ...
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Is "for sure" an adverbial phrase? [closed]
"Of course" is regarded as an adverbial phrase, even though the components of it appear to be a preposition and a noun.
So what about the phrase "for sure" (when used to mean for ...
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Participle Phrases as Adverbs
I'm teaching my daughter some grammar lessons and ended up a bit confused about how to analyze participle phrases such as "removing his coat" in the following sentence:
Removing his coat, ...
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Can 'where' introduce a specific manner without an antecedent?
I came across this sentence when reading Eclipse, where Sam (werewolf) was the leader of the pack: “ Sam approached Carlisle where he stood in the front, the huge pack right on his tail.”
I've known ...
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"When" and "Where" when we talk about hypothetical situations
When you need something between a comma and period, use a semicolon.
Where you need something between a comma and period, use a semicolon.
From a logical point of view, both sentences are correct, ...
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Using "between" to introduce a set of traits or circumstances
I was wondering if this construction using "between" to introduce a set of traits/circumstances was correct. (I'm also interested in alternative phrases that may be more appropriate):
...
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“International themed” or “internationally themed”?
Would you say “an international themed party” or “an internationally themed party”?
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Gerund after as though, please, help to clarify
They looked at Mary in surprise as though... her story.
A) not believing
B) not having believed
C) not believed
D) believed
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Which verb does the adverbial phrase "for many days" modify in this sentence: "People remember most of what they have studied for many days."
Context: This is a comprehension check question for a text which basically says that people are quick to forget information unless they study/review it several times. We have to answer whether the ...
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Origin and usage of "day of"
There is an expression I have heard used many times in conversational U.S. English but cannot recall ever seeing in writing: day of as an adverb, omitting the object of the preposition.
Examples:
&...
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Should I Use a Comma or a Semicolon at the End of a Series of Complex Introductory Phrases or Dependent Clauses?
In my writing, I begin several sentences with a series of two or three -- or more -- adverbial (or prepositional) phrases (or dependent clauses), some of which contain commas. Seeking clarity, in ...
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