LoginAdverb Placement and Order
Discover the rules for placing and ordering adverbs like 'quickly', 'often', and 'beautifully'. Detailed explanations and a quiz to test your knowledge.
Adverb Placement
Adverbs can be placed in various positions in a sentence, depending on the type of adverb, the intended meaning, and the structure of the sentence. They can appear in initial position, middle position, and end position.
Adverb Placement: Initial Position
Conjunctive Adverbs
Conjunctive adverbs that show a connection with the previous sentences or provide context for a sentence are normally placed at the beginning of the sentence. For example:
Next, put the turkey in the oven for 45 minutes.
Undoubtedly, people have become more interested in social media.
Unfortunately, we couldn't finish the project on time.
Adverbs of Time and Frequency
Adverbs of time and adverbs of frequency can be placed in various positions in a sentence. Adverbs of time, in particular, are the most flexible of all adverbs in terms of placement, as they can appear at the beginning, middle, or end of a sentence. Pay attention to the examples:
Tomorrow my uncle is going to London.
Usually I play football in the park with my friends.
Adverb Placement: Middle Position
Adverbs of frequency, adverbs of probability, and adverbs of comment can all be used in the middle position.
She often works at the weekend.
She has probably gone home.
I usually bake cookies.
Tip!
Adverbs of frequency are always placed before the main verb, but not before the auxiliary verb.
I don't usually go to the park. (Not 'I usually don't go to the park.')
Adverb Placement: End Position
Adverbs are generally placed at the end of sentences. The following types of adverbs are typically placed at the end of a sentence or phrase:
I have my first math class today.
Stop shouting now.
What are you doing here?
She visited him in hospital.
Just try and talk to her nicely.
Traffic flowed smoothly.
Adverbs: Order
If we want to use more than one adverb in a sentence, we should observe a particular order in which they should appear. This rule is called the order of adverbs or the royal order of adverbs and it is as follows:
Adverbs of Manner
Adverbs of Place
Adverbs of Frequency
Adverbs of Time
Adverbs of Purpose
It is usually uncommon to use all five categories of adverbs in a single sentence, but sometimes we might use two or three adverbs. Take a look at the example:
She walked slowly (manner) down the alley (place) every evening (frequency) at 7 o'clock (time) to walk her dog (purpose).
Review
Adverbs are divided into four different groups, each was discussed in detail earlier. Adverbs are words that modify adjectives, verbs, or other adverbs. They express a relation of place, time, etc.
Adverbs order in a sentence is important especially when there are more than one of them in one sentence.
Manner | Place | Frequency | Time | Purpose |
Now, that we know their orders in a sentence let us learn all four groups by learning the examples.
adverbs modifying verbs | They ran fast to get to the bus. |
adverbs modifying adjectives (intensifiers) | It is really hot in here. |
adverbs modifying another adverb (intensifiers) | The restaurant is almost always full of people. |
adverbs modifying entire sentences (sentence adverbs) | Actually, he is right. |
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