LoginAdverbial Nouns
Explore the rules and nuances of adverbial nouns like 'next year' and 'every day'. Detailed explanations, advanced exercises, and a quiz.
What Are Adverbial Nouns?
Adverbial nouns are nouns that function as adverbs in a sentence. They modify the verb, adjective, or another adverb in a sentence by providing additional information about time, manner, place, or frequency. Adverbial nouns can be single words or noun phrases.
What Kinds of Noun Are Adverbial Nouns?
Adverbial nouns have the form of a regular noun, but, like adverbs, talk about time, place, or measurements and specific amounts of something, such as distance, direction, weight, or value.
Go home.
Here, "home" is an adverbial noun for location.
Go quickly.
Here, "qucikly" is a regular adverb of manner, not a noun.
Adverbial Nouns: Time
Adverbial nouns can talk about when (at what time) or for how long (the duration of time) an action takes place. Names of the weekdays, months, and seasons can also be adverbial nouns.
We have waited years for this reform.
Here, 'years' answerd the question "How long?"
Wait a moment.
She never came home Monday.
Adverbial Nouns: Distance, Direction, Location
Adverbial nouns can talk about distance,direction (the cardinal directions, such as north, south, east, and west), or location of something. Take a look at the examples:
I think I'll just stay home.
I think he went this way, and she went that way.
The river is three miles away.
The water rose three feet.
The curtains are an inch too long.
Adverbial Nouns: Weight
Take a look at some examples to see how adverbial nouns can be used to talk about the weight of something:
Your bag weighs a ton!
The package weighed five kilos.
Adverbial Nouns: Age
Adverbial nouns can also be used to talk about the age of something or someone. For example:
She is 23 years old.
The whisky is aged ten years.
Adverbial Nouns: Value
Certain adjectives, such as 'worth' take nouns or noun phrases as complements. For example:
This toy is only worth a dollar.
Since worth indicates an answer to the question 'how much,' it requires an amount as a modifier.
One of the antiques is worth 50,000 Pounds.
Adverbial Nouns vs. Direct Objects
Adverbial nouns are often found after the verb, but they should not be confused with the direct object of the verb.
While the objects receive the action of the verb and answer the question "what?", adverbial nouns answer questions like "where?" "when?", "for how long?", "how much?" etc.
Mike drove north.
Here, the word 'north' is an adverbial noun giving additional information about the direction in which subject drove and answers the question 'where'.
Mike drove an hour without rest.
Likewise, 'an hour' indicates a length of time, answering 'how long?,' making 'an hour' also an adverbial noun.
Mike drove his Mercedes.
This sentence however, answers the question 'what'. The noun phrase 'his Mercedes' is, therefore, the direct object of the sentence.
Tip!
Nouns denoting numbers of some sort are commonly used as adverbs.
Review
Adverbial nouns have the form of a noun but act as adverbs, modifying verbs and answering questions about time, place, value, weight, age, etc.
Meet me next week.
an adverbial noun of time
He ran five miles.
an adverbial noun of distance
It costs ten dollars.
an adverbial noun of value
Quiz:
Which word in the sentence below is an adverbial noun?
"They arrived at the hotel Saturday at noon."
arrived
Saturday
hotel
noon
Sort the words to form a correct sentence.
Match each sentence with the function of the adverbial noun.
Complete each sentence with appropriate adverbial noun. (There is one extra option.)
The marathon runners raced
After the storm, the birds all flew
.
The baby is already
old today.
The suitcase weighed over
at the airport.
Can you wait
while I get ready?
Which sentence contains an adverbial noun?
Sarah carried a heavy bag.
Sarah saw a movie last night.
Sarah walked three blocks to the store.
Sarah loves her new dress.
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