12. How, where and when—The Adverbial Group ‘The Adverbial Group is a group of words which does the same job as an adverb, giving more information about when, how, where or in what circumstances something happens. ‘The structure of the Adverbial Group is composed of three elements, the head (h), the modifier (m) and the qualifier (q), which combine to form the four basic structures: AdvG a bh: late hq: late in the evening mh: very late 4. mhq very late in the evening ‘The head clement is always realized by an adverb, Morphologically, English adverbs are: + simple ~ realized by one-syllable or two-syllable words of native origin: down, up, out, in, below, above, ofien, always, ever, never, once, twice, also, off: soon, back, now, then, there, here, far, when, where, why, how... + derived (@) from adjectives, by the addition of the ly suffix: happily, slowly, honestly, cheerfully, gladly, et. () from nouns, by the addition of the wise, -ways, -wards suffixes: clockwise, sideways, crossways, backwards, frontwards, homewards, inwards, ete. © asmall number of adverbs beginning with a- and indicating position or direeti aback, about, aboard, above, abroad, across, aground, ahead, along, alongside, around, ashore, aside, away, ete. (@)_a small group of adverbs beginning with be-, also indicating position and direction: before, behind, below, beneath, besides, between, beyond, ete. * compound, in the form of shortened PrepGs (downhill, downstairs, downtown, downriver, indoors, inland, inside, instead, offside, off-center, up-state, up-country, upriver, overboard, overhead, overseas, overnight, over-all) or combinations of other classes of words (however, moreover, nevertheless, somewhere, anyway, anyhow, elsewhere, herewith, thereof, hereby whereabouts). * correlative forms realized by the comparative degree adverbs more and less introduced by the, in the structures: the more...the more, the less...the less, the more...the less, the less... the more: e.g. The more powerfitl one’s car is, the more dangerously one tends to drive. The modifier is realized by grading and intensifving adverbs (more slowly than necessary), descriptive adverbs (delightfully clearly) ot by quantifiers (ten miles across), ‘The qualifier expresses the scope or the context of the meaning indicated by the head (carly in the morning) and it can define the modificr more explicitly (more correetly than before), Adverbial Groups display a series of general characteristics:(a) _ they express a wide variety of types of meanings. (b) _ they perform a wide variety of syntactic functions (©) they can occupy many different positions in the clause structure, when they function as Adjunets and Disjunets, (@) they are frequently optional and thus they can be omitted without rendering the clause ‘ungrammatical, (©) _ they are frequently realized by the head alone. 1. TYPES OF MEANINGS English adverbs express six broad types of meaning: circumstantial, process, modal, degree, focusing, conjunctive. Each of the six main types consists of several subtypes: 1.1 Circumstantial adverbs of time and space @ Time: = Moment: fomorrow, sometime, soon, later, ete. = Frequency: once, frequently, daily, now and again, ete. * Duration: long, briefly, ete. © Relation: soon, yet (The train will arrive soon. It hasn't arrived yet.) "Sequence: first, secondly, nest, the, lastly, finally, eto. (b) Space: = Position: here, outside, upstairs, ¢.g. Put the chairs upstairs. "Direction: inwards, through, away, back; e.g. Push it imvards. "Distance: far, near, close; e.g. Don’t go too near. 1.2 Process (how things happen) (@) Manner: hesitantly, suspiciously, She spoke hesitantly. (b) Respect: artistically, financially; e.g. The concert was a success artistically. 1.3 Modal adverbs (a) Possibility: certainly, perhaps, ete. (b) Restriction: hardly, only, ete, (©) Necessity: necessarily, compulsorily, ete. @) Volition: reluctantly, unwillingly, ete (©) Viewpoint: financially, healthwise, eto. (Emphasis: plainly, obviously, indeed, ete. (g) Judement: wisely, rightly, understandably, ete (h) Attitude: shankgially, hopefully, ete. (We must also include here the use of the degree adverbs would rather, sooner, better, best) 1.4 Degree adverbs (a) Comparison: more, the most, less, the least, ete. (b) Intensification: all alone, quite, ete. (©) Attenuation: slightly, a little, ete. (@) Approximation: roughly, about, more or less, ete, 1.5 Focusing adverbs (@) Restriction: merely, solely, ete. (b) Reinforcement: even, as well, ete. 1.6 Conjunetive adverbs (logical connection) (a) Sequence: first, secondly, etc. (b) Equation: likewise, ete. © _ Reinforcement: furthermore, ete. 4(@) Conclusion: altogether, ete. (©) Apposition: namely, ete. Result: consequently, ete. Alteration: otherwise, ete. Contrast: rather, ete, Opposition: instead, ete, @_ Concession: however, nevertheless, ete. (k) Transition: now, now then, ete. 2. SYNTACTIC FUNCTION Whether simple or complex, Adverbial Groups realize a multitude of syntactic functions as elements of group and clause structures. (See Downing and Locke, 1992:556-558) 2.1 Group Structures + Modifier in AdjGs: all wet, quite happy, fairly good, completely new; + Modifier in AdvGs: nearly there, more casily, very often; = Modifier in NGs: a nearby hotel, quite a success; + Modifier of determiners: about double, roughly half, almost all; + Modifier in PrepGs: right out of sight, just down the road; + Submodifier in AdjGs: much too short. rather more interesting: + Submodifier in AdvGs: (not)ail that easily, far too often; + Qualifier in AdjGs: quick enough, very beautiful indeed: * Qualifier in AdvGs: quickly enough, beautifully indeed, never again; * Qualifier in NGs: the joumey back, the castle theres * Qualifier or determiner: any (interest) at all, no (doubt) whatever; + Completive in PrepGs: over here, through there, from inside, till now: * Particle in VGs: pick up, put on, take out, pull off. 2.2 Clause Structures *# Adjunct: I much regret this thing. I completely forgot about it. He studies hard. * Disjunct: Portunately, it didn’t rain * Conjunet: So you don’t want to come, then. * Predicator Complement: He strode off: * Subject Complement: They're off! I’m through with you! * Object Complement: I helped the old lady across. *# Direct Object: I don’t know when. He didn’t tell me w *# Subject: Tomorrow will be too late. Slowly does it! 3. POSITION OF ADVERBS IN CLAUSE Adverbs occupy fixed position except, when as Adjuncts and Disjunets, they are more mobile: eg. Legally, the man couldn’t have been sent to prison. ‘The man legally couldn’t have been sent to pr ‘The man couldn’t /egally have been sent to prison. ‘The man couldn’t have fegally been sent to prison. ‘The man couldn’t have been legally sent to prison. ‘The man couldn’t have been sent legally to prison. ‘The man couldn't have beon sent to prison legally. However, not all adjunctive or disjunctive adverbs are equally mobile. The position is determined by its type (circumstantial, modal, degree, etc.), the scope of its meaning (whole 115clause or part of a clause), the degree of emphasis the speaker whishes to give to it, and the general information structure of the claus (2) Circumstantial adverbs + Adverbs of place and time (in material processes) are most frequently placed after the verb or at the end of the elause: eg. Put those books here. The doctor will arrive soon. + Indefinite time adverbs sometimes, originally, eventually, immediately, finally, recently, previously) can be placed in end, middle or initial position: eg. We call on our friends sometimes. (normal unmarked position) We sometimes call on our friends. (focuses on process) Sometimes we call on our friends. (focuses on the whole of the clause) * Certain adverbs of frequency (always, never, seldom, hardly ever, often , rarely, sometimes, usually) tend to occur in_mid-position, between, Subject and Predicator or inside the Predicator, between operator and main verb / linking verb and Subject Complement: e.g. We always spend our holidays together. We have never been there before. Women are often successful in business. + Negative adverbs (never, rarely, hardly ever) are occasionally fronted and are followed by the Subject-operator inversion (for emphasis): e.g. Never does he go to parties. Rarely does one find such kindness nowadays + The adverbs still, yet, already express certain time relationships as follows: Still — indicates processes or states which continue to occur or not occur up to the present; Yet — indicates processes or states which may occur in the future or have not occurred up to the present moment; Already — indicates processes or states which occurred before the present moment. ‘The following table shows their interrelated uses in questions and answers. In negative replies there is sometimes an equivalence between not yet and the still not structures. Question ‘Affirmative answer Negative answer T-Doos he sil eal you? Yes, he still calls us ‘No; ie doesn call us any more Yes, he still does. No, he doesn’t call us any longer No, he no longer calls ws 7 she shill eating? Yes, abe 1s afl ating ‘No, she isnFeating ary mare. Yes, she stills No, she isn’t any more. No, she isn't eating any longer. No, she is no longer eating, Sls she eating ye Yes she is already cating, NNo, she isn’ eating yet Yes, she already is ‘No, she sill isn’t eatin Has she eaten yor? Yes, she has eaten already ‘No, she hasn’featen yet Yes, she has already eaten. ‘No, she still hasn't eaten, Yes, she already has. No, she hasn’tyet 3. Has she already eaten? Yes, she has already eaten ‘No, she hasn ‘eaten yer Has she eaten already’? Yes, she has eaten already. No, she stills, Yes, she already has 6. Does she know yet? Yes, she already knows ‘No, she docsn Fimow yer Yes, she knows already. No, she still doesn't know: Yes, she already does. No, she doesn't yer Exceptionally, still and already are placed in initial position as “sentence Adjunets,” where the scope also includes the Subject eg. I've spoken to him many times, but still Tean’t convince him! 116You're very careless. Alveady you've made three mistakes! Notice, too, the similarity of meaning of stil/ and yer in a “be + fo-infinitive structure”: e.g. A cure for cancer is still / yet to be found, (b) Adverbs of manner. = Most frequently are placed at the end of the clause: eg. He speaks English fluently. (*He speaks fluently English = not accepted) If the Object is long, the adverb may precede it (right after the Predicator). But, if the adverb is modified, it will occupy end-position, even if the Object is long, e.g. He speaks fluently several European and oriental languages. He speaks several European and oriental languages, as well as Arabic very’ fluently indeed. * They may also occur mid-position (inside the Predicator, right before the main verb) eg. Ihave been seriously thinking of changing my job. Iwill gladly help you if you need me. (©) Modal adverbs + They are typically placed in mid-position or after be since they tend to focus on the process expreséed by the verb: e.g. She is supposedly a rich woman, They will probably get married next month. * This tendency also extends to adverbs of degree and intensificatio e.g. I completely forgot to tell you. I totally disagree with you * Note: When an adverb is placed at the beginning of a clause, its meaning extends over the whole clause. In this position the meaning may be of two kinds: 1.) An element within the clause but referring to all the other together: e.g. Slowly, he raised his hand as if he wanted to say something. (Much stronger than in: He raised his hand s/owly, as if he wanted to say somethin: 2) An element outside the clause (syntactically and semantically) which expresses the speaker's attitude (Disjunct): e.g. Frankly, [don’t see why he shouldn’t go there at once. Undoubtedly, the success is due to our efforts. 4. HOMOMORPHY Some words function most typically like words of a different class (e.g. adverbs), but occasionally they realize syntactic functions which are normally realized by words of a different class (e.g. adjeotives). This can be regarded as two different words having the same form. The two words are called ‘homomorphs’. Some homomorphs have not only different ons, but also different semantie references in the different funetions: eg. at 8 o'clock sharp (Adjunct ~ exactly, punctually) a sharp knife (modifier = cutting) Some simple-form adverbs can have alternative forms ending in -y, which, with certain verbs, can be used interchangeably with them: e.g. Don’t speak so loud / loudly. He held her tight / rightly. The government will pay dear /dearly for its errors. Moreover, in some cases the two different meanings allow the two words to be justaposed in a clause: e.g. Peterhas been coming late for class, lately. (= unpunetually, recently) funet 7In other cases, their use depends on the context or collocation: eg. Stay close! (place) Watch closely! (manner) Adjective / adverb homomorphs are restricted mainly to fixed idiomatic expressions: e.g, Look sharp! (© Hurry up!) Go siowt (© Traffic sign for driving slowly) Take it easy! (Be calm; be relased) Still going strong. Thing or person still active after a period or when old) They're going steady. _ (= boy and girl who spend much time together) He didn’t play (© aceording to the rules) Homomorphy occurs most frequently between adverbs and prepositions, and in some cases it is difficult to say whether the following are adverbs with prepositional homomorphs or prepositions with adverbial homomorphs: e.g. above, across, aboard, along, alongside, before, behind, below, besides, between, beneath, beyond, by, near, in, over, on, down, up, round, past, since, throughout). Adverb Prepos Tlave you seen this film Before? ‘Yes, [saw it Before the Flood (= Tong ago) Days went past without any news. His condition is now past hope Huncreds of planes flow over They flew right over our heads He disappeared and I haven't seen him since. haven't seen him since his disappearance love watching the trains go by ‘That is why I live by the station (See Downing and Locke, 1992:563-564) 5, MODIFICATION, SUBMODIFICATION, QUALIFICATION AND EXPANSION. Many circumstantial and expressive adverbs can be modified and qualified in the same way as the adjectives, and often by the same lexical items, Modification occurs with most of the circumstantial and other adverbs, but not with the conjunctive ones (functioning as Conjuncts). These differences cannot be easily systematized, but can be explained ad hoe. 5.1.1 Grading is done by the same words as in the case of adjectives: eg. more often, most often, less often, least often, ax often, often enough, too often. The adverb enough, though placed after the head adverb, will be considered as a modifier (as we do with adjectives), since, in tum, it can be submodified by an adverb placed before the head: e.g. not quite often enough: ‘The adverbial and adjectival homomorphs: early, late, quick, fast, long, soon take the endings —er, -est in the comparative and superlative degrees. Soonest is rare and restricted to telegraphic style. e.g. Jane spoke longer than me. He arrived later than his parents, The forms better, best, worse, worst, further, furthest, are adverbial homomorphs of the corresponding adjectives: e.g. Tomorrow morning would suit me best, for the meeting. It was the driver who came off worst in the accident. 5.1.2 Intensification may be high (very, quite, right, just, soon, close by, utterly, near, ete.) or medium (quite, fairly, rather, pretty, reasonably, averagely, ete.) 1ge.g. reasonably successfully; rather badly: extremely naturally. 5.1.3 Attenuation is achieved by the use of modifiers like a bit, kind of, almost, somewhat, sort of, hardly, not particularly, not at all, not in the least eg. kind ofhesitantly; hardly ever, almost never. 5.1.4 Quantification, as with adjectives, refers mainly to circumstantial adverbs of space and time and may be exaet (e.g. only nvo streets apart, at least ten miles away, a month later, ete) or non-measurable (so, tat, how+ degree / quantity), eg. He couldn’t have been driving so / that recklessly! How beautifully you dress Anne! How long have you been waiting for me? 5.1.5 Description It refers to the reinforcement or more explicit description of adverbs of space or time by modifiers (which, in turn, are more descriptive adverbs of space and time): cg. straight ahead; early today, down below; back home. Modifiers in -fy arc more acceptable when they express modal attitudes: cg. The actors spoke admirably elearly for once. For amateurs they also acted surprisingly naturally. * Note: the emotive modification of adverbial heads by swear words such as danmn(ed) and other less polite ones as in, e.g. You behaved danm foolishly. 5.2 Submodification It is not unusual to find long modification structures in AdvGs. Very often we can come across adverbial heads, usually of manner, preceded by modifiers of degree which are themselves modified by grading or intensifying adverbs, referred to as submodifiers (sm). Subsubmodifiers (ssm) may also occur (see Downing and Locke, 1992:568) ssiir ni h rather less fluently all the more inevitably most unusually carefully a good deal more interestingly vi much more profitably nothing like as simply not quite so pleasantly 53 Qualification 5.3.1 Qualification of unmodified heads Unmodified heads (circumstantial adverbs) can be qualified by the following classes of constituents: + PrepGs: He's a missionary somewhere in China. A nurse stood close at hand, in case of emergency. * NGs: Once a week; twice this year, 119+ cle: Please sit down anywhere you like. = Chf: Book a hotel or you'll have nowhere to sleep. * else: Where else did you go besides Istanbul? I’hen else did you see him? + otherwise: How otherwise can we get there except on foot? + AdiG: Why don’t we go somewhere slightly more exotic for a change? Somewhere, anywhere, nowhere are often replaced in informal AmE by someplace, anyplace, no place, though not in IV H-questions, ce, ‘The intensifying use of ever, at all can qualify circumstantial adverbs: e.g. Ihen ever are you going to grow up? I'll never ever speak to you again. Our former friends seldom ever visit us these days. Our former friends seldom visit us at ail these days. Circumstantial adverbs are sometimes qualified by others of a similar type, and so it becomes unclear which is the head and which the modifier or the qualifier: e.g. They are getting married sometime soon. Leave the letters anywhere there. ‘There's so much noise inside here / here inside, Tknow a bar somewhere about. Again, in informal speech, despite redundancy, intensification and reinforcement of circumstantial adverbs may be expressed by qualifiers as follows: e.g. The train will be here now any mimate /any minute now. It always arrives punctually on the dot. Where the blazes have you been all this time? IVhy the devil didn’t you tell me you weren't coming? Expressive adverbs are sometimes qualified and intensified by enough e.g. Strangely enough, he doesn’t seem to mind criticism. The police never found out, oddly enough, who stole the jewels. 5.3.2 Qualification of modified heads + Adverbs modified by more and fess can, in turn be qualified by a series of classes of constituents introduced by than: NGs Peter translates aiich more accurately than his brother AdvGs: He speaks more fluently shan accurately. PrepGs: Most people work less hard here than in my country. omeplace else; anyplace else, no place else. cr: My train left one minute earlier shan it should have done CInf; Working at night I study /ess efficiently than getting up in the morning. * For qualification of equality the constituents are introduced by as: NG: I do not translate as accurately as a professional AdiG: He tried to reproduce her words as correctly as possible. AdvG: — Maria still dresses as elegantly as ever. PrepG: ‘You haven't translated as well as on the previous occasion. cif: Most people don“t work as hard here as they do in my country. “Note: If a comparison of equality is established between two adverbs of manner. the second as must be followed by a finite clause with a form of be, have or do substituting for the Predicator: e.g. He spoke as elegantly as he diel amusingly. + The degrees of excess and sufficiency realized by the modifier foo, enough are qualified by Prepositional Groups and non-finite clauses: 120€.g. She married too hastily for a girl of her age. He didn’t take long enough to get to know his girlfriend. + Adverbs modified quantitatively by so, that are qualified by finite clauses. Moreover the sequence of clauses can be inverted, the second clause becoming an explanatory comment on the first: eg. He explained the problem so / that clearly (that) everybody understood. Everybody understood the problem, he explained it so clearly 54 Expansion of the AdvG occurs through recursive realization of its elements (heads, modifiers and qualifiers). 5.4.1 Recursive heads ‘Most recursive heads are fixed expressions widely used in everyday speech and writing. ‘They can be: * coordinated syndetically by and, but, or: e.g. now and again, when and where, up and down, far and wide, here and there, 10 and fro, backwards and forwards, on and off (= occasionally), up and about active after an illness), slowly but surely, quietly but confidently, last but not least, rightly or wrongly, somewhere or other, more or less, now or never, sooner or later, once or twice, ete. * duplicated and joined syndetically e.g. more and more, through and through, by and by (= later), less and less, over and over, up and up, better and better, again and again, down and down, worse and worse, round and round, by and large (= in general) + duplicated and joined asyndetically: very very, never never, so so. * Note: Syndetie recursion requires that the component should belong to the same semantic class or subclass: e.g. round and about (direction) first and lastly (sequence) cruelly but calculatingly (manner) * round and often (direction ~ frequency) * first and quickly (sequence + manner) Recursive items belonging to different semantic classes or subelasses are considered as separate heads, in other words separate AdvGs, which are not coordinated, and which may be separated in the claus: e.g. Have you seen John anywhere, recently? (place + relative time) Isuppose we'll meet again sometime somewhere. (time + place) I think he will probably answer truthfully. (modality + manner) 42 Reew + adverbs of degree related paratactically or hypotactically: &.g. His stories are selling more and more successfully every day. (paratactic relation) His refurbished apartment tured out to be by far the most elegantly appointed chambers in the whole of Chelsea. (hypotactic relation) bs of manner related paratactically or hypotactically: eg. ‘The men and women prisoners were kept strictly and ruthlessly apart from cach other. (paratactie relation)We have departmental meetings fairly, though perhaps not sufficiently, often. (hypotactic relation) = Formal style * In ordinary conversation: .... fairly often, though perhaps not often enough, 5.4.3 Recursive qualification can be realized by the following combinations: * Clf+CIf: As regards hotels, you may stay anywhere you like that’s not too expensive. = PrepG + PrepG: Thave to be on duty sharply at eight in the morning. CONCLUSIONS 1. Nearly all oral and written modes of communication employ circumstantial adverbs, adverbs of degree, as well as of focus. 2. The other adverbs, especially when modified or qualified, are characteristic of prepared texts, oral or written (mainly used by book reviewers, art erities, writers on film, music, the theatre and other cultural fields). 3. Despite the ease with which adverbs can be modified and qualified, full AdvGs are rare, and recursive realization is even rarer. 4. In informal conversation looser structures and fewer lexical items per utterance are used than in written texts eg. Things were settled finally fairly quietly. or A. Where do the knives go? B, Inthe drawer of the table. Here. A. Any special order? B. Any old how. HIGHLIGHTS = Adverbs are a more heterogencous word lass expres ‘many syntactic functions. * AdvGs have four potential structural forms: h, mh, hg, mhg, but are frequently represented by the head element alone. + Morphologically, the adverbial head may be simple, derived or compound. + Semantically, many adverbs express qualities of processes and situations. PRACTICE TASKS, 1.) Insert suitable adverbs from the list below certainly, reportedly, obviously, allegedly, admittedly, undeniably, actually, clearly, undoubtedly, eminently. This novel is well suited to the cinema The film is brilliant and moving, though it might have been even more so. to the National Theatre is an educational experience for anyone interested in the twenticth-century architecture. The President has not decided yet on seeking a second term It was not a well-planned “coup,” because it failed so quickly He became a star during the revolt, which allowed him to turn it into a political asset. 122‘Their popularity is rising judging by the number of fans at their concerts ‘The collection includes a poem written by a 13" ¢. Chinese poet. 2.) Add a qualifying expression to the AdvG in the following sentences: It’s hotter in the Sahara than anywhere. Why don’t you buy some decent shoes for a change? When we came out of the Pyramids, I said to myself: “Never,” Tean’t find my glasses. They must be somewhere. Curiously, he used exactly the same word as I did. How can we buy a new car just at this moment? Our plane arrived two hours later. She doesn’t dance as beautifully. Do your friends live far? If all the hotels are full, where can we spend the night? 3.) Re-wond the following sentences using too and enough: Mr. Thomson is so fat he can’t tie up his own shoes. He said he was so thirsty he could drink a well dry I'm rather old, Tcan’t wear that kind of hat, ‘The river was deep they couldn't wade across. She is quite old and she ought to know better. ‘The rope wasn’t strong, It couldn’t support the two men. He was very drunk. He couldn’t answer my questions. 4.) Put in the sentences below amplifiers from the list: a lot, far, much, utterly, bitterly, entirely, deeply, badly, fully, quite, altogether, extremely, totally, completely, perfectly ‘They believed in the leader’s integrity. He has ignored my request. Joan see why you are anxious about it, She agrees with you. We deplore his tactios. enjoy the play. I must refuse to listen to your grumbling, She will reject such views. 1 forgot about her birthday. He paid for the damage. Ineed a drink. He must have regretted his mistakes many times. I prefer the old methods. His results will have exceeded his expectations. We miss our old friends, 123