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Adventures with Adverbials: Part
Two |
Many American western movies use a common plot element:
A mysterious man appears in a small, dusty town. He
speaks to people in a short, purposeful way. He shows
confidence and strength.
Often, he is looking for revenge.
Exploring this common plot element can help you learn
about the structure of the English language.
In a recent Everyday Grammar program, we explored one
common adverbial, or verb modifying, structure: the
prepositional phrase.
In today's report, we will discover two other common
adverbials: the noun phrase and the verb phrase.
Specifically, we will explore how adverbial noun and
verb phrases can help provide information about the
mysterious man. This idea might sound complicated, but
we promise: unlike the bad guys in a western, you will
survive this lesson!
What is a noun phrase?
A noun phrase is a group of words that acts like a noun
in a sentence.
Think back to the second sentence of this story, "A
mysterious man appears in a small, dusty town." The
phrase "A mysterious man" is an example of a noun
phrase.
Noun phrases can take several shapes, but in general,
you can recognize them by looking for common words such
as demonstrative pronouns or articles, among others. For
example, the noun phrase "A mysterious man" begins with
the article, a.
Nouns and noun phrases can act as adverbials – that is,
they can modify or add information to a verb. When noun
phrases act in such a role, they describe time, place,
quantity, or manner.
So, what do adverbial noun phrases look like?
A couple of examples that describe our western film can
help you see that adverbial noun phrases are not as
complex as you might think:
He arrived this morning.
He is riding home.
He travels a great deal.
Tip #1 Ask questions to recognize
adverbial noun phrases
Ask yourself what information these noun phrases
provide. That can help you see that these noun phrases
are giving adverbial information.
Adverbial noun phrases might look like direct objects at
first, but if you remember the kind of information that
adverbials give, you will not have any trouble.
Consider our examples:
He arrived (when?) this morning.
He is riding (where?) home.
He travels (how much?) a great deal.
What is a verb phrase?
Infinitives are the most common verb form to play an
adverbial role. They consist of the base form of the
verb plus to, which gives a signal that the verb is
infinitive. But remember, infinitive verb phrases are
not just verbs with to; they also have complements and
modifiers.
Consider this example:
He went home early to rest before the gunfight.
The infinitive verb phrase to rest before the gunfight
is telling why the man went home early.
You might mistake the infinitive verb phrase for a
prepositional phrase. After all, both types of phrases
can use to.
There is, however, one important difference. In
prepositional phrases, to is followed by a noun or noun
phrase. In infinitive verb phrases, to is followed by a
verb or verb phrase.
Tip #2 Use the phrase 'in order
to' to find adverbial verb phrases
Infinitive verb phrases often answer a why question.
Martha Kolln and Robert Funk, two English grammar
experts, say an easy way to recognize adverbial
infinitive verb phrases is to add the phrase in order to
to the sentence.
This action will show you that the verb phrase is
answering a why question.
Consider our example:
He went home early to rest before the gunfight.
You could add the phrase 'in order to' to make this
relationship clear:
He went home early in order to rest before the gunfight.
Occasionally, an infinitive operates adverbially without
the meaning of 'in order to.' However, these exceptions
are not common in speech.
How can adverbial structures help
you?
Remember the mysterious stranger? Here is one way to
summarize a typical beginning of American western
movies:
A stranger arrived this morning. He came to get revenge.
These two short, declarative sentences follow a similar
pattern. They both have adverbials after the main verb.
The noun phrase this morning gives information about
when the stranger arrived. The infinitive verb phrase to
get revenge tells why the man came.
Once you understand this idea, you can have fun with
adverbials. You can combine these sentences to create a
new sentence.
Here is an example:
This morning, a stranger came to get revenge.
The sentence structure is this: Adverbial + Subject +
Verb + Adverbial.
The placement of adverbial information has changed, but
it contains almost all of the same information as the
first two examples.
These examples show you that the adverbial structures
often come at the beginning and end of a sentence.
Understanding this idea will help you use longer, more
complex sentences with multiple adverbial structures.
Like other adverbials, you can sometimes change the
order of adverbials in the sentence. See our previous
Everyday Grammar story to read more about this idea.
Remember: adverbial structures are one of the reasons
that sentences in English are longer than the basic
sentence patterns we discussed in previous stories.
Now that you have learned about adverbials, try looking
for them when you are reading or listening to something
in English.
For example, try to find the adverbials in this short
piece from Edgar Allen Poe's “The Purloined Letter:”
"The next morning, I stopped at his apartment to look
for my glove. While we were talking, we heard people
shouting in the street. D'Arcy went to the window and
looked out. Quickly, I stepped to the shelf and put the
letter in my pocket. Then I replaced it with a letter
that looked exactly like it, which I had taken with me.
I had made it the night before."
With time, you will master adverbials. Like a hero in a
western movie who coolly confronts his enemies, you,
too, can meet adverbials without fear.
I’m Jill Robbins.
I'm Alice Bryant.
And I’m John Russell.
John Russell wrote this story for Learning English.
Catherine Weaver was the editor. Shep O'Neal read from
Edgar Allen Poe's Story, "The Purloined Letter." |
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Words in This Story |
- plot
– n. a series of events
that form the story in a novel, movie, etc.
-
confidence – n.
a feeling or belief that you can do something well
or succeed at something
- revenge
– n. the act of doing
something to hurt someone because that person did
something that hurt you
- adverbial
– adj. a word that
describes a verb, an adjective, another adverb, or a
sentence and that is often used to show time,
manner, place, or degree
-
prepositional phrase –
n. a phrase that begins with a preposition
and ends in a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase
- phrase
– n. a group of two or
more words that express a single idea but do not
usually form a complete sentence
-
demonstrative pronoun –
n. a word (such as “this,” “that,” “these,”
or “those”) that tells who or what is being referred
to
- article
– n. a word (such as a,
an, or the) that is used with a noun to show whether
or not the noun refers to a specific person or thing
-
infinitive – n.
the basic form of a verb
- confront
– v. to oppose or
challenge (someone) especially in a direct and
forceful way
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