Adverb phrases made with prepositions

All kinds of adverb phrases can be made with prepositions. Here are some examples:

Type Manner Place Time Frequency Purpose

Adverb phrase with a hammer next door before the holidays every month for his mother

Example The carpenter hit the nail with a hammer. The woman who lives next door is a doctor. We must finish our project before the holidays. Jodie buys two CDs every month. Jack bought the flowers for his mother.

Adverb phrases made with infinitives

Another kind of adverb phrase can be made with the infinitive form of a verb. Most of these phrases express purpose, as in these examples:

Type Purpose Purpose Purpose

Adverb phrase to buy a car to support the team to show to her mother

Example I'm saving my money to buy a car. The students all showed up to support the team. Sally brought a painting home from school to show to her mother.

Examples and Observations:

The Cheshire Cat vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end of its tail.

not alone." (Keith R. Wyche, Good Is Not Enough. Penguin, 2009)

The players responded surprisingly well to all the pressures of the playoffs.

Another model of green living is, surprisingly enough, the shantytown.

The best way to preserve the flavor and texture of fresh vegetables is to cook them as quickly as possible.

As quickly as possible we cleaned the fish and placed them in coolers.

The air was warm, stirred only occasionally by a breeze.

Only occasionally is there a rumble in the sky or a hint of rain.

"If youth be a defect, it is one that we outgrow only too soon." (James Russell Lowell)

Snow fell much earlier than usual.

"Surprisingly enough, after meeting other minority professionals through the years and being associated with various minority professional organizations, I found that I was

Adverbial phrases are so-called because they can occur in the same range of positions as single adverbs; but many such adverbial phrases, paradoxically, do not contain an adverb. Such adverb-less adverbial phrases are typically prepositional phrases, as [italicized] in the examples below: - On Friday night, I'm playing squash. - Their marriage broke up in the most painful way. - May I, on behalf of the shareholders, congratulate you? (Jame R. Hurford, Grammar: A Student's Guide. Cambridge Univ. Press, 1994)

"Like adverbs, adverb phrases can cause confusion because there is some flexibility in where they occur within sentences, and even in modifying the sentence structure. As well, adverb phrases are sometimes embedded into other phrases. "Examples are: a. 'Laura, a better, gentler, more beautiful Laura, whom everybody, everybody loved dearly and tenderly.' [Norris] [ADVERB PHRASE] b. 'He had taken her hand sympathizingly, forgivingly, but his silence made me curious.' [Michelson] [ADVERB PHRASE] c. 'David, on the lowest step, was very evidently not hearing a word of what was being said.' [Porter] [ADVERB PHRASE EMBEDDED INTO VERB PHRASE] Our first example identifies an adverb phrase following the verb loved; the next example shows an adverb phrase following the noun hand and removed from the verb it modifies; the third example has an adverb phrase embedded into a verb phrase was . . . hearing. Such flexibility makes it more difficult to identify these phrases; therefore, noting thehead adverb can be of help." (Bernard O'Dwyer, Modern English Structures: Form, Function, and Position. Broadview, 2006)

In the following sentences, the first sentence and the second sentence in a pair convey the same meaning but using adverb in the first sentence and adverb-phrase in the second sentence. He answered rudely. He answered in a rude manner. He does his work carelessly. He does his work without care. No such diseases were known then. No such diseases were known in those days. The mango fell here. The mango fell on this spot. This product is available everywhere. This product is available in all places. You can find the pencil there. You can find the pencil in that place. He has gone abroad. He has gone to a foreign nation. We constructed this house only recently. We constructed this house only few months back. An Adverb phrase is a group of words that does the work of an adverb.