Garden of the Gods in Colorado, a national park with vertical rock formations

Study Resource: Position of English adverbs of different types

By: revel arroway

The table below summarizes where you can put different types of adverbs in English sentences.

Before the clause
Before the verb*
After the verb**
After the clause
Before an adjective
Before an adverb
Before a prepositional phrase
Before a gerund
After a gerund
Adverb of frequency

often

YES

NO

(except be)

often

NO

NO

NO

YES

YES

(with exceptions)

Adverb of time

YES

often

(relative)

often

(relative)

YES

rarely

(if they come from verbs)

NO

NO

NO

NO

Adverb of duration

rarely

YES

YES

rarely

sometimes

(if they come from verbs)

NO

NO

rarely

NO

Adverb of manner

rarely

YES

(with exceptions)

YES

rarely

YES

(if they come from verbs)

NO

NO

NO

YES

(if they come from verbs)

Adverb of degree

NO

YES

NO

(except be)

NO

YES

YES

YES

NO

NO

Adverb of place

only emphasis

NO

YES

NO

NO

NO

NO

NO

YES

Adverb of direction

only emphasis

NO

YES

NO

NO

NO

NO

NO

YES

Notes:

  • *An adverb that comes before the verb will usually come between the auxiliary verb and the main verb: I have often forgotten his name.

  • **An adverb that comes after the verb will also follow the objects of the verb: I am reading my book slowly.

The types of English adverbs with examples:

  • Adverb of Frequency How often something happens (usually, often, rarely, sometimes, never, always...)

  • Adverb of Time → When something happens (now, then, today, yesterday, tomorrow, late, early, recently, just...)

  • Adverb of Duration → How long something lasts (permanently, forever, since, still, briefly, always)

  • Adverb of Manner → How or in what way something happens (quickly, loudly, slowly, angrily, together, comfortably...)

  • Adverb of Degree → How intensely something happened or was some way (really, very, a bit, more, less, definitely, way...)

  • Adverb of Place → Where something happened (here, there, upstairs, outside, everywhere, somewhere...)

  • Adverb of Direction → Which way something moved (here, there, over, around, downstairs, inside, up, out...)

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