ADVERBS

I. Adverbs: Sentence, Focus, and Negative

Ex: She quickly ran to the store. (How did she run? Quickly.)

2. Sentence Adverb
Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.
 Simple adverbs modify single words of phrases.
Ex: Sarah spoke hopefully about her future.
 Sentence adverbs, also called viewpoint adverbs, modify entire sentences.
Ex: Hopefully, national service will be adopted in many more countries.
 Common sentence adverbs include the following: absolutely, actually,
basically, clearly, definitely, essentially, fortunately, generally, hopefully,
obviously, overall, perhaps, possibly, surely.
Ex: Fortunately, the Army paid for Bill’s college education.
 Some adverbs can function either as sentence adverbs or as simple adverbs.
Ex: He speaks clearly.
 You can use sentence adverbs in various places in a sentence:
- If the adverb comes first or last in a sentence, we usually separate it from
the rest of the sentence with a comma.
Ex: Basically, I’m in favor of that.
- If the adverb comes elsewhere in the sentence, it usually comes after the
verb be and before other verbs.
Ex: I am basically in favor of that.
3. Focus Adverbs
Focus adverbs focus attention on a word or phrase.
 Focus adverbs usually go before the word or phrase focused on.
Ex: I believe even that. (focuses on that)
 Common focus adverbs are even, just, only, and almost.
Ex: We spent almost $50 but then didn’t buy anything.
 Changing the position of a focus adverb often changes the meaning of the
sentence.
Ex: Just teenagers can attend the mettings. (Teenagers are only ones allowed
to attend.)
Teenagers can just attend the mettings. (Teenagers can’t do anything else
in the mettings.)
4. Negative Adverbs
Negative adverbs are single words or expressions that are inherently
negative in meaning.
 We often place negative adverbs at the beginning of a sentence to
emphasize the negative meaning. When a negative adverb begins a sentence,
it forces inversion of the subject and the verb or auxiliary.
Ex: Seldom is he on time.
Adverb Verb Subject
 Common negative adverbs include the following:
barely never
hardly not only
in no way (informal so way) only
little rarely
neither seldom
 If the verb in the sentence (except for be) is in the simple present or simple
past, use do, does, or did after an initial negative adverb.
Ex: Rarely do mothers make a career of the military.
 The negative adverb not only often combines with but . . . also. There is
inversion after not only but no inversion between but and also.
Ex: Not only should we allow that, but we should also encourage it.
 If the verb is in the perfect form, place the auxiliary before the subject.
Ex: Never had I heard such a strange idea.
 Sentences beginning with neither are common in both formal and informal
English.
Ex: My grandfather didn’t join the military. Neither did my father.
 Note: Sentences beginning with other negative adverbs often sound formal.
Use them more in writing
Ex: Seldom have women served in combat.
5. Other Adverbs
 Here and there are other adverbs that force inversion when they come at the
beginning of a sentence.
Ex: Here is your money.
 So is another adverb that often forces inversion of subject and verb or
auxiliary when it occurs at the beginning of a sentence. So is used to connect
two positive statements, while neither is sused to connect two negative
statements.
Ex: My father support capital punishment. So does my brother.
 Note: In a sentence beginning with here or there, invert the subject and verb
or auxiliary if the subject is a noun. Don't invert them if the subject is a
pronoun.
Ex: Here comes the bus.
Not: Here the bus comes.
II. Adverbs Clauses
1. Definition of Adverb Clauses
Remember that a clause is a group of words that contains at least one
subject and a verb showing past, present, or future time. Clauses can be
independent or dependent.
Main Clause Adverb Clause
We watched TV a lot of When the Olympics were on
Tickets cost more Because athletes earn so much

 Adverb clauses are dependent clauses that indicate how, when, where,
why, or under what conditions things happen.
Ex: I went home when the game was over. (when)
 Adverb clauses can also introduce a contrast.
Ex: They won game, although the score was very close. (contrast)
 Adverb clauses begin with subordinating conjunctions (also called
subordinating adverbs). which can be either single words or phrases.
Ex: It began to rain while we were playing.
 Sentences containing both an independent clause and a dependent clause are
called complex sentences. In a complex sentence, the main idea is normally
in the independent clause.
Ex: If we can get tickets, we will go to the game.
 Adverb clauses sometimes occur inside independent clauses.
Ex: The weather when the game started was terrible.
 In a complex sentence, the clauses can come in either order. If the dependent
clause comes first, we place a comma after it.
Ex: Whenever I exercise, I feel good.
 In complex sentences, do not use will or be going to in the dependent clause
to show future time.
Ex: We’ll leave when they get here
Not: We’ll leave when they will get there
2. Adverb Clauses of Time
Adverb clauses of time indicate when something happens.
 To introduce an adverb clause of time, use after, as as soon as, before, by
the time, once, since, until/till, when, whenever, while, etc.
Ex: As we were walking, we heard shouts from the stadium.
 The subordinating conjunction once means starting from the moment
something happens.
Ex: She’ll earn a good salary, once she starts playing regularly.
 The subordinating conjunctions until and till have the same meaning. Till is
more informal and used more in conversation.
Ex: They won’t be here till after the plane lands.
3. Adverb Clauses of Place
Adverb clauses of place indicate where something happens.
To introduce an adverb clause of place, use anywhere, everywhere, where,
wherever, etc.
Ex: Star athletes are popular wherever they go.
4. Adverb Clauses of Reason
Adverb clauses of reason indicate why something happens.
 To introduce an adverb clause of reason, use as, because, now that (=
because now), since, etc.
Ex: Since he didn’t register in time, he can’t play.
 You can use since both in adverb clauses of reason and of time.
Ex: Barry has played sports since he entered high school. (time)
Ex: Since Anna doesn’t sports, she refused to go to the game. (reason)
 You can use as both in adverb clauses of reason and of time.
Ex: As he was badly hurt, he had to drop out of the game. (reason)
Ex: He set a world record as we were watching the Summer Olympics (time)
5. Adverb Clauses of Condition
Adverb clauses of condition indicate under what conditions something
happens.
 To introduce an adverb clause of condition, use even if, if, only if, in case,
unless, etc.
Ex: You'll improve if you practice daily.
 Even if means that the condition does not matter, the result will be the same.
Ex: Even if he practices constanly, he won’t make the team.
 Only if means that only one condition will produce the result.
Ex: John will make the team only if another athlete drops out.
 Unless means that something will happen or be true if another thing does not
happen or is not true
Ex: Unless you train a great deal, you won't be a champion.
 In case means that something should be done to prepare for a possible future
happening.
Ex: We'd better take along some extra money in case the tickets are more
expensive than we thought.
 If the sentence begins with only if, invert the subject and verb of the main
clause, and don't use a comma
Ex: Only if another athlete drops out will John make the team.
 Don't confuse even if (or even though) with even
Ex: Even if they win, they won’t be the champions.
Not: Even they win, they won’t be the champions.
6. Adverb Clause of Contrast
Adverb clauses of contrast make a contrast with the idea expressed in the
independent clause.
 To introduce an adverb clause of contrast, use although, even though,
though, whereas, while, etc.
Ex: He lost the race, although he was favored.
 We often use although, even though, and though when we want to show an
unexpected result.
Ex: Althought he is young, he was selected for the team.
 We often place a comma before and after a dependent clause of contrast.
Ex: Even though it cost a lot, we attended the Olympics.
 To make a direct contrast, use while or whereas.
Whereas is a bit more formal than while.
Ex: Whereas my sister loves althletics, my brother couldn’t care less about
them.
 Use while to introduce both a clause of contrast and a clause of time.
Ex: We ate while we were watching the game. (time)
While they lost the game, they played their best. (contrast)
III. Adverbs and Adverb Phrases
1. Definition of Adverbs Phrases
- A phrase is a group of words that does not have both a subject and verb
showing time.
- An adverb phrase is a group of words that often modifies a main clause in a
sentence.
- Adverb phrases commonly include:
+ present participles
Ex: Before travelling abroad, I had seldom seen poverty.
+ past participles
Ex: People will often help others when given the chance.
- Negative adverb phrases contain the words not or never before the participle.
Ex: After not eating all day, we were very hungry.
2. Reducing Adverbs Clause with Be
- Adverb clause can be reduced to adverb phrases when the clause has a form of
be.
- To reduce an adverb clause to an adverb phrase, omit the subject pronoun
and the form of be. If the original sentence has commas, keep the commas in the
reduced sentence.
Ex:
Adverb clause Adverb phrase
While they were driving, they were While driving, they were attacked by
attacked by bandits. bandits.
- An adverb phrase can come first or second in the sentence. When it comes
first, we usually place a comma after it.
Ex:
While driving, they were attacked by bandits.
 They were attacked by bandits while driving.
Note: We can reduce ad adverb clause to an adverb phrase only if the subjects
in both clauses of the sentence refer to the same person of thing.
Ex: Reg and Maggie drove while the children were sleeping.
NOT Reg and Maggie drove while sleeping.
3. Changing Adverb Clauses of Time
Adverb clause of time beginning with after, before, since and while can be
changed to adverb phrases when the clause has no form of be.
To change an adverb clause to an adverb phrase, omit the subject pronoun
and change the verb to its -ing form. Keep the subordinating conjunction and
original punctuation.
Adverb clause Adverb phrase
After they visited Paestum, the After visiting Paestum, the Greens
Greens drove south. drove south.
* Note: We can change an adverb clause of time to an adverb phrase only if the
subjects in the two clauses of the sentence refer to the same person or thing.
Ex: After the bandits saw the Greens’ car, the Greens sped away.
NOT After seeing the Greens’ car, the Greens sped away.
4. Changing Adverb Clauses with Past-Time Verbs
- To change an adverb clause with a simple past or past perfect verb to an
adverb phrase, change the verb to having + past participle. Keep the original
punctuation.
Ex: After they (had) opened the door, they saw the blood.
 Having opened the door, they saw the blood.
- In a sentence with a simple past or past perfect verb, we can also change the
clause to a phrase by changing the verb to its -ing form and keeping the
subordinating conjunction and the original punctuation.
Ex: After they (had) opened the door, they saw the blood.
 After opening the door, they saw the blood.
5. Replacing When with On or Upon in Adverb Phrases
We don’t use when adverb phrases if the meaning is “at the time something
occurred”. If when has this meaning in an adverb clause, replace it with on or
upon + V-ing when we reduce the clause to an adverb phrase.
Adverb clause Adverb phrase
Upon realizing what had happened,
When they realized what I had they pulled to the side of the road.
happened, they pulled to the side of
the road. On realizing what had happened,
they pulled to the side of the road.
6. Definition of Adverbial Phrases
- An adverb phrase without a subordinating conjunction is called adverbial
phrase.
- We sometimes omit the subordinating conjunction in a phrase. When we do
this, the adverb changes to an adverbial phrase.
Ex:
Adverb phrase Adverbial phrase
While sitting on the porch, I thought Sitting on the porch, I thought about
about my future. my future.
7. Changing Adverb Clauses of Reason
- Adverb clauses of reason can be changed to adverbial phrases.
- To change an adverb clause of reason to an adverbial phrase, omit the
subordinating conjunctions because, since or as at the beginning of a clause.
These conjunctions must be omitted.
Adverb phrase Adverbial phrase
Because the children were sleeping Sleeping in the car, the children were
in the car, they were not aware of not aware of what was happening
what was happening. NOT Because sleeping in the car, the
children were not aware of what was
happening
- We can change because/since/as + a form of be to being in an adverbial
phrase
Ex: Since they were angry, they decided to do something about the problem.
 Being angry, they decided to do something about the problem.
- We can change a present perfect or past perfect verb in an adverb clause to
having + past participle in an adverbial phrase. We generally use having + past
participle to suggest that the action in the adverbial phrase occurred at an earlier
time than the action in the independent clause.
Ex:
Adverb clause Adverbial phrase
Because they had been moved by Having been moved by the situation,
the situation, people became organ people became organ donors.
donors.
8. Changing Passive Clauses
- We can change a clause containing a passive verb to an adverbial phrase with
a past participle only.
- If we can omit the subordinating conjunction in an adverbial phrase without
changing the meaning of the sentence, delete the subject and any auxiliaries in
a passive sentence.
Ex: Since I was given two options, I chose the harder of the two.
 Given two options, I chose the harder of the two.
* Note: Sometimes the subordinating conjunction cannot be omitted without
changing the meaning of the sentence. In these cases, to form an adverb
phrase, delete the subject and change the form of be to being.
Ex: Before I was told the nature of the problem, I had no idea what to do.
 Before being told the nature of the problem, I had no idea what to do.
NOT Told the nature of the problem, I had no idea what to do.
IV. Connectors
1. Types of Connectors
- Connectors (often called discourse connectors) are words and phrases that
connect ideas both within sentences and between sentences and larger blocks of
text.
- Three types of connectors are:
+ coordinating conjunctions
Ex: I try hard, but I can never remember new people’s names.
+ subordinating conjunction
Ex: I can’t remember her name, although I can remember her face.
+ transitions
Ex: I spent a lot of money on a memory improvement course. However, it was a
waste of money.
* Note: Don’t confuse subordinating conjunction with transitions. They are
often similar in their basic meaning but have different sentence patterns.
Subordinating clauses begin dependent clauses. Transitions occurs in
independent clauses and often begin them.
Ex: Although I’ve been working on improving my memory, I haven’t had much
success. (subordinating conjunction introducing a dependent clause)
 I’ve been working on improving my memory. However, I haven’t had much
success. (transition between two sentences)
NOT I’ve been working on improving my memory. Although, I haven’t had
much success.
2. Coordinating and Subordinating Conjunctions
- There are two types of conjunction: coordinating conjunctions and
subordinating conjunctions.
- Coordinating conjunctions join two independent clauses. Coordinating
conjunctions come between independent clauses and are normally preceded by a
comma. The seven coordinating conjunctios are: and, for, or, yet, but, nor, so.
Ex:
I often forget things, so I write everything down.
I heard what you said, but what did you mean?
- Subordinating conjunctions connect ideas within sentences. They come at
the beginning of subordinate (dependent) clauses. If a subordinate clause
comes first in a sentence, it is followed by a comma. If a subordinate clause
comes second, it is not normally preceded by a comma.
Ex:
Because I often forget things, I write everything down.
I write everything down because I often forget things.
* Note: The coordinating conjunction nor is negative. Reverse the subject and
verb after it.
Ex:
Helena doesn’t remember names consistently, nor does she remember
passwords.
NOT Helena doesn’t remember names consistently, nor she does remember
passwords.
3. Definition of Transitions
- Transitions are single words or expressions that connect ideas between
sentences or larger sections of text.
- Transitions that connect sentences can come at the beginning of a sentence,
within it, or at the end. At the beginning of a sentence, a transition is preceded
by a period or semicolon and followed by a comma. In the middle of a sentence,
it is preceded and followed by a comina. At the end of a sentence, it is preceded
by a comma. Common transitions include: besides, in addition, otherwise,
consequently, meanwhile, therefore, however, nevertheless.
Ex:
He said he would support the idea. However, I wouldn't count on him.
He said he would support the idea. I wouldn't, however, count on him.
He said he would support the idea. I wouldn't count on him, however.
* Note: If a transition comes at the beginning of an independent clause, it must
be preceded by a period or a semicolon and not by a comma.
Ex:
I can remember people's names easily; however, I can't usually remember their
phone numbers.
NOT I can remember people's names easily, however, I can't usually remember
their phone numbers.
4. Transitions to Connect Sentences and Independent Clauses
- There are five principal types of transitions that connect sentences and
independent clauses.
- These transitions show addition: additionally, likewise, moreover, also, in
addition, besides, in fact, plus, furthermore, indeed.
Ex:
I remember her telephone number. In addition, I remember what street she lives
on.
I live too far away to visit you; besides, I can never remember your address.
- The transition otherwise shows condition. This transition indicates that a result
opposite to what is expected will happen if a certain action isn't taken.
Ex: I need to write down your email address. Otherwise, I'll never remember it.
- These transitions show contrast: however, in contrast, nevertheless,
nonetheless, in spite of/despite that, still, instead, though.
Ex:
Her speech was good; nevertheless, I can't support her proposals.
Jim thinks I'm against his ideas. On the contrary, I'm one of his biggest
supporters.
* Note: Though is a contrast transition when it occurs at the end of an
independent clause and its meaning is equivalent to that of however. In other
positions, it is a subordinating conjunction.
Ex:
I carefully wrote down her name on a piece of paper. I lost the piece of paper,
though. (transition)
Though I've told him my name many times, he never remembers it.
(subordinating conjunction)
- These transitions show effect/result: accordingly, on account of this,
otherwise, therefore, thus, as a result, consequently, because of that.
Ex:
I was not paying close attention when she was Introduced. Consequently, her
name escapes me.
This new memory technique is helpful; therefore, I can recommend it to you.
* Note: Otherwise shows both condition and effect/result.
Ex:
I need to say people's names when I'm introduced to them; otherwise, I forget
them. (condition)
Maryam must take her medications; otherwise. she'll get sick. (result)
- These transitions show relationships of actions, events, and ideas in time:
after that, afterwards, in the meantime, meanwhile, next, then.
Ex:
Bob spent three years in the military. Meanwhile, his brother was eaming a
college degree.
I went to a memory workshop. Afterwards, I could remember almost
everything I heard.
5. Transitions to Connect Blocks of Text
- Some transitions connect blocks of text. They usually come at the beginning
of a sentence and are commonly followed by a comma.
- These transitions list ideas in order of time or importance: finally, first (of
all), most importantly, next, second, third (etc.).
Ex:
First of all, let's consider the question of short-term memory.
Most importantly, let's consider the issue of memory-improvement courses.
- These transitions give examples: for example, to name/mention a few, for
instance.
Ex:
I can remember lots of things about people. For example, I always remember
what they're wearing.
I remember many books I've read: Middlemarch, War and Peace, and Things
Fall Apart, to name a few.
- These transitions summarize: all in all, in summary, in sum, overall.
Ex:
In sum, these are the key points about memory loss.
All in all, the key point is that memory can be improved.
- These transitions add a conclusion: in conclusion, to conclude.
Ex: To conclude, let me just say that we can improve our memory if we work at
it.