Position of Adverbs in English Sentences

Advanced English Grammar Course

Adverbs are words that describe verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, or clauses.
Adverbs often answer the questions How? and In what way? For example:
She sings beautifully.
In what way does she sing? Beautifully.
He runs very fast.
How fast does he run? Very fast.
I occasionally practice speaking English.
How frequently do I practice? Occasionally.
The position of adverbs in the sentence depends on what type of adverb it is.
Here are some general guidelines for knowing the position of adverbs:
#1 Do not place an adverb between a verb and its object.
In the following sentence, painted is the verb, and the house is the object.
Carefully is the adverb.
I carefully painted the house. = Correct
I painted the house carefully. = Correct
I painted carefully the house. = Incorrect
Heres another example. In this sentence, read is the verb, a book is the object,
and sometimes is the adverb.
I sometimes read a book before bed. = Correct
Sometimes I read a book before bed. = Correct
I read a book before bed sometimes. = OK, but informal
I read sometimes a book before bed. = Incorrect
Position of Adverbs in English Sentences
I sometimes read a book before bed.
#2 There are three normal positions for adverbs.
Front position: At the beginning of a clause
Suddenly the phone rang.
Fortunately, nobody was injured.

Maybe Ill go for a walk.

Mid-position: Next to the main verb
I always exercise before work.
They have completely forgotten about our appointment.
He was probably late for the interview.
She slowly began to recover from her illness.
End-position: At the end of a clause
You speak English well.
Please sit there.
They ate dinner quietly.
They ate dinner quietly.
#3 The position of adverbs depends on their type. Some adverbs can
go in various positions.
Adverbs of manner
Ex) quickly, slowly, easily, happily, well,* badly, seriously
Mid-position gives less emphasis to the adverb:
He quickly corrected his mistake.
She easily passed the test.
We happily accepted the invitation.
End-position gives more emphasis to the adverb:
He corrected his mistake quickly.
She passed the test easily.
We accepted the invitation happily.
* Adverbs of manner not ending in -ly (like well, hard, and fast) can only appear
in the end position:
They dance well.
Hes working hard.
She runs fast.

She runs fast.

Adverbs of time & frequency
Definite frequency: Ex) daily,* weekly,* every year, last week
Front-position or end-position (more common).
I study English every day.
Every day, I study English.
We went to Australia last year.
Last year we went to Australia.
The single-word adverbs of frequency cannot go in the front-position:
I speak with my mother daily.
Lets meet weekly to share updates on the project.
Indefinite frequency: Ex) often, usually, frequently, occasionally, sometimes,
rarely, always, never, finally, eventually, soon
Always and never go in the mid-position, before the verb:
I always wake up early.
We never imagined this would be so hard.
The others can go in various positions:
Usually I take the bus to work.
I usually take the bus to work.
Soon youll be finished with school.
Youll soon be finished with school.
Youll be finished with school soon.
We occasionally drink wine.
Occasionally we drink wine.
We drink wine occasionally.
We drink occasionally wine. = Incorrect!
Remember never to put an adverb in between the verb and its object.

Adverbs of place

Ex) downstairs, outside, nearby, south/southward, towards, backwards,

everywhere
Usually go in end-position or mid-position immediately after the verb:
The children are playing outside.
The glass shattered and the pieces flew everywhere.
They drove south/southward on the highway.
He walked towards the police station.
Connecting & commenting adverbs
Connecting adverbs show the relationship between events or ideas: Ex)
however, anyway, then, next, similarly, additionally, furthermore, otherwise
Commenting adverbs show us the speakers attitude or opinion about the
sentence: Ex) fortunately, surprisingly, stupidly, personally, honestly
Both of these usually go in the front-position
First I went to the bank. Then I went to the post office.
The test will be difficult. However, the students are well prepared.
He doesnt have a job. Furthermore, hes not interested in finding one.
I dropped my wallet on the street. Surprisingly, an honest person found it and
gave it back to me.
They showed me all the products available. Honestly, I didnt like any of them.
although for some of them other positions are possible:
They showed me all the products available. I didnt like any of them, honestly.
They showed me all the products available. I honestly didnt like any of them.

Adverbs of certainty
Ex) definitely, certainly, clearly, obviously, probably, maybe, perhaps
Maybe and perhaps usually go in the front-position:
Maybe well go out to eat tonight.
Perhaps I should explain further.

Other adverbs of certainty usually go in the mid-position:

Well probably go out to eat tonight.

I should definitely explain further.
He clearly made a mistake.
Thats certainly not the case.
Emphasizing adverbs
Ex) very, really, extremely, terribly, quite, pretty, almost
These words usually go in the mid-position, immediately before the word that
they emphasize.
Were very tired.
Their new house is really impressive.
He plays the piano extremely badly.
This lesson is pretty easy to understand.
The employees are terribly underpaid.
Its quite generous of you to let me stay at your house.
We almost got lost in the city.