Rit ate Mell (11a ats Position of adverbs The position of an adverb ina sentence depends on its meaning and the word or words itis modifying, There are three main positions for adverbs in a sentence: 1. Front position (before the subject) 2. Mid position (between the subject and the verb or immediately ater be as a main verb) 3. Final position (atthe end of the clause) Different types of adverbs tend to bein certain postions, although there are sometimes exceptions to the general tule. Front position We often use adverbs in this position to link or contrast with information ina previous sentence. Linking adverbs, Which join a clause to what was said before, come here. ‘She prepared a speech forthe occasion. However, she didn’t need to use it ‘Comment adverbs (.g fortunately, luckily, understandably) can also come here. Frankly, | find this confusing ‘Adverbs of time can come here when we want to emphasise the time, although itis more common to see the time adverb in the final position. Yesterday | worked 12 hours. Mid position The most common use of adverbs is to modify adjectives. The adverb comes before the adjective itis modifying. The exception is enough, which comes after the adjective or adverb that it modifies. a mutually successful outcome anhighly damaging report | don't feel confident enough to attend a networking event. ‘Adverbs of indefinite frequency (e.g. almost always, often, ‘occasionally, seldom, hardly ever), adverbs of degree ‘and certainty (.g. probably, possibly, certainly), one-word adverbs of time (eg. already, just, now, soon) and focusing adyerbs (e.g. just, even) are usually in this position. When auxiliary verbs are used, the adverb normally goes between the auxiliary verb and the main verb, or after the first auxiliary verb if there is more than one. We've just been discussing this issue. Final position ‘The most frequent position for adverbs in English is the end of the sentence. We usually put adverbs of manner (when we want to focus on how something is done, e.g. quickly, badly, fast, and adverbs of place (e.g. inthe city, by the door) in the final position. z ‘When more than one of this type of adverb is used, the ‘order in which they come is usually manner, place, time. They worked hard in the training session all day. US English In US English, mid-position adverbs are often put before auxiliary verbs and the verb be, even when the verb is not emphasised. She probably hos let by now. (Ame) ‘he has probably lef by now. (Bré) North Americans might use an adjective form orreal-+ acjctve instead of an adverb in casual speech. She drives slow in that old car of hers. (AmE) ‘She drives slowly in that old car of hers. (BrE) His head hurt real bad. (AmE) His head hurt rally badly. (8) Adverbs and adjectives Some adjectives and adverbs have the same form. There are daily flights to Madrid. Flights go to Madrid daly. We have an early meeting tomorrow. We are meeting early tomorrow. The team are hard workers. The team work hard. Some adjectives and adverbs have the same form but different meanings. He's very well today. ‘She can speak English very well. The design was very pretty. That was a pretty interesting discussion. 1 Look at this e-mail and correct the errors in the position of the adverbs. There are 10 errors in total. Hi Susan, Tm terribly sory, but | won't probably be able to make the meeting tomorrow. | completly had {forgotten about i until | go this morning your reminder. | haven't unfortunately quite fnished the programme for the Madrid conference. There always are last-minute changes to be made, as you know, and | have just to get it tothe printers asap. Maybe {can send my assistant instead. She knows certainly my feelings on the subject and can tak on my behalf. By the way, | ked very much your report and Gefritely I try to send you laterin the week more detailed feedback. Allthe best le2. Certain adverbs form word partnerships with verbs and adjectives, and are used as intensifiers. Decide which adverb in the box ‘would go with each group of sentences. deeply heavily hugely properly strictly strongly terribly utterly 1 You are... fecommended to keep copies of al. documents. ‘Many people are ‘opposed to the expected taxon energy sources. we: believe in the need to reform ‘employment laws. 2 It’s been raining all day. The firm invested. innew technologies Their marketing campaign will ely........on digital social me 3. The event was successful. Hewasa popular candidate The location of the new factory isa important signal. 4 Without their help, it would have been impossible to arrange the conference. Their proposal was. The bank has. the developing world. 5 Were sorry about the misunderstanding. Iwas. difficult to hear what was being said Something went. wrong during the negotiations. 6 This computer isn't working. les vital that staff be. trained to do their jobs. Itproved difficult to manage the department 7 Tryto relax and breathe. We were. grateful to everyone for their help. She was disappointed not to get the job. 8 The ban on smoking is. enforced in the company. speaking, it's not mandatory to comply with the approved standard, Its not... necessaryto complete this now. ridiculous. falled in its mission to help 3. Look at the comments below and replace the phrases in brackets with an adverb in the box. oo apparently actually bythe way fortunately | frankly honestly obviously understandably __| 1. (Thisis evident know, but) we'l have to pay someone to translate tis into French 2 (Thisis something ve heard, bt it may not be true) the CEO is retiring this year 3. (Thisis my opinion, although it might be shocking) | never thought she was right forthe job. 4 (’mpleased about ths:) everything went very well at Gcnaieien. (What m going to say isnot related to our conversation:) have you seen his new car? (You can sympathise with this:) | was upset when | was tald to redo the work. : (This is the situation:) | don't think you need me at this meeting (What 'm saying is true: they. rumour from me. thear that ‘Some adjectives have two corresponding adverbs. Choose the correct form to complete each sentence. deep/deeply 2) The firms sank. b) He was disappointed with the results. ©) Crews are working underground to build the tunnel fair/fanty 4) The instructions seem straightforward, ') Ininternational trade, very few countries play into debt during the ©) We have a supplier. high highly 1a) The car industry is competitive, b) My boss always encourages me to aim ‘g00d relationship with the ©) They contracted a paid expert. late/lately a) Can you work. tonight? ) What have you been doing. ©) Allthe stores in the mall are open forthe sales near/nearly a) Ittook. ‘two hours to get there, b) We haven't saved enough money. The job wasn't anywhere. finished, sharp/sharply a) We're meeting at one-thirty b) London share prices fell. yesterday. 9 Opinion divided inthe locat community. short/shortly a) Excuse me, | will be back. b) The company’s profits fll of expectations. Her boss cut her. presentation. wrong/wrongly a) _ Something's gone this document, b) He was: accused of illegal file sharing. ©) This isn't the place, We must have got the room. number. in the middle of her with the format ofLANGUAGE REFERENCE eens We often want to emphasise an important point when writing an article, a report, an important e-mail, when speaking in a meeting (e.g. giving an opinion), making a proposal or when giving a presentation or speech. We can emphasise our point in a variety of ways, e.g. listing points in threes, using superlative forms, contrasting two ideas, using more interesting adjectives, emphasising negative statements with grammatical forms such as cleft sentences and inversion, or using emphatic expressions. Using lists of three This s a very useful technique because it creates impact and makes the statement more memorable. With longer points or examples, we can use linkers such as First(y), Second(ly) and Third(y) and/or Finally This product is well designed, it's reliable and cheap. The training programme was a great success. Firstly, itwas practical; secondly, It was effective; and thirdly and most importantly —it gave us the best value for ‘our money. ‘Amman touched down on the Moon, a wall came down in Bertin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. (Barack Obata) Using superlative forms The most... the best... etc. are often used wi expressions such as (one of the)...in the word, inthe country or with ever. Itis one of the best white-goods manufacturers in the world. {twas the most innovative training session Id ever attended. Using two contrasting ideas ‘The contrast of two different or opposite ideas using balanced or parallel words or the same grammatical forms can make an impact. Itis a technique that is often used by public speakers and politicians. We should look at what we do well and what we need to improve. Plato believed rhetoric was to truth as cookery was to medicine. (See also Unit 12, Parallelism, page 141) Using interesting or extreme adjectives If you want to emphasise your point when writing or speaking, itis much more engaging for the reader/ listener Ifyou use a variety of adjectives and extreme adjectives, rather than more ordinary ones like good, bad, nice, dificult, etc. turbulent/volatile markets (changeable) versatile general managers (flexible) in the pejorative sense of the word (negative) a challenging problem (difficult) (Gee also Unit 1, Adverbs, page 126) Emphasising a negative statement ‘+ We canuse an expression like anything but + an adjective that expresses the exact opposite of what we want to say. ‘+ We canuse expressions like whatsoeverfat al. + We can also use a negative statement and contrast it with a positive one using It is"tévasn’t This course is anything but challenging’ I's too easy.) Tie student didn’t do any homework whatsoever/at al It isn’t what you know its who you know. Cleft sentences Cleft means ‘divided’. Ina cleft sentence, information is, divided into two clauses or parts, each with its own verb. ‘Acleft sentence emphasises what you are saying. (like to talk about our latest training programme, —* What Pd like to talk about is our latest training programme. They make cheap products. They don’t produce ‘g00d-quality products. + They make cheap products. What they don't do is produce good-quality ones. Company A bought Company B. —* twas Company A that bought Company B. (Gee also Unit 11, Cleft sentences, page 139) Inversion One form of cleft sentences involves inversion, oF changing the position of the (auxiliary) verb and the subject. We do this with emphatic expressions such as Not only... (but) also. He is extremely successful. He's also a nice guy. —* Not only is he extremely successful, (but) he is also a nice guy. They won the contract. They got government funding too. + ‘Not only did they win the contract, (but) they also ‘gat government funding. Other emphatic expressions We often use adverbial expressions such as above all, indeed, actually, infact, to say the least, etc. to ‘emphasise what we are saying. The company wasn't doing well to say the least. (The company was doing very badly) In fact, that brings me to my next point. Their development programme was, above all, highly practical. (See also Unit 4, Making an impact in presentations, pages 40-41; Unit 9, Rhetorical questions, page 13; Unit 10, Rhetorical devices, page 138)