The Communicative Grammar of English Workbook - Edward Woods, Rudy Coppieters 2002
7.2. Adverbials - Introduction
Unit seven. Adverbs, adverbials and prepositions
Sections 449-452
Adverbials give extra information about an action, happening or state as described by the rest of the sentence.
Adverbials have a number of different forms:
• adverbs, adverb phrases, noun phrases, prepositional phrases
• finite clauses, non-finite clauses (infinitives, -ing and -ed participles), verbless clauses.
Most adverbials are mobile, so that they can occur in different places in the sentence:
• front-position (FP): before the subject
• mid-position (MP): before the main verb occurring on its own, after an unstressed operator, before a stressed operator
• end-position (EP): after the verb (and its object and/or complement, if present).
Long adverbials normally occur in end-position, while short ones usually occur in mid-position. Frontposition gives contrast or provides the background or setting for what follows.
Task one **
Underline the adverbials in the following text.
In the last 50 years mining and forest industries have taken a larger place in Newfoundland economics. Although the fishing industries are still the largest employers, the province no longer depends upon them exclusively for its livelihood. In recent years gas and oil reserves to rival those in the North Sea have been discovered off the coast of the island and off Labrador. The federal government has given the go-ahead to a $5.2 billion project known as the Hibernia Oil Fields just off the east coast of St John’s. If plans are realized, oil could flow by the millennium.
(from Insight Guide: Canada, p. 232)
Task two **
(a) Arrange the above adverbials in groups on the basis of form categories, while adding FP, MP or EP in brackets to designate their position in the sentence.
(b) How does length affect these positions?
Task three **
Insert the adverbials (presented in alphabetical order) in the most appropriate position. Only the underlined sentences should be considered.
1. General elections take place.
(always; on a Thursday)
They are not public holidays. People have to work, polling stations are open.
(from seven in the morning; in the normal way; so; till ten at night; to give everybody the opportunity to vote)
(from James O’Driscoll, Britain, p. 101)
2. Andrew Nugee would pack an SLR film camera and about 30 rolls of film.
(not long ago; when he went on vacation)
He takes a digital camcorder.
(for capturing both moving and still images; now; simply)
Nugee is just one of many who have been bitten by the digitalimaging bug: “It’s changed my approach to photography. I take my camcorder,” he says.
(completely; everywhere)
(from Newsweek, 3 September 2001, p.16)