This document discusses adverbs and adverbials. It defines adverbs as words that modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, and clauses. Adverbs do not always end in "ly" and words ending in "ly" are not always adverbs. An adverbial is a string of words that functions to modify. There are four common types of adverbials: prepositional phrases, noun phrases, subordinate clauses, and non-finite clauses. The document provides examples of adverbials, such as prepositional phrases adding description. It also discusses fronted adverbials and concerns about overemphasizing them in English teaching.

1. ADVERBS AND ADVERBIALS

2. Adverbs
An adverb modifies another element of a sentence; in fact, aside
from nouns (which are modified by adjectives), they can modify
almost every other word type:
 verb traditionally decorated
 adverb She sang extremely loudly
 adjective slightly smaller
 pronoun nearly everyone
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3. Adverbs
Adverbs can also modify whole clauses, phrases or even
sentences:
 I spotted only one crocodile
◦ ‘only’ modifies the noun phrase ‘one crocodile’
 We made it almost to the end
◦ ‘almost’ modifies the prepositional phrase ‘to the end’
 No one can see them anyway
◦ ‘anyway’ modifies the sentence as a whole.
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4. Adverbs
 Not all adverbs end in ‘ly’
◦ Time adverbs: later, never, often, once, soon, today, tomorrow,
◦ Place adverbs: here, there, everywhere.
◦ Degree adverbs: almost, just, quite.
◦ Discourse markers: however, nevertheless, therefore
 Not all words that end in ‘ly’ are adverbs
◦ Adjectives: lovely, deadly, jolly, lonely.
◦ Nouns: bully, holly, jelly, family.
◦ Verbs: bully, multiply, apply, supply.
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5. Adverbials
 An adverbial is a string of words that have a modifying function
 Four common types of adverbial are
◦ prepositional phrases
 He arrived completely without warning..
◦ noun phrases
 Jane telephoned me last night.
◦ subordinate clauses
 If you work hard, you’ll pass.
◦ non-finite clauses.
◦ Slipping on the icy surface, the boy grabbed hold of my hand.
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6. A great example of adverbial
prepositional phrases
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Rosie’s Walk by Pat Hutchins
Rosie the hen went for a walk, across the yard,
around the pond, over the haycock . . .

7. A classroom example
 Where might we go? Exploring atmosphere with prepositional phrases
 Learning objective: Understand how to create atmosphere when
describing a journey using prepositional phrases
 by the forgotten river
 under the chestnut tree
 beyond the sea
 over the horizon
 in the shadows
 in the back of beyond
 over the rainbow
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What are these places like?
Who might you meet there?
What might happen in this place?
Choose a non-finite verb to be modified

8. Adverbial detail: a KS3/4 example
Opening to Lord of the Flies, William Golding: consider what the highlighted
adverbial detail adds to our view of the characters and their surroundings:
The boy with fair hair lowered himself down the last few feet of rock and began
to pick his way toward the lagoon. Though he had taken off his school sweater
and trailed it now from one hand, his grey shirt stuck to him and his hair was
plastered to his forehead. All round him the long scar smashed into the jungle
was a bath of heat. He was clambering heavily among the creepers and
broken trunks when a bird, a vision of red and yellow, flashed upwards with a
witch-like cry; and this cry was echoed by another.
“Hi!” it said. “Wait a minute!”…….
…..The owner of the voice came backing out of the undergrowth so that twigs
scratched on a greasy wind-breaker. The naked crooks of his knees were
plump, caught and scratched by thorns. He bent down, removed the thorns
carefully, and turned around. He was shorter than the fair boy and very fat. He
came forward, searching out safe lodgments for his feet, and then looked up
through thick spectacles.
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9. Fronted adverbials
 These simply refer to single adverbs, adverbial phrases
and clauses used at the start of a sentence or paragraph,
to emphasise or connect ideas.
 They have become emblematic of concerns about
teaching to the SATs: see Michael Rosen’s blog from
March 2016:
 michaelrosenblog.blogspot.com/2016/03/health-alert-
how-fronted-adverbial.html
 an article in The Guardian from May 2017:
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/may/09/fron
ted-adverbials-sats-grammar-test-primary
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