ADVERBIAL PHRASES: CHARACTERISTICS AND TYPES (WITH EXAMPLES) - LITERATURE

The adverbial are sets of words of different grammatical categories which together function as an adverb. Adverbs are words that complement a sentence, a verb, a noun, or an adjective.

They are dispensable for the sentence to make sense, but they are useful to complete that sense. This is because they refer to the circumstances under which the prayer is performed.

They are also called adverbial phrases, since they are complete sentences with their own and commonly known meaning.

Main features

They are mainly sentences composed of adjectives, nouns and prepositions. They have a meaning whose relationship with the literal sense is not natural or dependent on circumstances.

That is, the meaning is not given according to the sum of the meanings of the words, but the meaning is imposed and constant.

Although they are phrases made up of several words, the group is considered a unit. Therefore, each word is observed as part of the adverb.

Structure

Adverbial phrases have different structures that depend on the way in which the grammatical categories are combined.

There are 9 structures of adverbial phrases, of which 6 begin with prepositions followed by nouns or adjectives of different types.

The other 3 are adverbs that establish correlations, such as "from now on"; they represent nominal groups, such as "a lot"; or they are schematic, like "neither more nor less."

The 7 main types of adverbial phrases (with examples)

The classification of adverbial phrases depends on the feature of the sentence that they modify. That is, it depends on whether they give information about the time, the amount, the place, or others.

1- Of quantity

Miss: "I've missed you so much!"
In nothing: "In nothing will Christmas end."
With everything: «With everything and that the officer gave me a fine».
Neither more nor less: "That man is neither more nor less than my father."
Almost: "I almost did not fall asleep."

2- D

In between: "They got involved in the fight."
High: "You always have to leave with your head held high."
In the distance: «I saw you arrive in the distance».
From behind: «It came from behind».
Up close: "I want to see penguins up close."

3- Denial

In my life: "In my life I had witnessed such a scandal."
No longer: "No longer content with breaking his bicycle, he threw it away."
Never ever: "You will never, ever see me napping."

4- Of time

Instantly: "They came to eat instantly."
Cover to cover: "The police searched the neighborhood from cover to cover."
First thing: "You must wake up first thing."
At noon: "See you at noon for lunch."
At dusk: "We will leave at dusk."

5- So

Blindly: "I was walking blindly in the dark."
On foot: «He came to the party on foot».
Left and right: "He struck left and right."
By dint of: "By dint of insisting, he convinced her."

6- Of affirmation

Of course: "Of course, you could not live without eating."
Without a doubt: "You love her very much, without a doubt."
In truth: "I really wanted a gift."
Of course: "Of course you have to go to the party."
In effect: "Indeed, if you don't study, you won't pass."

7- Of doubt

Maybe: "Look at the weather, maybe you should bring an umbrella."

References

About adverbs of manner. (2012) brighthubeducation.com
Adverbial phrases. (2017) thoughtco.com
11 commonly misspelled phrases. (2016) correccionyestilo.com
The adverb and adverbial phrases. (2010) relinguistica.azc.uam.mx
The adverbial phrases of manner. (2012) gramaticas.net
Idioms. (2017) rae.es
Use and rules of Spanish; Adverbs and adverbial phrases. (2008) fundeu.es

ADVERBIAL PHRASES: CHARACTERISTICS AND TYPES (WITH EXAMPLES) - LITERATURE - 2025