Study Resource: Position of English adverbs of different types
The table below summarizes where you can put different types of adverbs in English sentences.
Before the | Before the * | After the ** | After the | Before an | Before an | Before a | Before a | After a | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adverb of frequency | often | YES | NO (except be) | often | NO | NO | NO | YES | YES (with exceptions) |
Adverb of time | YES | often (relative) | often (relative) | YES | rarely (if they come from verbs) | NO | NO | NO | NO |
Adverb of duration | rarely | YES | YES | rarely | sometimes (if they come from verbs) | NO | NO | rarely | NO |
Adverb of manner | rarely | YES (with exceptions) | YES | rarely | YES (if they come from verbs) | NO | NO | NO | YES (if they come from verbs) |
Adverb of degree | NO | YES | NO (except be) | NO | YES | YES | YES | NO | NO |
Adverb of place | only emphasis | NO | YES | NO | NO | NO | NO | NO | YES |
Adverb of direction | only emphasis | NO | YES | NO | NO | NO | NO | NO | YES |
Notes:
*An adverb that comes before the verb will usually come between the auxiliary verb and the main verb: I have often forgotten his name.
**An adverb that comes after the verb will also follow the objects of the verb: I am reading my book slowly.
The types of English adverbs with examples:
Adverb of Frequency → How often something happens (usually, often, rarely, sometimes, never, always...)
Adverb of Time → When something happens (now, then, today, yesterday, tomorrow, late, early, recently, just...)
Adverb of Duration → How long something lasts (permanently, forever, since, still, briefly, always)
Adverb of Manner → How or in what way something happens (quickly, loudly, slowly, angrily, together, comfortably...)
Adverb of Degree → How intensely something happened or was some way (really, very, a bit, more, less, definitely, way...)
Adverb of Place → Where something happened (here, there, upstairs, outside, everywhere, somewhere...)
Adverb of Direction → Which way something moved (here, there, over, around, downstairs, inside, up, out...)
