Adverbs determine the meaning of a sentence

Look at the sentences below:

1.  Only Rakesh broke the glasses yesterday.

2.  Rakesh only broke the glasses yesterday.

3.  Rakesh broke only the glasses yesterday.

4.  Rakesh broke the glasses only yesterday.

In the four sentences above, the word ‘only’ is positioned in four different places and, as a result, they convey four different meanings.  In sentence1 , the meaning conveyed is that it was only Rakesh who broke the glasses and not anyone else. In the sentence 2, the meaning expressed is that the only act committed by Rakesh was only breaking the glass and not anything else. In sentence 3, the meaning conveyed is that Rakesh broke only the glasses and did not break anything else. In sentence 4, the meaning expressed is that Rakesh broke the glasses only yesterday and not previously. In order to convey the intended meaning, it is necessary to place the word ‘only’ near the word, phrase or clause it modifies. If it is misplaced in a sentence, the meaning of the sentence will lead to ambiguity.

Adverbs are words which give information about manner, time, place and frequency. An adverb can modify a verb, an adjective or an adverb as in the examples:

• Rita danced gracefully.

•  After the performance she was quite happy.

•  She speaks to her boss on the phone very casually.

There are different types of adverbs: adverbs of manner (fast, casually, quickly), adverbs of time (yesterday, tomorrow, later), adverbs of place (here, there, everywhere) and adverbs of frequency (often, frequently, rarely). Look at the examples below:

1. John ran fast.

2.  He completed the task casually.

3.  Sheela played the guitar well.

Though all the adverbs in the sentences above are placed at the end of the sentences, adverbs can also be placed in different positions in sentences:

1.  I went to the shopping mall Express Avenue yesterday. 

2.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a ticket to any movie.

3.  We often discuss issues related to language teaching.

In the sentences above, the adverbs ‘yesterday’, ‘unfortunately’ and ‘often’ are placed at the end of sentence 1, at the beginning of sentence 2 and in the middle of sentence 3 respectively.

An adverb that modifies an adjective or another adverb is placed before the word it modifies as sentences 1 and 2 below whereas an adverb that modifies a verb is placed before the verb or after the verb or at the beginning of the sentence or at the end of the sentence as in sentences 3-5 below:

1.  When I told my mom about my promotion, she was quite happy.

2.  She always talks to her boss very casually.

3.  Jane actively participated in the programme.

4.  Jane participated actively in the programme.

5.  Actively, Jane participated in the programme.

Thus, the position of some adverbs (for example the word ‘only’) has an effect on the meaning of the sentence.

— rayanal@yahoo.co.uk