Adverbial phrase

In linguistics, an adverbial phrase ("AdvP") is a multi-word expression operating adverbially: its syntactic function is to modify other expressions, including verbs, adjectives, adverbs, adverbials, and sentences. Some grammars use the label adverb phrase to denote an adverbial phrase composed entirely of adverbs versus an adverbial phrase, which might not contain an adverb.

Adverbial phrases

Adverbial phrases can be divided into two types: complementary phrases and modifying phrases.^[1] For example, very well is a complementary adverbial phrase that complements "sang" in the sentence "She sang very well".^[1] More specifically, the adverbial phrase very well contains two adverbs, very and well: while well qualifies the verb to convey information about the manner of singing. By contrast, almost always is a modifying adverbial phrase that modifies "skip" in the sentence "I almost always skip breakfast."

The following examples illustrate some of the most common types of adverbial phrases. All adverbial phrases appear in bold; when relevant, the head of each adverbial phrase appears in square brackets.

^ ^a ^b Pullum, Geoffrey; Huddleston, Rodney (2005). A student's introductions to English grammar (PDF) (3. printing. ed.). Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge Univ. Press. p. 124. ISBN 9780521612883. Retrieved 6 December 2017.

[Pullum-1] Pullum, Geoffrey; Huddleston, Rodney (2005). A student's introductions to English grammar (PDF) (3. printing. ed.). Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge Univ. Press. p. 124. ISBN 9780521612883. Retrieved 6 December 2017.

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