Adverbial Phrase

in this video we're going to talk about adverbial phrases here's definition for adverbial phrase an adverbial phrase is group of words that functions as an adverb let's examine what that means well an adverb is word that modifies verb and it usually tells us how when where or why an action occurs so let's look at an example he walks oddly oddly as an adverb it modifies the verb walks and it tells us how he walks this is normal adverb now look at this one he walks with limp this time we have group of words telling us how he walks so this group of words is phrase it's an adverbial phrase and it modifies the verb walks just like oddly did let's look an example with when toby is talking now now as an adverb it modifies the verb is talking and it tells us when now let's look at an adverbial phrase tony is talking in minute well now we have group of words this group of words is modifying is talking and it tells us when it's an adverbial phrase let's do aware one sally lives here here is an adverb it modifies the verb lives and tells us where sally lives sally lives around the corner now we have group of words that modifies the verb lives tells us where sally lives now it's common for adverbs to tell us why an action occurs but you can't give reason using one word so adverbs that tell us why are usually adverbial phrases she came to paris to find me to find me it's an adverbial phrase modifying the verb came to tell us why okay let's look at the definition again an adverbial phrase is group of words that functions as an adverb hopefully that makes more sense now okay let's get rid of some of that want to look at these words in the adverbial phrases with in and around you might recognize these as prepositions we have whole lesson and video on prepositions but prepositions are words that appear in sentence to show the relationship between one word and another so look at the top one with limp with is preposition with limp is called prepositional phrase it's also an adverbial phrase as we've covered the next one in is preposition in minute is prepositional phrase it's also an adverbial phrase around the corner is prepositional phrase it's also an adverbial phrase but look at this one to find me in this example two is not preposition it is part of the infinitive verb to find so adverbial phrases can be prepositional phrases or infinitive phrases look up at the first example he walks oddly what if we said he walks very oddly we now have group of words functioning as an adverb well yes the term very oddly would classify as an adverbial phrase let's get rid of most of that i've deliberately left these three examples because we're going to see them again let's quickly summarize the point we've just covered so there are three main types of adverbial phrase prepositional phrase remember this example an infinitive phrase and remember this example and then an adverb with an intensifier that's word like very extremely or completely okay these are the three main types of adverbial phrase hopefully now you're starting to get good feel for what adverbial phrases are but before we end this video want to cover two more points here's the first one look at this example we know that that's normal adverb and we know that it's modifying is talking we know that this is an adverbial phrase and it's also modifying is talking but look at this tony is talking when the next person finishes this looks like an adverbial phrase but actually if we were to be more specific it's an adverbial clause it is an adverbial clause because it includes its own subject and its own verb that's what makes it clause so just be aware of the distinction between adverbial phrase and adverbial clause we have whole lesson on adverbial clauses okay that was the first point want to cover here is the second point look at this example we will serve dinner at six o'clock at six o'clock is our adverbial phrase it is modifying we'll serve but look at this at six o'clock we will serve dinner well our adverbial phrase is still modifying we'll serve but this time it's at the front and notice there is comma so the writing tip is this when you have an adverbial phrase or clause for that matter at the front of sentence it is normal to offset it with the comma this aids reading as it shows where the main point starts let's look at couple more examples in july 1936 temperatures reached 106 degrees fahrenheit in new york well look here we have an adverbial phrase of time and here we have an adverbial phrase of place notice that we have comma before the one that is at the start of the sentence and just to hammer this point home let's switch them up bit now we have our adverbial phrase of place at the start and our adverbial phrase of time at the end but once again the adverbial phrase at the start of the sentence is the one that gets the comma there is more about this on the website want to leave you with this slide the one that shows you three main types of adverbial phrase prepositional phrase an infinitive phrase or an adverb with an intensifier but don't forget to take this writing tip with you when the adverbial phrase is at the start of sentence it is good practice to offset it with comma that's all thanks for watching be sure to check out some of our other videos on grammarmonster.com