Adverb Phrases

An adverb may be a single word, such as quickly, here or yesterday. However, adverbs can also be phrases, some made with prepositions, others made with infinitives. This page will explain the basic types of adverb phrases (sometimes called "adverbial phrases") and how to recognize them.

Basic types of adverbs

In the section on adverbs, you learned about three basic types of adverb: manner, place and time adverbs. There are at least two more that are important. Frequency adverbs answer the question "How often?" about an action. Purpose adverbs answer the question "Why?". Here are some examples:

Type	Adverb	Example
Frequency	usually	Mika usually gets up early.
Purpose	for fun	I write computer programs for fun.

While the first example, usually, is a single word, the second example (for fun) is a phrase consisting of a preposition and a noun -- in other words, it is a prepositional phrase which functions as an adverb phrase.

Adverb phrases made with prepositions

All kinds of adverb phrases can be made with prepositions. Here are some examples:

Type	Adverb phrase	Example
Manner	with a hammer	The carpenter hit the nail with a hammer.
Place	next door	The woman who lives next door is a doctor.
Time	before the holidays	We must finish our project before the holidays.
Frequency	every month	Jodie buys two CDs every month.
Purpose	for his mother	Jack bought the flowers for his mother.

Adverb phrases made with infinitives

Another kind of adjective phrase can be made with the infinitive form of a verb. Most of these phrases express purpose, as in these examples:

Type	Adverb phrase	Example
Purpose	to buy a car	I'm saving my money to buy a car.
Purpose	to support the team	The students all showed up to support the team.
Purpose	to show to her mother	Sally brought a painting home from school to show to her mother.