Adverbs of place:
tell us WHERE an action occurs or something happens.
- Adverbs of place are placed after the main verb or clause they modify.
- Adverbs of place do not modify other adverbs or adjectives.
Here are some examples
- We can’t find it anywhere.
- Most people don’t walk backwards.
- I left my tablet downstairs.
- The store is far from my house.
- The children are playing indoors today.
- The movie is playing nearby so we can walk.
- The cat is outside.
Adverb of place or Preposition?
Adverb:
- An adverb of place modifies a verb and takes no object.
- I sat down to watch a movie.
- I turned around.
- I have not been working and I am falling behind.
Special endings:
- Some adverbs of place end in “WARDS” and they express MOVEMENT in a specific DIRECTION
- Upwards: Up is the direction. The nurse asked her patient to move her heard upwards.
- Some adverbs of place end in “WHERE” and they express LOCATION.
- I can’t find the book anywhere and I know it must be somewhere.
Exception!
- TOWARDS is never an adverb. It takes an object.
- We can say TOWARDS or TOWARD.
- They walked towards or toward the dog because they thought it was cute and friendly.
A preposition takes an object.
- I put your shoes behind the door.
- I am wearing a belt around my neck.
- The children ran down the stairs.
Note: You may recognize some of these!
about / above / abroad / anywhere / away
back / backwards (also backward) / behind / below
down / downstairs / elsewhere
east /west / south / north /
far / here / in / indoors / inside
near / nearby / off / on / out / outside / over
there / towards / under / up / upstairs / where
Try the adverbs quiz!
