Adverbs have been traditionally defined as words that describe verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, and clauses. Adverb phrases are phrases that consist of an adverb plus any other adverbs functioning as adverb phrase modifiers.
In grammar, a disjunct adverbial is word or phrase that provides additional information to frame an entire clause. In additional to prepositional phrases, adverbs and adverb phrases often function as disjunct adverbials in English. Examples of adverbs and adverb phrases as disjunct adverbials include the following:
- Truthfully, adverbs are not one of my favorite grammatical forms.
- Surprisingly, none of the children failed the test.
- Honestly, I have no idea.
- Clearly, the mail did not come today due to it being a national holiday.
Adverb Phrase as Disjunct Adverbial
References
Brinton, Laurel J. & Donna M. Brinton. 2010. The linguistic structure of Modern English, 2nd edn. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Hopper, Paul J. 1999. A short course in grammar. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Huddleston, Rodney. 1984. Introduction to the grammar of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
