The English Oracle

Are there any rules on the positioning adverbs should take in a sentence?

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Chapters
00:00 Are There Any Rules On The Positioning Adverbs Should Take In A Sentence?
00:20 Answer 1 Score 12
01:11 Accepted Answer Score 9
01:53 Answer 3 Score 4
02:06 Thank you

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Tags
#grammar #adverbs #wordorder #adverbposition

#avk47



ANSWER 1

Score 12


When an adverb modifies a verb, you can usually put it either before, between, or after:

Adverb = 'often', verb = 'go'

Before:

Often, I go for long walks.

Between:

I often go for long walks.

End:

I go for long walks often.

These aren't all equally common; you would probably find the between position used the most.

In your example, you are asking a question, so the 'before' position can't really be used.

Broadly, ever wish you could share information?

Just doesn't work.

But the between and end position are equally valid. I would say that, again, the between position sounds best.

Ever wish you could broadly share information?




ACCEPTED ANSWER

Score 9


The positioning of the adverb should be based on the type of impact our sentence/question needs to make.

The first sentence:

Ever wish you could share information broadly?

This would be more effective when used to catch the readers' attention, probably an advertisement/headline where the idea is to make all readers imagine "broadly".

The second one:

Ever wish you could broadly share information?

This probably has more stress on the "information" rather than on "broadly". It would sound more apt in a paragraph, rather than in a headline.

Again, it depends on how the message needs to be sent across. Both options are correct.




ANSWER 3

Score 4


I always think the adverb should be placed as closely as possible to the word it modifies. See how I did it in this sentence, with "as closely as possible"?