Ways of expressing the adverbial modifier.

It can be expressed by:

1. An adverb.

Rachel turned instinctively to prevent a possible intruder from entering. (Bennett)

2. A noun with or without accompanying words.

Next day the morning hours seemed to pass very slowly at Mr. Pellet's. (E. ВгоШё)

They walked miles without finding any habitation.

3. A prepositional phrase.

The red dust spread up and out and over everything. (Wells) I walked straight up the lane. (Bennett)

4. A noun, pronoun, adjective, infinitive, participle, or prepositional phrase with a subordinating conjunction.

Mary swims better than her sister.

My sister plays tennis better than I.

If necessary, she must see Mr. Bridgenorth. (Gaskell)

He shrank back, his arms lifted as though to ward off physical violence. (London)

While waiting for the water to boil, he held his face over the stove. (London)

Sometimes he (Martin), when with her, noted an unusual bright­ness in her eyes. (London)

5. A participle or a participial phrase.

Having decided to accept his sister's counsel Marcellus was anxious to perform his unpleasant duty. (Douglas)

Turning away, she caught sight of the extra special edition о The Signal. (London)

When questioned, she explained everything very carefully

 

6. Absolute constructions.

1. The Nominative Absolute Participial Construction.

He had wrapped her up with great care, the night being dark and frosty. (Dickens)

Dehn burst in, the terror of the streets written on his face. (Heym)

2. The Nominative Absolute construction.

He stopped and turned about, his eyes brightly proud. (Doug­las)

3. The Prepositional Absolute Participial Construction.

He looked at Mr. Micawber attentively, with his whole face breathing short and quick in every feature. (Dickens)

4. The Prepositional Absolute construction.

He rushed forward, with fury in his looks, and fire in his eye.

5. A prepositional phrase or construction with a gerund.

His father looked up without speaking. (Lindsay)

Nellman was arrested by the FBI... for "being a member of the Communist Party". (Daily Worker)

On her going to his house to thank him, he happened to see her through a window. (Dickens)

I left the room without anybody noticing it.

6. An infinitive, an infinitive phrase, or an infinitive construc­tion.

They rose to go into the drawing-room. (Galsworthy)

So, on the following evening, we again assembled, to discuss and arrange our plans. (Jerome)

He put the picture on the table for George to get a better view of it. (Maugham)

Additional remarks

It is not always easy to discriminate between different parts of the sentence expressed by prepositional phrases.

The following parts of the sentence are apt to be confused: (l) _a prepositional indirect object and an adverbial modifier; (2) an attribute and an adverbial modifier.

1. A prepositional indirect object and an adverbial modifier of place and manner.

Kate removed her eyes from the window and gazed directly at Papa. (Cronin)

Decimus had been born in Rome. (Douglas)

In the first example the prepositional phrase at Papa is a preposi­tional indirect object as the noun denotes a living being.

In the second example the prepositional phrase in Rome is an adverbial modifier as the noun denotes an inanimate object and the question is: Where had he been born?

When the noun in the prepositional phrase denotes an inanimate object, very often two ways of analysis are possible.

His wife was sitting before a very little fire. (Galsworthy)

The prepositional phrase before a very littlefire can be treated either as an adverbial modifier or an object.

2. An attribute and an adverbial modifier of place.

I thought you were going to a party at the club. (Douglas)

The party will take place at the club.

In the first example at the club is an attribute as it modifies a noun. It answers the question: What party?

In the second sentence the same prepositional phrase modifies a verbal group, consequently it is an adverbial modifier of place.

These examples do not cover all the dubious cases in analysis, they only serve to show that there are many border-line cases.