Question

Please help me writing down the two adverbials in this sentence. Each adverbial is a prepositional phrase or an adverb:

* He also spoke with several young people.

Answer 1

Have you any ideas on this one? Which words can you rule out? (What's the core sentence?)

Answer 2

He = sub
also = prep
spoke = verb
with = prep
young= adj
people = noun

Answer 3

Okay, in terms of this single-word analysis, you're right on all but one. (You're also missing one, but we'll get to that later.) The word "also" is not a preposition. You can tell this because (for one thing) it does not take an object. With a preposition, you can always construct a phrase, right? In the room, on the table, down the street, up the block, from the house, of the people . . . . can you do this with "also"? No. So it's not a preposition. It's not expressing those sorts of relationships in the sentence.

What does the word seem to have reference to in the sentence? Does it modify the subject? No. How about the verb? Well, no, not exactly. The prepositional phrase? No. . . . The word "also" doesn't seem to directly modify any one word in the sentence, does it? In fact, it doesn't. It has reference to the entire sentence. "Also" is what is known as a "conjunctive adverb," which simply means an adverb that conjoins. It joins this sentence with whatever came before this sentence, linking the two together. "He did this. He also did that."

Let's back up for a moment and remember what it is that adverbs do. Adverbs modify verbs, they modify adjectives, and they modify other adverbs. They can modify phrases, clauses, and (as with "also") entire sentences. In fact, an adverb modifies everything besides what the adjective modifies: the noun. So, in terms of modification (what the word in question has reference to), if you first find all the words that modify nouns, you have then also found the adverbs. All the other modifiers besides adjectives will be adverbs. There are only those two classes of modifiers.

Here's another little trick for finding adverbs: they are generally mobile in the sentence. They can be moved around, and the sentence will still be grammatical.

He also spoke . . .
He spoke also . . .
Also, he spoke . . .

All of these work, right? The word can even be shifted to the end of the sentence: He spoke with several young people also.

So, let's recap. How do you identify adverbs? They DON'T modify nouns (single-word nouns, noun phrases, or noun clauses). They do modify everything else but the noun. They can be shifted around in the sentence. In terms of meaning -- what they contribute to the sentence -- they add information like how? in what manner? when? where? to what extent?

Does that make sense so far? The next thing to think about is this business of words, phrases, and clauses. That adds a bit of complexity, but the principles are really the same.

Answer 4

In traditional grammar, the main parts of speech are noun, pronoun, adjective, adverb, verb. (In this scheme, the category of "adjective" includes what in other systems of analysis are separated out: articles, determiners, quantifiers.)

So, in terms of FUNCTION, these traditional parts of speech (these main ones, excluding interjections and conjunctions) apply not only to words, but to phrases and clauses as well.

Let's take an example. How does a noun function? It can be a subject, it can be a direct object, it can be an indirect object, it can be the object of a preposition. There are some others, but those are the basics.

A single word can be the subject. Or a group of related words (a phrase or a clause) can be the subject.

Running is fun.
Running races is fun.
Running every day is fun.

I like running.
I like running races.
I like running every day.

In the first three sentences, the respective subjects are --

Running
Running races
Running every day

So in the first sentence, "running" is functioning as a noun. In the second sentence, "running races" is functioning as a noun. In the third sentence, "running every day" is functioning as a noun. Each of these is the subject about which the sentence says something.

In the second three sentences, the respective direct objects are --

Running
Running races
Running every day

In this first sentence, "running" is functioning as a noun. In this second sentence, "running races" is functioning as a noun. In this third sentence, "running every day" is functioning as a noun. Each of these is the object of the verb. Each of these tells who or what it is that I like.

Those are just some simple examples. How about this one?

What I like to do in the mornings is clear.

Here's the first breakdown --

What I like to do in the mornings | is | clear

That entire set of words -- what I like to do in the mornings -- is the subject. And so that entire group of words is functioning in this sentence as a noun.

Does that make sense? I started with noun functions, because I think they're easier to see. That noun clause (because in this case the group of words is a clause) can then be broken down further, but let's not go there right now.

The same thing applies to adverbs. A single word can function as an adverb. A phrase can function as an adverb. And a clause can function as an adverb.

So let's return now to your original sentence --

He also spoke with several young people.

There's a phrase in that sentence: with several young people. In terms of FORM, it's a prepositional phrase. And in terms of FUNCTION? What is it doing in the sentence, what kind of information does it offer, what other word or words is it modifying?

It tells who or what he spoke with, right? So it's modifying the verb. Any phrase that modifies the verb is functioning adverbially, so this phrase is an adverbial phrase.

Your two adverbs are thus "also," which is a conjunctive adverb modifying the entire sentence, and "with several young people," which is an adverbial prepositional phrase modifying the verb.

Does that make sense? That's compressing a lot of ideas into a fairly brief explanation, so let me know if I lost you at any point there.

Oh, and the word you left out of that original list? "Several," which tells *how many* young people and so it's an adjective. That has nothing to do with the original question for the sentence -- to find the two adverbs -- but as it was missing in your single-word analysis, I thought I'd mention it.