| adverbial |
| Definition:
A word or a group of words that tells us something about the sentence or the verb. Note: Adverbials answer the questions Where?, When?, Why? or How?, and they can take the form of adverbs, clauses, adverb phrases, noun phrases, and prepositional phrases. |
| Example:
(1) Arturo answered immediately. (adverb) (2) Arturo answered in Italian. (prepositional phrase) (3) Arturo answered last night. (noun phrase) (4) Arturo answered in Italian because he had an urge to do so. (adverbial clause) |
| Etymology:
The word derives from the Latin adverbium, that which is added to a verb (from Latin ad, to + verbum, word). Note: The Latin term was invented by Flavius Sosipater Charisius who coined it to translate the Greek word epirrhema, adverb (from Greek epi, upon + rhema, verb). |
| OED: The first citation for the term in this sense is from 1924: "The term Adverbials is a convenient designation of adverbs and their equivalents, viz. Group-Adverbs, Adverbial Phrases and Adverbial Clauses." (H. E. Palmer Gram. Spoken Eng. ii. 234) |