Adverbsthat

Adverbsthat is a term used in linguistics to describe a pattern in which an adverb appears between a that-clause and the main clause, functioning as a discourse or stance marker on the proposition. The construction is typified by a that-clause such as "That she quit was surprising" followed by a parenthetical adverb and then the main clause, as in "That she quit, surprisingly, surprised us all" or "That the plan will succeed, evidently, depends on funding." The adverb modifies the entire proposition rather than a single word and signals the speaker's attitude toward the proposition (surprise, certainty, doubt, or evaluation). The set of adverbs commonly associated with this pattern includes apparently, evidently, obviously, frankly, honestly, surprisingly, and reportedly, among others.

In terms of syntax, adverbsthat occupies a mid-position slot between the that-clause and the main clause, but the exact punctuation can vary. It is often optional and may be omitted without changing the core meaning. Cross-linguistic presence: similar constructions are found in other languages with stance adverbs that intervene before the main clause.

History and usage: The term adverbsthat is used in some descriptive grammars and corpus-focused studies to describe this specific discourse function; it is not a widely standardized label and may appear only in niche linguistic discussions or language-education materials. See also: sentence adverb, discourse marker, stance adverb.