adverbial

Adverbial is a grammatical term for any word, phrase, or clause that provides circumstantial information about an action, event, or property. An adverbial can modify a verb, an adjective, another adverb, or the entire sentence, and it commonly expresses time, place, manner, reason, or degree. Adverbials answer questions such as when, where, how, why, and to what extent.

Adverbials may take several forms: a single adverb (soon, carefully); an adverbial phrase (in the morning, with great care); or an adverbial clause (because it was late, she stayed). These forms function as a unit to add contextual detail without changing the core meaning of the word they modify.

In English, adverbials are relatively flexible in position; they may appear at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of a sentence, and their placement can affect emphasis or nuance. They can modify the verb directly or the entire clause they accompany.

Examples illustrate common types: She spoke softly. (adverb modifying the verb) The meeting ended yesterday. (time adverbial) They left because of the rain. (reason adverbial clause) In the morning, they began work. (time adverbial phrase)

Notes: the term appears in many languages and grammars, where terminology varies. Some descriptions distinguish adverbs as a word class from adverbials as a functional category; others use adverbial clause and adverbial phrase to name specific forms that serve adverbial purposes.