.
Most adverbs cannot associate with a noun, but a few can
ADVERB ROLES IN ENGLISH SENTENCES
Adverbs are usually said to modify, or refine, a particular type of information in a sentence. In contrast to adjectives, which typically refine noun or pronoun information, adverbs are mostly associated with a verb or an adjective or another adverb or an entire statement. Elsewhere within this blog, it is suggested that adverbs can also modify the meaning of a preposition (see 262. Adverbs that Describe a Preposition).
In view of all this, a reasonable generalization would seem to be that adverbs can add information about practically anything in a sentence except nouns or their equivalents. Yet, as the above title indicates, that is not the case. In this post I wish to examine how adverbs can say something about a noun. Not every adverb has this capability, but that is not really surprising when the same thing could be said about every other adverb capability (see 120. Six Things to Know about Adverbs, #2).
The total number of adverbs that can add information about a noun is not large, but it is perhaps greater than one would expect (and greater than implied by the rare illustrations that I have found in grammar books). My specific objectives here are to identify as many of the possibilities as possible, and to illustrate them copiously.
.
CHARACTERISTICS OF NOUN-FOCUSSED ADVERBS
Noun-focussed adverbs tend, not surprisingly, to be located just before their noun. The problem is that adverbs before a noun are not always closely associated with it. Consider this:
(a) Obviously, water is not an infinite resource.
The adverb obviously here is saying something about the message of the entire sentence rather than just about water. This is recognizable from the fact that it can occupy a grammatical position elsewhere in the sentence, such as just before the verb is, without a change of meaning. The comma after obviously is also a clue, since sentence-starting adverbs with a following comma tend in general to be sentence-related (see 121. Sentence-Spanning Adverbs).
Here is an example of a starting adverb that does link only with the noun after it:
(b) Quite a mess was left behind.
The close association of quite here with a mess is easier to see if the entire phrase is placed in the object position after a suitable verb:
(c) Workers left quite a mess behind.
If quite was being used here in the ordinary adverb way, its position between the verb and its object a mess would probably not be correct because ordinary adverbs are in general unlikely to be correct there (see 120. Six Things to Know about Adverbs, #3). However, quite fits naturally into this position.
Contrast the use of quite in (c) with that of the manner adverb deliberately. That would have to go at the start or end of the sentence, or just before the verb left.
Slightly trickier to judge are adverbs before a noun in the “complement” position after a verb like BE. In the following example, could clearly be considered noun-focussed?
(d) The scale of the project was clearly a challenge.
There is no punctuation rule that could give assistance here, and meaning does not help: clearly appears to be as plausibly modifying the verb was as the complement a challenge.
A way forward in this case, perhaps, is to see how the sentence reads with the adverb placed before rather than after BE: …clearly was a challenge above. The change is obviously not a problem with clearly, but with quite it seems more of one:
(e) ?The scale of the project quite was a challenge.
Another problematic sentence type is where a starting adverb + noun are followed by a comma:
(f) Clearly a challenge, the scale of the project had to be reduced.
However, I take such sentence starts to be just a modified form of the complement usage shown in (d). This is because being can be added before the adverb without affecting the grammaticality or meaning of the sentence.
Sometimes, an adverb precedes a noun within a preposition phrase, e.g. in especially the sea. I discount this usage too, the reason being that the adverb can usually be repositioned before the preposition without a meaning change, thus suggesting that the modification is of the whole phrase rather than just the noun within it.
Finally, various adverbs can precede a noun placed directly after another noun within an “apposition” construction (see 77. Apposition, #1):
(g) The next planet out from the sun, obviously Mars, may provide evidence of alien life.
I would not take obviously here to be focussed on just the noun Mars. Again, it seems to be a variant of the complement usage since which could comfortably go before it, with is placed either before or after.
However, the adverb namely seems different – less natural-sounding with which is – and will be included. Other adverbs that seem like it are especially notably, particularly and specifically.
.
MEANINGS OF NOUN-FOCUSSED ADVERBS
1. Degree Adverbs
Degree adverbs typically modify adjectives or other adverbs (see 194. Adverbs that Say How Much). The main ones that seem able to modify a noun (usually a countable one with a) are quite and rather. Quite with nouns seems the more widely usable. Its meaning varies less than with adjectives and adverbs (see 231. Confusions of Similar Structures 3, #2), being more typically “completely” than “moderately”. Rather, by contrast, does mean “moderately”, but it tends to be restricted to negative-sounding nouns like a fool, or a mess in sentence (c) above.
Some grammar books also mention back-referring such (= “at the recognised high level”), as in:
(h) Nobody could accept such a (radical) suggestion.
An adverb (as opposed to adjective) nature of such in this use is perhaps hinted at by the frequent implication of a following adjective that, like radical, conveys the main description of the noun.
.
2. Inclusion Adverbs
Two fundamental inclusion meanings are “excluding all others” – most typically expressed by only (see 251. The Grammar of “Only”) – and “surprisingly included” – usually shown by even. Both words easily meet the sentence-position requirements. They may begin like this:
(i) Only/Even children may use this facility.
The adverbs are associated here with the noun children, not with the later use this facility: the sentence is not naming the single or extra thing that children may do. The noun association can be present even with the adverbs after rather than before their noun.
If children were in the object position (e.g. after We accept…), the placement of only/even before it would not sound strange (though placement after it would again be possible too).
Of the various synonyms of only, just and solely seem usable like it, whereas exclusively and purely do not. To me, these latter sound unlikely at the start of a sentence and unusual just before an object. They seem to fit much better before prepositions and conjunctions (exclusively in summer, purely when the sun shines).
.
3. Highlighters
Especially, notably and particularly say that their noun deserves more attention than others in the same class (see 54. Sentence Lists 1: incidental). Their use with nouns seems mostly to be in apposition constructions, where there is another noun just before:
(j) Some parts of the solar system, especially Mars, may provide evidence of alien life.
Usage outside of apposition constructions, for example with a sentence-starting noun like children in (i), seems possible with especially and particularly, but rare and usually with the noun before rather than after them (Children especially…). A possible reason for the rarity may be a danger of a double meaning – difficulty deciding whether the adverb modifies the noun or the whole sentence. One way to more clearly show linkage with a starting noun is to use in particular (without commas) after it instead.
.
4. Precision Adverbs
Various adverbs are usable before a quantity noun to show how exact it is, as in exactly a kilogram, approximately a litre and easily a megabyte. Other relevant adverbs include almost, at least, nearly, perhaps, practically, precisely, probably, roughly and virtually (see 95. Making Statements More Uncertain 1, #1).
However, all the adverbs in this category may be less definitely noun modifiers than the kinds in preceding sections. It is arguable that they actually modify not the noun after them but the article a(n) before it. They are not usable if the same nouns are made plural, with a(n) absent. Plural nouns after them usually need a number in between (e.g. almost 3 kg.). Given that a(n) is sometimes an alternative to the number one (see 263. Uses of “One” and “Ones”, #2), it is difficult not to conclude that this meaning is what the adverbs are modifying.
The standard negative adverb not, which similarly modifies nouns only when they have a(n) (e.g. Not a word was spoken), may be discounted for the same reasons (see 310. Aspects of Negation, #1).
.
5. Name Indicators
The adverbs namely and specifically can introduce a name-informing noun placed along with them between two commas or equivalent as the second half of an apposition construction:
(k) One era of the dinosaurs, namely / specifically the Cretaceous, was the time of Tyrannosaurus.
Namely is always usable in such sentences, whereas specifically is only possible when the noun before it is indefinite, usually with a(n) or one (see the end of 206. Ways of Conveying a Name).
.
6. Superficiality Adverbs
Apparently, ostensibly, seemingly and superficially placed before a pronoun with any- (anybody, anyone, anything) or every- or no- can be understood as modifying it:
(l) The villagers had apparently nothing to do.
This usage seems possible with the pronoun used as either a subject or an object or an object of a preposition.
.
7. Negatives
The adverbs barely, hardly and scarcely seem as questionably able as not to modify a noun (see #4 above). However, they do seem more able to modify pronouns with any-:
(m) Hardly anyone disputes the need for action.
guinlist 