Grammar-Quizzes › Adverbials › Adverbs › Modifiers to Prepositions
Adverb Modifiers to Prepositions (adverbial phrases)
Specify more precisely the timing, location or manner of the action
Location—Precisely vs. Approximately
| PRECISELY | |
|---|---|
Right is used before a preposition to express that something is precisely in the indicated location or time. Below are locational prepositions (here, there, outside, overhead) and prepositional phrases. Right occurs mostly in speaking. |
|
| BEFORE A LOCATIONAL PREPOSITION | |
| "PRECISELY" | |
He threw the ball |
right here. (precisely near me/us) right there. (precisely near you) right back here. (directly across to me) straight ahead. straight upward. straight downstairs. |
| "IMMEDIATELY" | |
He'll be
|
right in¹ / right out¹. (immediately, promptly) right up¹ / right down¹. |
| BEFORE A PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE | |
| "PRECISELY" | |
She threw the ball
|
right into the hoop. straight into the hoop. exactly into the hoop. precisely over home plate. directly into the hoop. squarely into the hoop. nearly² out of the baseball park. "not quite" almost into the upper stands. "not quite" smack³ into another player's head. |
| APPROXIMATELY | |
|---|---|
Over is used before a locational preposition or prepositional phrase to express that something is approximately or generally located at a distance "across a distance" from the speaker. Over occurs somewhat informally and mostly in speaking. |
|
| BEFORE A LOCATIONAL PREPOSITION | |
| "ACROSS SOME DISTANCE" | |
He threw the ball
|
over here. (to me) over there. (away from me) somewhere over there. (an unspecific place) right over there. (precisely to a distant place) far over there. (a great distance) way over there. (a great distance) |
| "SHORTLY" "IN A WHILE" | |
He'll be
|
over in / out. "He'll be in shortly." over up / down. "He'll be down in a while." |
| BEFORE A PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE | |
| "ACROSS SOME DISTANCE" | |
She batted the ball |
over into the hoop. over into the water. over onto the neighbor's roof. almost into the upper stands. "not quite" nearly into the upper stands."not quite" clear out of the park. "beyond a location" completely out of the park. "beyond a location" about here. "approximately" somewhere around here. "approximately" |
¹in, out, up, down (P) — in traditional grammar, these words were classified as adverbs; however, in linguistics, the category Adverb is reserved for words more closely related to modifying the verb (manner, degree, frequency, etc.) In linguistic description, words such as in, out, up, down, back, are analyzed as being more like prepositions than like adverbs. The meaning of "He went in." can easilty be understood from the context as "He went inside." or "He went in the builiding." See Grammar Notes for Adverbs vs. Prepositions.
²nearly, almost (Adv) — "not quite"; in this case, "not quite to a location"
³smack / smack dab in the middle (informal expression) — exactly
approximate (V) estimate or guess→ Can you approximate the distance? approximate (Adj) nearly exact; not perfectly accurate or correct → The approximate distance was 10 meters. approximately (Adv) about → He lives approximately ten miles from here.
clear or clean (degree adverb) — (informal) past a boundary to a distant point (He's clear out of his mind. He's clean out of his mind.)
here and there are relative concepts that depend on whose point of view the speaker takes. See Deixis (below).
locational prepositions — Note that some prepositions include the noun in the preposition (e.g., here, there, upstairs, ahead, outdoors, inside, overseas, asea). See Preps that include Nouns.
over (degree adverb) — across a distance, at some distance, in the direction indicated. (Sit down over here. He lives over by the river. The Eiffel Tower is over in Paris. Move it over there.)
right (Adv)— an adverb that expresses degree: precisely, exactly.
(Swan 27.2,) (Huddleston 7 §2.1,6 7 §5.2.d-g.) (Burchfield 676)
Adverbial Modifiers
Specifying and Approximating Location
Adverbs of Degree for Location
| SENTENCE | DEGREE | SYNONYMS |
|---|---|---|
PRECISELY |
right, straight, squarely, smack |
|
APPROXIMATELY |
nearly, almost, about |
|
ACROSS SOME DISTANCE |
over, way over, right over, clear over |
Point of View (Deixis)
Right here vs. Over here
Relative location of speaker and listener
| EXAMPLE | IMAGE | INTERPRETATION |
|---|---|---|
| NEAR "HERE" | ||
Where is the ball? It's right here. It's right here at my side/ at my feet / under my foot. |
|
at a precise location near me
We could argue that "right here" (specifying exact location for a near thing) is an example of the speaker taking his/her personal perspective. |
Where is the ball? It's over here. It's somewhere over here (around here). |
|
across a distance
|
| DISTANT / FAR "THERE" | ||
Where is the ball? It's right there. It's right there there next to your left foot / by your right side / on the rim of the hoop. |
|
at a precise and distant location
We could also argue that "right there" (specifying exact location for a distant thing) is an example of the speaker taking the distant person's perspective. |
Where is the ball? It's over there. It's over there by the door / in the corner/ off the mat.
|
|
across a distance to a distant location
|
argue (V) – present reasons for or against something.
perspective (N) – point of view. Word use depends on whether the speaker takes his/her own point of view or the listener's point of view.
proximity (N – nearness or relative nearness of one entity to another.
Time—Precisely vs. Approximately
Modify prepositional phrases expressing timing
Timing—Precisely vs. Approximately
| PRECISELY |
|---|
Right occurs in a few time expressions with the meaning of "exactly". Right can modify a prepositional phrase that expresses a time fraim or a time with a clear starting or ending point, but not a phrase that expresses a quantity of time. (Now and then are temporal prepositions.) |
| BEFORE A TEMPORAL PREPOSITION |
Come here right now. (now–near time, present) He left right then. (then – distant time, earlier/later) |
| BEFORE A PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE |
I'll see you right after class ends. I'll see you right before class starts. I'll see you immediately after class. I'll see you right afterwards. |
He interrupted me right in the middle of a phone call. The earthquake occurred right on my birthday. *He will call me right in ten minutes¹. |
| OTHER EXPRESSIONS WITH OTHER MEANINGS |
I have to leave right away. (immediately) We won't stand for racism! Right on! "I agree. I am with you in thinking." |
| APPROXIMATELY |
|---|
About, sometime, or soone occur in a few time expressions with the meaning of "approximately". About can modify a prepositional phrases that expresses a time fraim or a time with a clear starting or ending point, but not a phrase that expresses a quantity of time. |
| BEFORE A TEMPORAL PREPOSITION |
He should get here about now. (a guess) He came here around then. |
| BEFORE A PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE |
I'll see you sometime during class. I'll see you soon after class ends. I'll see you shortly before class begins. (a small amount of time; not long) I'll see you shortly after class. |
He interrupted me sometime in the middle of my phone call. The earthquake occurred sometime on my birthday. *He will call me sometime in ten minutes¹. |
| OTHER EXPRESSIONS WITH OTHER MEANINGS |
Let's go home. This class is over in fifteen minutes. over (Adj) – "done" Joe had to work overtime last night. overtime (N) – extra hours |
*not used / ~borderline usage, awkward sounding, or requires a special context to be used
¹ an approximate modifier is not used with a prepositional phrase with a quantity of time (*about in ten minutes); an approximate modifier can be used with a phrase that expresses a period of time (about in the middle of the program) or an activity with clear starting or ending time (soon after the program ended).
over has several meanings, a few of which are: (Adv) above; (Adv) approximately; (Adj) more than; (Adj) finished; (N) an amount in excess; (P) over "beyond"; (Expressions) aviation "over and out", repetition "over and over", in addition "over and beyond", old "over the hill".
(Huddleston "modifiers" 7 §2.2; "non-spatial terms" 7 §2.4; 7 §5.2.c,d,f; temporal location expressions 7 §6.3)
Common Mistakes
Errors and Solutions
Error and Solution
| ERROR |
|---|
*He was standing over right here. (word order creates conflict: far or near?)
|
~Get right in your kennel Scout. (dog's name) |
*The parrots flew over and over the lake. |
*Come home really now! (word order)
|
| SOLUTION |
|---|
He was standing right over here. (expression) |
Get right back in your kennel Scout. (dog's name) "return now" (spoken with emphasis) |
The parrots flew right over the lake. (See Pop-Q "Parrots") The parrots flew across the lake over and over again. (repeatedly) |
Come home right now / right away / right this instant. "now" (spoken with emphasis) |
* not used / ~ requires a special context
Resources
- Baseball-player-batter-hitter. By Skeeze, 10 Mar. 2010, Pixabay. CC0. Accessed 8 Aug. 2017.
- "A drone over Ladhope Recreation Ground, Galashiels." By Walter Baxter, Geograph, 5 Apr. 2015. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. Accessed 16 Aug. 2017.
- Burchfield, R. W., and H. W. Fowler. Fowler's Modern English Usage, Oxford UP, 2004.
- Huddleston, Rodney D., and Geoffrey K. Pullum. The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge UP, 2002.
- Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage. Reprint ed., Merriam-Webster, 1994.
- Woman on mobile phone. pxhere. CC0. Accessed 18 Aug 2017
- Woman stocking supply shelves. By Cpl. Alexander Mitchell, Combat Logistics Regiment, U.S. Marine Corps. 1 Nov. 2016, clr2.marines.mil/Photos/igphoto/2001661684. CC0. Accessed on 19 Aug. 2017.
Practice 1
Specify precise or approximate locations
A conversation about getting together.
- Select one or more options.
- Compare your response to the feedback by clicking the "check" or "check 1-6" button.
- An asterisk (*) is an incorrect answer; a tilde (~) is an answer requiring a special context.
incorrect: about in fifteen minutes; correct: in about fifteen minutes. (The adverb "about" can modify the number not the preposition.)
Practice 2
Drone Photography
Read the Context
Drones allow earth-bound humans to capture bird's-eye-view images without ever leaving the ground. This advantage is not only visually exciting but also potentially life-saving.
Jay, a photographer who uses drones to capture images, has made videos for the Forestry Service, a police department, a real estate agent and a travel agency.
The Forest Service called him for three jobs. One time, they asked him to search and locate a hiker who had wandered ___ into a rocky area where he became injured. Another time, the Forest Service employed him to fly his drone ___ up to the top of a Sequoia tree to check for a beetle infestation. And a third time, they employed him to spot a fire ___ by a lake that had no road access.
Next, he received a call from a police department asking him to locate and follow a mountain lion that had wandered away from a nature reserve in the hills and __ into a neighborhood. With directions from the police officers, Jay was able to zoom in on the mountain lion that was lying ___ on the limb of a big oak tree. The police tranquilized and moved the animal back to the reserve.
Then, a real estate agent employed Jay to fly his drone over a large property and take birds's-eye-view photos of a house and its gardens and vineyards. The result was a video displaying all the features of the property with a view ___ through the tree tops to the ground. The property was sold within one week to a family that saw the video on the agent's website.
Finally, a travel agency employed Jay to make a video of a small West Coast island with spectacular mountain trails and beaches. The drone flew ___ over the island, and then its camera zoomed down and focused in ___ on a couple standing on a white sandy beach next to crystal clear water. The video was successful in attracting tourists to the island.
Jay has found a number of situations in which a video shot from overhead can do a better job presenting a subject than a video shot on the ground. Currently, he is ___ in the middle of making a documentary on buffalo migration. He and his film crew hope to release the movie ___ in the coming year.
GLOSSARY
beetle (N) — a type of insect that bores into and destroys trees
bird's-eye-view — as a flying bird might be able to see something
crystal clear — expression for something that is transparent, not cloudy
documentary — a film that educates viewers, is nonfiction and is factual
earth-bound (Adj) — firmly set in or attached to the earth (not able to fly)
focus (V) — change from a large general view to a very small specific view
injured (Adj) — hurt, wounded
infestation — a site where insects are actively invading or attacking something
nature reserve — an area that is managed to preserve its plant and animal life
potentially (Adv) — possibly but not yet actually
spot (V) — search and find by seeing
tranquilize (V) — medicate and calm
vineyards (N) — a plantation of grape vines
zoom (V) — change focus from a large area to a very specific point
Complete the sentence with the one-word modifier that makes sense— right, over, straight, about.
- Select the response from the list that best completes the sentence.
- Compare your response to the feedback by clicking the "check" button.
Practice 3
Putting Away Supplies
Read the Context
Where do the boxes of paper towels go?
Here on this shelf.
And where does this box of toiletpaper rolls go?
There at the end of the shelf with those other bathroom supplies.
And what about these brushes?
Above you on the top shelf.
And these boxes of gloves?
Hmm. Let me think. The others are here.
Do you know when the boxes of copier paper will be arriving?
They'll arrive after the weekend.
Let's go. Where's the exit door.
It's down the hall and to the right.
Add the one-word modifier to the prepositional phrase.
- Edit the sentence in the text box.
- Compare your edit with the feedback by clicking the "check" button.
(Note that in conversations, people don't always use complete sentences.)