Multilingual Writers and ESL Challenges

Avoiding adverbs between verbs and objects

Most adverbs modifying verbs can appear in various positions:

at the beginning or end of the sentence
before or after the verb
between a helping verb and a main verb

Example sentence: Slowly, Jonah added 5 mL to HCI to the test tube. Example sentence: Jonah slowly added 5 mL of HCL to the test tube.

Example sentence: Mother wrapped the gift carefully. Example sentence: Mother carefully wrapped the gift.

Example sentence: Christina is rarely late for our lunch dates. Example sentence: Christina rarely is late for our lunch dates.

However, an adverb cannot appear between a verb and its direct object.

Example sentence with editing. Original sentence: Mother wrapped carefully the gift. Revised sentence: Mother carefully wrapped the gift. Explanation: The word “carefully” has been moved before the verb “wrapped.”

The adverb carefully may be placed at the beginning or at the end of this sentence or before the verb, wrapped. It cannot appear after the verb because the verb is followed by a direct object, the gift.

Exercises:

Sentence structure 1

Sentence structure 2