We all know that there are eight parts of speech in English grammar. They are the sets of words that help us form sentences and add meaning to them to convey a complete thought. Among those eight parts, adverbs are one basic unit.
Adverbs are very commonly used in sentences. These are basically the terms that help us modify words in a sentence and add more meaning to them. Adverbs can be further divided into several types, one of which is adverbs of time. Adverbs of time are the type of adverbs that modifies a word in relation to time. It means they change the quality of words in a sentence by expressing their condition concerning time and duration.
However, there are different ways in which they convey the importance of time in a sentence. If you are new to this concept, refer to the explanations given below.
What are adverbs of time?
In common sense, adverbs are a set of words that help us modify a verb. When these words change or modify the quality of the action word by expressing when it happens, they are said to be adverbs of time.
So, adverbs of time are simply a unit of adverbs used to indicate that an action happened or will happen at a particular point in time. Moreover, they not only modify verbs, but adverbs of time can also work with adjectives or another adverb present in a sentence.
Let us look at some examples to have a clearer understanding.
- I will see you later.
- He visited me yesterday.
- Can we have a chat now?
So, the words that are marked in bold express when a particular action happened or will happen. Hence, they are called adverbs of time.
However, this is just the basic understanding of adverbs of time. Adverbs of time can function in different other ways as well. Let us look into all of their functions.
What happens when: The basic function, of course, is that adverbs of time express when a particular action happens.
I will see you tomorrow.
For how long: Another group of adverbs of time helps us express how long an action occurred. They describe the duration of the action.
I was working all day.
How often: Some adverbs of time allow us to express how often an action occurs. That means it tells us the frequency of a particular action.
I rarely eat fruits.
Usage of adverbs of time
Finally, we will learn where exactly do we use adverbs of time in a sentence.
The most common and neutral way of using them is to place one at the end of a sentence. That easily expresses when a particular action happened or will happen. But that is not static. The adverb’s position can be easily changed to emphasize a certain aspect in a sentence.
- Sarah will see you tomorrow.
- Later I will come to your place.
And when it comes to using adverbs that express how long and how often an action occurs, they are mostly placed at the neutral position. That is at the end of a sentence.
- She studied all day.
- He travels very often.
Thus, we have adverbs of time, one of the commonly used words in a sentence that modify an action by providing information concerning time. Also, more than one adverb can simultaneously occur in a sentence and still stand grammatically correct.
