The adverbial of degree

The adverbial of comparison

Adverbials of attendant circumstances and subsequent events

§ 108. These adverbials have no identifying questions. The adverbial of attendant circumstances expresses some fact that accompanies the event presented by the modified part of the sentence. This adverbial may be expressed by a gerundial phrase, a participial phrase, any kind of absolute construction, and rather rarely by an infinitive phrase.

We walked three miles without meeting anyone (and did not meet anyone)

“No,” said Gabriel, turning to his wife (and turned to his wife)

I dropped my fists and walked away, “ Scout’s a coward” ringing in my ears.

In the study with the door closed, he stood before the window, smoking his pipe.

The adverbial of subsequent events points out an event following the event presented in the modified part of the sentence. This adverbial is most frequently expressed by an infinitive,or sometimes by a participle.

He woke up to see that it was daylight.

They said something to her, receiving no answer.

§ 109. This adverbial is introduced by the conjunctions than, as, as if, as though or the preposition like. The adverbial with than is preceded by the comparative of the adverb or the adjective it modifies, the adverbial with as - by the correlative adverbs as or so:

A mountain is higher than a hill.

The boy is now as tall as his father.

Tom is not so tall as his brother.

Tom speaks French as fluently as a born Frenchman.

Tom speaks French like a Frenchman.

The difference between the use of like and as is important.

Ann talked to us like a teacher means that Ann is not a teacher, whereas the sentence Ann talked to us as a teacher implies that she is a teacher and in talking to us her professional manner was apparent.

The conjunctions as if and as though give the comparison a modal shade of meaning: They precede a participle, an infinitive, or a prepositional phrase, as in:

As if obeying him, I turned and stared into his face.

He prospered greatly, almost as though against his will.

§ 110. This adverbial modifies various parts of the sentence expressed by verbs, adjectives, adverbs and statives, characterizing actions, states and quality from the viewpoint of their intensity. The identifying questions being how much? to what extent?

Adverbials of degree are expressed mainly by adverbs and by preposi­tional phrases with the preposition to.

The story is extremely long.

All was planned to the split second.

Now you may read to your hearts content.

Sometimes nouns can be modified by an adverbial of degree, as in:

You are quite a man, my boy.

Дата добавления: 2015-07-02