Adverbials include; One-word adverbs [e.g. now,there, away, slowly], etc. Prepositional phrases [on Tuesday, at home, to the farm, etc.]; clauses [before you arrive, if he comes, etc.]; noun phrases [last week, last year, etc.] and other types. They can be classified into adverbials of time, place, manner, degree, etc. They usually modify a verb, but some adverbials can play other modifying roles. Altogether adverbials are a very mixed group. 

Common errors treated here include the misuse of adverbs of time and degree, and the wrong positioning of adverbs. Another quite common error is to give the wrong meaning to an adverbial clause through the wrong choice of conjunction.

Manner Adverbs

A very large number of adverbs, including most adverbs of manner, are formed by adding Iy to an adjective: Slow [adjective], slowly [adverb]; Secret, secretly etc. This is not possible if the adjective already ends in Iy e.g. likely. There are also a few other adjectives which do not addIy, to form an adverb, for example: Fast

Wrong: She ran fastly because the rain was coming.

Correct: She ran fast because the train was coming

Time adverbs

After wrongly used:- 

Wrong: The doctor is busy at present. Come again after.

Correct: The doctor is busy at present. Come again later.  After should not be used by itself as an adverb of time.

As of now:-

Wrong: As at now Musa is trying to build a house.

Correct: As of now Musa is trying to build a house.

Before:-

Wrong: I last visited the zoo before three years.

Correct: I last visited the zoo three years ago. When used as a preposition of time, before, means earlier than ...: There were powerful states in Africa before the coming of the Europeans.

Before can also be used as an adverb usually coming at the end of a clause or a sentence, and meaning earlier than this: I have never set eyes on him before. But ago is the right word meaning at such-and-such a point in time before the present.

This article was culled from the publications of Deen Communication Limited