{"id":1322,"date":"2012-03-19T17:39:42","date_gmt":"2012-03-20T00:39:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/?p=1322"},"modified":"2020-01-15T10:50:50","modified_gmt":"2020-01-15T18:50:50","slug":"gmat-grammar-adverbial-phrases-and-clauses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/gmat-grammar-adverbial-phrases-and-clauses\/","title":{"rendered":"GMAT Grammar: Adverbial Phrases and Clauses"},"content":{"rendered":"

Understand these complex grammatical forms so you can master them on GMAT Sentence Correction<\/a><\/h2>\n

What is an adverbial phrase?\u00a0 What is an adverbial clause?\u00a0 What’s the difference between them?\u00a0 Do they have to contain adverbs?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Points of Grammar:<\/h2>\n

An adverb<\/span> is a word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.\u00a0 We can form a boatload of adverbs by taking adjectives and adding the suffix “-ly” (e.g. “joyously”, “readily”, “magnanimously”, “bouncingly” etc.)\u00a0 Other common single word adverbs include “very”, “too”, “well”, “now”, “then”, “here”, “there” etc.<\/p>\n

A phrase<\/span> can be either a prepositional phrase (preposition + noun-object) or a participial phrase (participle form of a verb, with possibly a direct object and\/or adverb).\u00a0 If it modifies a verb, an adjective, or adverb, then it’s an adverbial phrase.<\/p>\n

The independent clause of the sentence \u2013 main subject and main verb \u2014 will not be an adverbial clause.\u00a0 A dependent<\/span> (a.k.a.subordinate<\/span>) clause<\/span> also has its own subject and verb, and if it modifies a verb, an adjective, or adverb, then it’s an adverbial clause.<\/p>\n

Examples of Adverbial Phrases:<\/h2>\n

1) He drives like a maniac<\/span>.<\/p>\n

The prepositional phrase “like a maniac” is an adverbial phrase.\u00a0 It modifies the verb “drives” \u2014it describes how<\/span> he drives.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2) He walks dragging his left foot<\/span>.<\/p>\n

The participial phrase “dragging his left foot” is an adverbial phrase.\u00a0 It modifies the verb “walks” \u2014it describes how<\/span> he walks.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3) He is scornful with no mercy<\/span>.<\/p>\n

The prepositional phrase “with no mercy” is an adverbial phrase.\u00a0 It modifies the adjective “scornful” \u2014 it describes how<\/span> scornful.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Examples of Adverbial Clauses:<\/h2>\n

4) She sings when she sees the Sun in the morning<\/span>.<\/p>\n

The dependent clause “when she see the Sun in the morning” is an adverbial clause.\u00a0 It modifies the verb “sings” \u2014 it describes when<\/span> she sings.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

5) She is so happy that she skips everywhere<\/span>.<\/p>\n

The dependent clause “that she skips everywhere” is an adverbial clause.\u00a0 It modifies the adjective “happy” \u2014 it describes how<\/span>\u00a0happy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Doesn’t Necessarily Contain an Adverb<\/h2>\n

Notice that sentences #1-4 contain phrases and clauses that act like adverbs, but\u00a0which\u00a0do not themselves contain an adverb.\u00a0 The adverbial clause in sentence #5 happens to contain the adverb “everywhere.”\u00a0 An adverbial phrase may or may not contain an adverb itself.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Why Are These Important for the GMAT?<\/h2>\n

First of all, adverbial phrases are one of the marks of sophisticated writing.\u00a0 I guarantee that the GMAT Sentence Correction section you will see will be littered with them, so it’s good to be well acquainted with them beforehand.\u00a0 Also, the more comfortable you are with adverbial phrases, the more likely you are to use them in your own writing, including in the Analytical Writing Assessment of the GMAT. A well-chosen adverbial phrase will gives a sentence a touch of sophistication that can only help your AWA score.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For free, here’s a practice GMAT SC question<\/a>, involving these ideas.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Understand these complex grammatical forms so you can master them on GMAT Sentence Correction What is an adverbial phrase?\u00a0 What is an adverbial clause?\u00a0 What’s the difference between them?\u00a0 Do they have to contain adverbs?   Points of Grammar: An adverb is a word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.\u00a0 We can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[146],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[13209],"class_list":["post-1322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grammar"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGMAT Grammar: Adverbial Phrases and Clauses - Magoosh Blog \u2014 GMAT\u00ae Exam<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/gmat-grammar-adverbial-phrases-and-clauses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"GMAT Grammar: Adverbial Phrases and Clauses\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Understand these complex grammatical forms so you can master them on GMAT Sentence Correction What is an adverbial phrase?\u00a0 What is an adverbial clause?\u00a0 What’s the difference between them?\u00a0 Do they have to contain adverbs? 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Beyond standardized testing, Mike has over 20 years of both private and public high school teaching experience specializing in math and physics. In his free time, Mike likes smashing foosballs into orbit, and despite having no obvious cranial deficiency, he insists on rooting for the NY Mets. Learn more about the GMAT through Mike's Youtube video explanations.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/MagooshGMATChannel\/featured"],"award":["Magna cum laude from Harvard"],"knowsAbout":["GMAT"],"knowsLanguage":["English"],"jobTitle":"Content Creator","worksFor":"Magoosh","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/author\/mikemcgarry\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":13209,"user_id":26,"is_guest":0,"slug":"mikemcgarry","display_name":"Mike M\u1d9cGarry","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b06de81592cd77bb46aa560cc59aee179cba4d042835c3529221ea1b344cce0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"M\u1d9cGarry","first_name":"Mike","description":"Mike served as a GMAT Expert at Magoosh, helping create hundreds of lesson videos and practice questions to help guide GMAT students to success. He was also featured as \"member of the month\" for over two years at <a href=\"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/mike-mcgarrys-gmat-experience\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">GMAT Club<\/a>. Mike holds an A.B. in Physics (graduating <em>magna cum laude<\/em>) and an M.T.S. in Religions of the World, both from Harvard. Beyond standardized testing, Mike has over 20 years of both private and public high school teaching experience specializing in math and physics. In his free time, Mike likes smashing foosballs into orbit, and despite having no obvious cranial deficiency, he insists on rooting for the NY Mets. Learn more about the GMAT through Mike's <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/MagooshGMATChannel\/featured\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Youtube <\/a>video explanations and resources like <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/whats-a-good-gmat-score\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">What is a Good GMAT Score?<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/gmat-diagnostic-test\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">GMAT Diagnostic Test<\/a>."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1322\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1322"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=1322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}