MOSTOVI 2/1989/XXIV 39
Margaret Davis
Adverbial placement in English: some
guidelines*
V članku so najprej podana osnovna načela, ki zadevajo stavo prislovnih določil v angleškem
stavku, in sicer v začetnem, vmesnem in končnem položaju. Posebej gre za pomembno razliko med
prislovnimi določili stavka in prislovnimi določili povedkovnega dela stavka. Na stavo prislovnih
določil v slovenskem stavku pa vpliva vodilno besednoredno načelo: členitev po aktualnosti. Ker se
jezika najbolj razlikujeta glede vmesnega položaja - v glavnem ga uporabljamo v angleščini za
prislove, in 'to iz nekaterih pomenskih podtipov, v slovenščini pa takih omejitev ni - predlagamo
smernice za slovenska prislovna določila v vmesnem položaju, po katerih pri prevajanju v
angleščino izberemo bodisi končni bodisi začetni položaj.
Every Slovene translator is aware of the word order differences between his/her own
language and English; in this article I propose to look at some of the consequences of such
differences for adverbial placement. The term adverbial is here used to denote adverbs and
adverbial phrases which modify the verb or the whole clause/sentence. In semantic type they
are comparable with prislovna določila as treated by J. Toporišič in his Slovenska slovnica (i.e.
adverbials of plače, time, manner, etc.).
Of ali the English clause elements, adverbials have the most variety of position vvithin the
fairly fixed word order of subject - verb - object, and some adverbials are mobile enough to be
capable of occupying more than one position. The follovving formula shows the three basic
positions, the variants of medial position depending on the type of adverbial and the number of
auxiliaries (A = adverbial, S = subject, (aux) = auxiliary (if present), V = main verb, O = object):
(subord. conjunction) - A - S - A (aux) A (aux) A (aux) A-V-(A)-0-A
initial medial finaI
(Note: Unlike the situation in Slovene, the adverbial position betvveen V and O (here
indicated by (A)) is normally avoided in English unless the object is lengthy and/or complex, as
in »The atmosphere on Venus creates on its surface a pressure comparable to that exerted on
a submarine 1000 m. below sea level.«)
Some examples to illustrate medial position in sentences with complex verb phrases:
(1) I think that version of events originally must have been circulated quite widely to put
people off the scent.
* Članek, ki je bil natisnjen v Mostovih št. 2/88, ponovno objavljamo in se avtorici opravičujemo za tiskarske napake
pri prvi objavi (op. uredništva).
40 MOSTOVI 2/1989/XXIV
(2) It should never have been left out ali night.
(3) Such evidence will have been very carefully examined by the police.
And an example of a »mobile« adverbial:
(4) Sometimes 1 1 can’t help giving him a piece of my mind. t
(The arrows indicate alternative positions.)
Characteristics of English adverbial positions
(a) Initial position. The adverbial functions as a sentence modifier and typically expresses a
»setting« for the vvhole clause/sentence. This function can be appropriately realized by
adverbials of time (those ansvvering when? how long?), plače (those ansvvering where? where
from?), means/instrument, viewpoint, etc:
(5) Ali his life he had lived on a farm, just like his father and grandfather before him.
(6) Financially, this new scheme seems set for success.
(b) Final position. Overall, this is the most common adverbial position in English.
(i) It is the normal position for adverbials which modify only the predicate (i.e. predicate
modifiers as distinct from the sentence modifiers mentioned above). Typical predicate modifiers
are those expressing goal or direction, manner, etc:
(7) He flung the stone at the snarling dog.
through the window.
with ali his might.
Obligatory adverbials (i.e. those required after certain verbs to complete the sense of a
sentence) are also predicate modifiers:
(8) He lived in Canterbury.
in the fifteenth century.
(9) They treated him shamefully.
(10) Sandra dresses very elegantly.
(11) He keeps his prize geraniums in the greenhouse.
(12) You’d better put the birthday cake out of sight for now.
Traditional grammarians found it difficult at times to distinguish betvveen sentence and
predicate modification but the follovving examples should help to clarify the difference:
(13) For 3 years, Susie lived in Pariš,
sentence mod. predicate mod.
(14) ?ln Pariš, Susie lived for 3 years.
The verb //Ve obligatorily requires an adverbial of plače and/or time, the former type being
more closely bound to the verb (and thus occupying postverbal position). Hence the oddness of
example (14), which vvould require the verb to mean something like ’experienced life to the full’,
’really came alive compared with merely existing elsewhere’.
(15) Susie made a special point of reading Moliere in Pariš.
(in Pariš modifies reading Moliere - she read Moliere in Pariš and not in Birmingham or Berlin).
(16) In Pariš, Susie made a special point of reading Moliere.
Notice how the same adverbial (in Pariš) can function as predicate modifier (15) or sentence
modifier (16), depending on the intended meaning of the sentence.
(ii) It can be a neutral^position for sentence modifiers. It is now seen that sentence modifiers
can occupy either initial or final position:
(17) He had lived on a farm ali his life, just like his father and grandfather before him. (cf.*(5)
above)
and choosing the more appropriate position may prove a tricky task for Slovene translators (but
see Reasons for choosing final/initial position, pp. 43-44).
In contrast to the notion of »setting« (for initial adverbials), we may here introduce the notion
MOSTOVI 2/1989/XXIV 41
of »specification«, i.e. the adverbial specifies some necessary information, which is the main
point of the communication - and in this čase it must be final. Both sentence and predicate
modifiers can function as specification:
(18) He has lived in Iceland since 1950. (sentence mod. - specifies the ansvver to »Since
when has he lived in Iceiand?«)
(19) She has gone to her uncie s. (predicate mod. - specifies the ansvver to »Where has she
gone?«)
(20) I went to bed at 8 o clock last night. (predicate mod. - specifies the ansvver to »When did
you go to bed last n ight? «)
If the nuciear tone falls on »eight«, the adverbial at 8 o’clock will represent specification, vvhile
the sentence modifier last night could be final or fronted to initial position (see pp. 43-44).
In clauses with two or more auxiliaries, sentence modifiers stand nearer the beginning of the
verb phrase, vvhile predicate (especially verb) modifiers precede the main verb: see examples
(1) and (3) respectively.
Some adverbs show a difference in meaning according to the difference betvveen initial and
final position - and the difference betvveen sentence and predicate modification:
(21 )
(22 )
(23)
Clearly, John had vvritten the report.
(Očitno je napisal poročilo Janez.
Wisely, he nodded his head.
(Bilo je (čisto) pametno, da je prikimal.
Naturally, I want you to behave.
(Seveda želim, da se pametno obnašaš.
J. had vvritten the report clearly.
J. je (zelo) jasno napisal poročilo.)
He nodded his head wisely.
Modro je prikimal.)
I vvant you to behave naturally.
Želim, da se naravno obnašaš,
da se obnašaš naravno.)
(c) Medial position. This is mostly limited to adverbs and short (set) phrases, and is most
common with certain semantic types, e.g. those expressing frequency and indefinite time (but
not definite time - cf. *l yesterday went to the bank), degree, and manner in passive sentences
(cf. very carefully in example (3)). The follovving examples from English texts vvritten/translated
by Slovenes show typical mistakes (i.e. an adverbial phrase, and of inappropriate semantic
type, placed in medial position):
(24) t Echocardiography has in recent years been documented as an effective examination in
the diagnosis of organic heart diseases.
In the čase of an AE phenomenon, the source is most frequently of infinitesimal size, so
that T the displacement field can be everywhere outside the source represented T by the
elastic response.
The sentences could be corrected by moving the adverbials to the positions indicated by the
arrovvs.
In terms of the scope of modification medial position can accept both sentence and
predicate modifiers. »Mobile« adverbials (see example (4)) are sentence modifiers.
(25)
Comparison with Slovene
Slovene word order is governed by the principle of členitev po aktualnosti (functional
sentence perspective - for a fuller explanation see J. Toporišič, Slovenska slovnica, pp.
532-34), denoting the segmentation of individual parts of the sentence according to their
communicative function. Explained most simpiy, a sentence in neutral word order is divided into
tvvo parts: izhodišče (departure point) and jedro (kernel). Theme and rheme respectively are
terms commonly used in English for these notions.
The choice of jedro is important for the development of the communication, vvhile any clause
element - including any kind of adverbial - can be selected as izhodišče. The distinction
42 MOSTOVI 2I1989/XXIV
betvveen sentence and predicate modification, which, as seen above, affects the placement of
adverbials in English, seems not to be significant in Slovene:
(26) V Ljubljano pride vlak ob 17.00.
The train arrives in Ljubljana at 17.00. (predicate modifier).
Cf. *in Ljubljana the train arrives at 17.00.
Slovene being a »free word order« language, there is no scheme of adverbial positions in
Slovene grammar, but for practical purposes of comparison I will propose the simple framevvork
of
(a) initial position - the first »slot« in the clause
(b) final position - the last »siot« in the clause
(c) medial position - occupying any »slot« betvveen initial and final position.
An important difference betvveen Slovene and English is that in the former, adverbials are
placed finally only if they function as jedro/rheme (specification). Generally speaking, if an
adverbial is final in a Slovene clause/sentence, the equivalent adverbial in the English
translation will be final, too. So the main problem for translators is what to do with adverbials
vvhich are initial or medial in Slovene. Can the same positions be used in English or not? As we
have already seen, initial position in English is typically reserved for sentence modifiers;
predicate modifiers are exceptionally fronted to achieve special effects of parallelism, contrast
or emphasis:
(27) In Egypt he lived and in Egypt he died. (cf. (8) and (13))
(28) Their’s not to reason why
Their’s but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred ...
Stormed at with shot and shell
Boldly they rade and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred. (Tennyson, The charge of the Light Brigade’)
The biggest difference betvveen the two languages, and the one we will now concentrate on,
is to be found in medial position, vvhich is rather restricted in English 1 but is widely used in
Slovene (even if vve limit it to the same concept of verb phrase related medial position as in
English). Slovene medial position usefully »absorbs« any adverbial vvhich does not function as
rheme and is not selected as theme (theme position tending to be rather more distinctive than
medial position). Firstly, hovvever, medial position can correspond in the two languages under
the conditions for English adverbials mentioned under (c) p. 41.
For example:
(29) Antraks je kužna bolezen, ki včasih napade pristaniške delavce.
Anthrax is an infection vvhich sometimes affects dock vvorkers.
(30) Crngrobske orgle so sicer dolgo pripisovali ljubljanskemu mojstru Tomažu Kreku.
The Crngrob organ was long ascribed to the Ljubljana master Tomaž Krek.
(The duration adverb long is restricted to medial position.)
When these conditions do not apply, the English adverbial equivalents of Slovene medial
adverbials vvill need to be placed either initially or finally. What guidelines should influence the
choice of position?
Reasons for choosing final position
(a) predicate modification. Note the further phenomenon of object related adverbials, i.e.
they modify V + O:
MOSTOVI 2I1989/XXIV 43
(31) Tako bi lahko trdili, da je tehnično najbolje izpeljana trasa... tista trasa, ki se bo najbolje
in najbolj naravno prilagodila terenu, ter bo zato tudi estetsko najboljša.
It can be argued that the best engineering line will be... the one vvhich fits the ground
most closely and naturally and vvhich is therefore aesthetically the most pleasing.
(b) verb complementation. Although it is possible for the verb to be final in an English
clause/sentence, there is a tendency to complement the verb by means of elements placed
postverbally. Adverbials can suitably complement intransitive or passive verbs:
(32) .. .Ta spoznanja se trenutno pri nas nakazujejo, saj se v zadnjih 8-10 letih povečuje
zanimanje mladih za študij agronomije in živinoreje.
... This realization can be seen here at present, for the interest among young people in
studying agriculture and animal husbandry has increased in the last 8-10 years.
(Apart from the translation of medially placed Slovene adverbials, this English feature of verb
complementation can be relevant, too, regarding the translation of short Slovene clauses of
A-V-S pattern, as the corresponding English pattern is often S-V-A:
(33) Prizadeta je kontrola za selektivno izvajanje gibov. Na eni strani se pojavljajo nepotrebne
motorične aktivnosti, na drugi strani pa obstaja odsotnost potrebne aktivnosti. V različnih
kombinacijah se pojavijo vzorčni mišični odgovori.
... Patterns of muscle responses appear in different combinations.)
(c) sentence modification. As already mentioned, this is a neutral, commonly used position for
sentence modifiers, especially when the alternative initial placement might inappropriately
imply some contrast (see example (38) belovv):
(34) Podatkov o vzporednih raziskavah bovinih in humanih izolatov Str. agal. je v literaturi zelo
malo.
There are very few data on parallel investigations of bovine and human isolates of Str.
agal. in the literature.
(d) the elimination principle. Initial position, vvhich might come into consideration, is already
occupied:
(35) Kot edini administrator, ki je imel v novi upravi sploh kaj izkušenj, je Buffarini Guidi že od
začetka opozarjal na posledice tega položaja.
As the only administrator of any experience in the new administration, B.G. pressed the
consequences of this situation from the beginning.
(Cf. From the beginning, B.G. pressed the consequences of this situation.)
Reasons for choosing initial position
(a) it provides a setting, especially in longer clauses that already have postverbal
complementation (see (b) belovv). Such placement is also relevant vvhen the adverbial modifies
more than one clause:
(36) Čeprav smo vse do današnjih dni ta spoznanja proučevali, razvijali in jih uvajali v prakso,
še ne moremo trditi, da ...
Although right up to the present day we have examined and developed this realization,
and put it into practice, vve stili cannot claim to...
An anaphoric adverbial (i.e. referring to something in the preceding text) can well be initial:
(37) In such/these cases echocardiography is the most useful diagnostic method.
Depending on the context, hovvever, an adverbial transposed to initial position may imply
some contrast. »Last night I vvent to bed at 8 o'clock« (as a variant of example (20)) could
appropriately serve to introduce some anecdote (Last night... at 8 o’clock, and I vvas just
dropping off to sleep vvhen suddenly ...) or could appropriately indicate a contrast vvith
other nights (Normally I go to bed rather late but last night ...). But in the follovving
example:
44 MOSTOVI 2/1989/XXIV
(38) To problemsko področje je pri nas še premalo proučeno.
This area is stili too little studied in Slovenia.
the adverbial if fronted (In Slovenia this area is stili too little studied) might overemphasize the
sense of contrast, implying Slovenia is sadly different in this respect from other countries.
(b) the principle of »weight distribution«, which does not appear to be relevant to Slovene.
In English, the undesirable accumulation of too many elements at the end of the clause can be
avoided by fronting a sentence modifier:
(39) 23 letni pacient je bil 10. 2. 1986 sprejet v tukajšnjo ustanovo na kompleksno
rehabilitacijo stanja po poškodbi torakalne hrbtenice.
On 10. 2. 1986 the 23-year-old patient was admitted to this institute for complex
rehabilitation follovving injury to the thoracic area of the spine.
(c) the avoidance of wrong modification or possible ambiguity. In example (39) the English
adverbial of time should not be placed finally since it refers to the patienfs admission and not to
the occasion of his injury.
1 The use of medial position is rather restricted for English adverbials of the semantic types dealt vvith here, though
not necessarily for those which are roughly equivalent in meaning to Slovene particles (členki), as treated by J. Toporišič
(Slovenska slovnica, pp. 384-85).