Adverb of Place

Where's the Action?

Which of these sentences provides a more precise picture of what is happening?

• Jane stood at the store.
• Jane stood inside the store.

The second one is a lot more precise, right? Now you have a clear picture of exactly where Jane was standing in relation to the store. And that is because I added one word: 'inside.' 'Inside' is an example of an adverb of place.

An adverb is a part of speech that modifies or describes a verb, adjective, or group of words. Its job is to provide more information about where the action in a sentence is happening. And adverbs of place, as their name suggests, are adverbs that show place, like 'inside.'

Examples

There are a couple dozen adverbs of place that we'll mention at the end of this lesson, but let's take a look at some of the most common ones in sentences. One common adverb of place is 'above.'

• The plane flew above my house.
• The tiger stood above its wounded prey.

And there is the opposite of above, which is 'below.'

• The submarine went thousands of feet below the sea.
• I stopped for gas because the gauge was below the halfway point.

Another pair of opposites is 'near' and 'far.'

• Kelly is near and will be here in two minutes.
• Kelly is still far away and will be another hour before she gets here.

See if you can spot the adverbs of place in this next set of examples:

• John went down the stairs.
• The kids went to play outside.
• The cat hid under the table.
• I stood on a chair to get a better view.

If you identified 'down,' 'outside,' 'under,' and 'on,' you're getting the hang of it. Notice that in all of these sentences, the adverb of place modifies the verb to show where the action is happening. For example, in the first sentence, 'down' modifies the verb 'went' to show where John went.

Full List of Adverbs of Place

Here is a full list of the most commonly used adverbs of place:

• about
• above
• abroad
• anywhere
• around
• back
• backwards
• behind
• below
• down
• elsewhere
• everywhere
• far
• here
• in
• inside
• near
• nearby
• off
• on
• out
• outside
• over
• there
• towards
• under
• up
• where