Grammar: Groups & phrases: Adverb group

Expressing how / when / where

Form and function

We use the term 'adverb group' when we are referring to a particular form or grammatical category.

When we want to talk about how adverb groups function to tell us ‘when’, ‘where’, ‘how’, we can use a term like Circumstance , because adverb groups tell us about the circumstances surrounding an activity.

Another grammatical form which can function as a Circumstance, telling us ‘when’, ‘where’, ‘how’, is the prepositional phrase (ie a preposition + noun group):

We always need to remember that there is never a one-to-one relationship between form and function: one grammatical form might perform a number of different functions, and a particular function might be expressed by a range of grammatical forms, as in the following table:

So the same function ('expressing how/when/where...') can be performed by adverbs, adverb groups and prepositional phrases.

For more information on other grammatical classes that have similar functions to adverb groups, see:

	Grammar: Groups & phrases: Prepositional phrases: Expressing how / when / where / why: Overview
	Grammar: Word classes: Adverbs: Expressing how / when / where

Note that the term Circumstance is written with a capital to remind us that it is a functional term.