Дипломная работа: Syntagmatic and paradigmatic peculiarities of adverbs in English

I rather suspect we’re making a mistake [38]. (degree)

Some adverbs of time though synonymous, are used in different syntactic patterns. Thus, already is used in affirmative sentences, and yet - in interrogative and negative sentences:

Tim has already come back from his trip [40].

I haven’t finished my report yet [38].

Have you finished yet [38]?

However, already may occur in interrogative and negative sentences when there is an element of surprise or the question is suggestive, that is the speaker expects an affirmative answer:

Have they finished already [35]?

Adverbs may function as adverbial modifiers to an adjective or another adverb [19]. Usually the modifying adverb is an intensifier (very, rather, awfully, so, terribly, extremely, most, utterly, unusually, delightfully, unbelievably, amazingly, strikingly, highly, that, etc.) The same applies to composite adverbs, such as (kind of, sort of, a good bit of, a lot of, a hell of, a great deal of, etc.):

It is terribly important for parents to be consistent [38].

This new program is unbelievably good [41].

It made me feel kind of awkward [41].

Some adverbs - still, yet, far, much, any combine with comparative adjectives (much worse, not any better, still greater, etc.)

Adverbs of degree can modify certain kinds of prepositional phrases:

They lived nearly on the top of the hill [40].

His remarks were not quite to the point [40].

Comparative adverbs are used in clauses of proportional agreement, that is, parallel clauses in which qualities or actions denoted in them increase or decrease at an equal rate [25, 177]:

The longer I think about it the less I understand your reasons [41].

To express the idea that a quality or action decreases or increases at an even rate the comparative may be repeated, the two identical forms being connected by and:

He cried louder and louder [25, 177].

There are some adverbs which may modify nouns or words of nominal character, functioning as attribute, as in: the way ahead, the trip abroad, the journey home, his return home, the sentence above (below), the day before. A few adverbs can premodify nouns without losing their adverbial character: the then president, in after years, the above sentence, the now generation.

As adverbs modify words of different classes, they accordingly occupy different positions in the sentence. In comparison with other words, adverbs may be considered as the most movable words.However, adverbs are not identical in their ability to be moved to another position in the structure. There are generally four possible positions for adverbs in the sentence [18, 397]:

1) at the head of the sentence;

2) between the subject and predicate or, if the predicate is a complicated form, the adverb appears after the first auxiliary verb, link-verb or a modal verb;

3) before the word the adverb modifies;

4) at the end of the sentence.

Different semantic groups of adverbs tend to appear in different positions. Thus, many adverbs of time and frequency prefer Position 2:

A good strong cup of coffee is just what I need right now [41].

He is always in time for meals [38].

They sometimes stay up all night [41].