6.5 adding meaning to verb groups

The most common way in which adverbial groups give additional information is by adding something to the meaning of a verb group within a clause.

• He nodded and smiled warmly.
• The report says that hospitals and rescue services coped extremely well.
• Nevertheless, he does dramatize pretty faithfully this Joan of Arc period.

Prepositional phrases have a wider range of meanings.

• It was estimated that at least 2,000 people were on the two trains.
• Kenny Stuart came second, knocking two minutes off his previous best time.
• Unemployment has fallen below two million for the first time since 1980.

Many intransitive verbs normally require an adjunct. See paragraph 3.11 for more information about these.

• Ashton had behaved abominably.
• She turned and rushed out of the room.

Some transitive verbs normally require an adjunct after the object of the verb. For more information about these, see paragraph 3.20.

• I put my hand on the door.