Correct Usage of "When" Adverbs in Sentences
Correct Usage of "When" Adverbs in Sentences
Dear teacher, I need your help with my daughter’s homework—she’s writing a detective story and has to use When adverbs. 🕵️♀️
She wrote, “The detective arrived at the crime scene later,” but she’s unsure if she’s using the best word to show timing. Would something like immediately or eventually work better depending on the situation?
Also, do words like yesterday or tonight count as When adverbs too? She’s super excited about making her mystery sound real, so we’d love your advice!
She wrote, “The detective arrived at the crime scene later,” but she’s unsure if she’s using the best word to show timing. Would something like immediately or eventually work better depending on the situation?
Also, do words like yesterday or tonight count as When adverbs too? She’s super excited about making her mystery sound real, so we’d love your advice!
Anjali_Ahana
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Last update: 8 hours ago
1 answers
Hi there, Anjali_Ahana.
Adverbs are used to modify an adjective, verb, or another adverb. It expresses a relation of place, time, circumstance, manner, cause, degree, etc.
'When' adverbs or adverbs of time show when an action happens or for how long it occurs. Adverbs of time often answer questions like "When did it happen?" or "How often does it happen?"
Some common examples are:
- today/tomorrow/tonight/later
- early/late/soon/already
- after/during/while/beforehand
- always/usually/often/rarely/never
- daily/weekly/monthly/yearly
- suddenly/gradually/immediately/eventually/continuously
Your daughter's sentence, “The detective arrived at the crime scene later”, is correct. But using 'immediately' will also work, depending on what she intends to mean. Her sentence would answer the question, "When did the detective arrive?". Saying "The detective arrived at the crime scene immediately" will answer the question "How fast did the detective arrive?"
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Last update: 2 months ago
