Modifying the Verb

Modifying the Verb

The word adverb literally means “something that is added to the verb” (in Latin ad = to and verbum = word, verb). It’s not surprising, then, that adverbs often modify verbs:

Jennifer bugged Mike relentlessly.

If we ask bugged how? the answer would be relentlessly.

Even prepositional phrases can act like an adverb and modify the verb:

I saw you through the window.

Here the prepositional phrase through the window tells us where I saw you. Prepositional phrases always act like adjectives or adverbs, so context is everything.