Adverbs of place tell us where something happens, while many of them indicate a specific direction of movement. Some of the examples are here, everywhere, outside, away, around, down, across, south, etc.
- Sarah looked around but she couldn’t see her bag.
- They built a house nearby.
Some adverbs of place express both movement and location at the same time.
- The children are playing outside. (place)
- They took the dog outside. (movement)
- He is upstairs, in his room. (place)
- Let me take your bags upstairs. (movement)
Adverbs of place and movement usually come after the main verb – or the object, if there is one.
- I see my parents every weekend because they live nearby.
- I don’t see my brother very often because he lives far away / miles away.
Here and there
‘Here’ and ‘there’ are common adverbs of place:
- He has worked here for ten years.
- When he went to Australia, he stayed there for three weeks.
- Come here!
- Wait there!
We can also use ‘here’ and ‘there’ at the beginning of a sentence for emphasis:
- Here comes the bus. At last!
- Here it is! I’ve been looking for it for ages!
- There you are! Why are you so late?
| Note: The verb often comes before the subject – unless it is a pronoun. – Here comes the bus. – BUT: Here it comes. |
Adverbs of place ending in -where
Some adverbs of place end in ‘-where’. They express the idea of location without specifying a specific location or direction.
- I don’t want to go anywhere cold… I’d prefer to go somewhere really hot.
- I’ve looked everywhere for my keys… but I can’t find them anywhere.
Adverbs of place ending in -wards
Some adverbs of place end in ‘-wards’. They express movement in a particular direction.
- Please move your chair forwards.
- Can you say the alphabet backwards?
- The pilot turned northwards to try and avoid the storm.
| Note: Be careful with ‘towards’. It’s a preposition so you need to use it with an object: – Walk towards me. – We drove towards the city center. |
Watch this video about adverbs of place and try to complete a small quiz, write your answers in the comments:
Learn more about adverbs: