Adverbs of Place and Movement

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:

How to Form Adverbs

Position of Adverbs in a Sentence

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