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?

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.

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