Rule
Sometimes an adverb of manner is placed before a verb + object to add emphasis:
Examples
- He gently woke the sleeping woman.
Some writers put an adverb of manner at the beginning of the sentence to catch our attention and make us curious:
Examples
- Slowly she picked up the knife.
Rule
However, adverbs always come AFTER intransitive verbs (=verbs which have no object).
Examples
- The town grew quickly
- He waited patiently
Also, these common adverbs are almost always placed AFTER the verb:
Rule
The position of the adverb is important when there is more than one verb in a sentence. If the adverb is placed after a clause, then it modifies the whole action described by the clause.
Notice the difference in meaning between the following pairs of sentences:
- She quickly agreed to re-type the letter (= her agreement was quick)
- She agreed to re-type the letter quickly (= the re-typing was quick)
- He quietly asked me to leave the house (= his request was quiet)
- He asked me to leave the house quietly (= the leaving was quiet)