Rule
Adverbs of place tell us where something happens.
They are usually placed after the main verb or after the object:
After the main verb:
Examples
- I looked everywhere
- John looked away, up, down, around...
- I'm going home, out, back
- Come in
After the object:
Examples
- They built a house nearby
- She took the child outside
They sometimes go in front position, especially in writing.
- Here she sat.
- Outside, there was a small pond.
'Here' and 'there'
With verbs of movement, here means towards or with the speaker:
- Come here (= towards me)
- It's in here (= come with me to see it)
There means away from, or not with the speaker:
- Put it there (= away from me)
- It's in there (= go by yourself to see it)
Here and there are combined with prepositions to make many common adverbial phrases.
Examples
- What are you doing up there?
- Come over here and look at what I found!
- The baby is hiding down there under the table.
- I wonder how my driver's license got stuck under here.
Here and there are placed at the beginning of the sentence in exclamations or when emphasis is needed.
They are followed by the verb if the subject is a noun:
- Here comes the bus. (followed by the verb)
- There goes the bell!
Or by a pronoun if this is the subject (it, she, he etc.):
- Here it is! (followed by the pronoun)
- There she goes! (followed by the pronoun)
Adverbs of place ending in -where
Adverbs of place that end in -where express the idea of location without specifying a specific location or direction.
- I would like to go somewhere warm for my vacation.
- Is there anywhere I can find a perfect plate of spaghetti around here?
- I have nowhere to go.
- I keep running in to Sally everywhere!
1. Nowhere
Nowhere refers to something or someone as not being in any place.
This can be used both as an adverb and as a noun.
- I have nowhere to sit! (There is no place for me to sit.)
- There is nowhere to see a movie in John's town. (There are no places to see a movie in John's town.)
As a noun, nowhere means no place, or a place that is boring and where very few people live:
- They live in the middle of nowhere. (They live far away from other places.)
- My keys are nowhere to be found. (My keys are not in any place where I can find them.)
- His car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. (His car breaks down in a place with nothing useful or interesting around.)
2. Everywhere
Everywhere is used to talk about being in or going to all places, rather than no place or some place, which is always only a single place.
- There are birds everywhere, not just in South America. (There are birds in many parts of the world and not only in South America.)
- I bring a water bottle with me everywhere I go. (I bring a water bottle with me to all of the places that I go.)
- There is construction everywhere in the city right now. (There is a lot of construction going on in the city right now.)
3. Somewhere
Somewhere as an adverb is used to talk about someone or something being in or going to some specific place.
- We need to stop somewhere to use the bathroom soon. (We need to stop at an unidentified place with a bathroom that we can use.)
- They are going somewhere for vacation, but I do not know where. (They are going to a place that I do not remember the name of for vacation.)
It can also mean close to an amount or number. You can say "somewhere between" or "somewhere around".
- She left somewhere around 5 pm.
- It costs somewhere between ten and twenty dollars.
4. Anywhere
It means going to or being in any place (not specific place), when it does not matter where.
- I could live anywhere. (It doesn't matter where I live, and all places are possible.)
- Brad and Lisa do not have anywhere to park a car, so they do not own one. (Brad and Lisa do not have a place to put a car, so they do not own one.)
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Anywhere can also be used like somewhere to describe a range and show its limits. It is usually followed by the word "from" or "between" in this case.
- This task can take anywhere from/between three to five hours to complete.
- There are anywhere from 20 to 100 people at the restaurant for dinner every night. (The amount of people at the restaurant for dinner varies between 20 and 100.)
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Adverbs of place ending in -wards
Other adverbs of place: ending in '-wards', expressing movement in a particular direction:
backwards
forwards
downwards
upwards
inwards
outwards |
northwards
southwards
eastwards
westwards
homewards
onwards |
Examples
- Cats don't usually walk backwards.
- The ship sailed westwards.
BE CAREFUL! 'Towards' is a preposition, not an adverb, so it is always followed by a noun or a pronoun:
- He walked towards the car.
- She ran towards me.
Adverbs of place expressing both movement & location
ahead, abroad, overseas, uphill, downhill, sideways, indoors, outdoors
Examples
- The child went indoors.
- He lived and worked abroad.