Adverb Placement – Correct Usage: ‘The Master’s Dissertation Will Officially Be Added to Your Curriculum’

adverb-placementadverbsauxiliary-verbsverbs

I'm unsure about the position of the adverb officially in the following sentence:

The graduation year is when the master's dissertation will be added to your curriculum.

My gut tells me it's

The graduation year is when the master's dissertation will officially be added to your curriculum.

but I'm not sure why. I suppose the adverb should be placed after the first auxiliary verb (in case of multiple verbs)?

Best Answer

As @J.R. points out, "officially" cn be added in more than one place in your example sentence

Officially, the graduation year is when the dissertation will be added to your curriculum.
The graduation year is when, officially, the dissertation will be added to your curriculum.
The graduation year is when the dissertation will officially be added to your curriculum.
The graduation year is when the dissertation will be officially added to your curriculum.
The graduation year is when the dissertation will be added officially to your curriculum.
The graduation year is when the dissertation will be added to your curriculum officially.

NB: "master's" has been removed for formatting considerations

all sentences have the same meaning, it is a matter of style.

Saying "officially added to your curriculum" may be redundant since once something is added to a curriculum it is usually "official".

The sense of you sentence can also be expressed as

A dissertation is added in your final year for fulfilment of the requirements.

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