Learn English – Position of the adverb “substantially”

adverb-positionadverbs

What would be the right position of "substantially" in the following:

1). Before verb: These optimal values substantially contribute to the success of the methodology.

2). After verb: These optimal values contribute substantially to the success of the methodology.

Here is my issue:

Fact1: When I use Google Ngram, I get this, 0 occurrence of option 1.

Fact2: I found an excellent Grammar book that discusses Adverbs, their types and prefered positions. The author defines some rules that I'll summarize as follows:

  1. Connecting adverbs, eg: however, then,…, Position: Beginning of clause.
  2. Indefinite frequency, eg: always, usually,…, Position: Mid position (after auxilary verb, before other verbs) sometimes beginning of clause.
  3. Focusing adverbs, eg: mainly, only,…, Position: Mid position.
  4. Adverb of certainty, eg: clearly, obviously, Position: Mid position.
  5. Adverb of completeness, eg: almost, nearly,…, Position: Mid position.
  6. Adverb of manner, eg: fast, slowly, nicely,…, Position: End clause, mid and beginning.
  7. Adverb of place, eg: upstairs, around, Position: End clause, sometimes beginning.
  8. Adverb of time, eg: daily, weekly, … Position: Mostly end clause, sometimes beginning and mid position.

I think that "substantially" is an adverb of completeness. Therefore, the right position is before the verb "contribute" (option 1). However, Google Ngam indicates that option 1 is not widely used.

What do you think? Any suggestions?

Best Answer

In his text The Syntactic Phenomena of English, McCawley gives a taxonomy of adverbs based on what they modify. While most adverbs do not modify verbs, according to him, he argues that degree adverbs, like "completely", do modify verbs. I would suppose that this also applies to "substantially". Furthermore, McCawley says that in general, modifiers tend to occur either immediately before or immediately after what they modify.

These general grounds would lead us to expect that "substantially" ought to occur immediately before or immediately after the main verb of a sentence. However, degree adverbs can ordinarily also occur at the end of the verb phrase: "He missed the target substantially." And there is another rule of English that a clause adverb does not occur between a transitive verb and its direct object: *"He missed substantially the target."

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