Adverbs of place tell us where something is or happens, or where something moves. Common examples are here, there, upstairs, outside, nearby and away. In “The children are playing outside,” outside is an adverb. In “The children are playing in the garden,” in the garden is a prepositional phrase. Both give place information.
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Common adverbs of place: list and examples
| Meaning | Examples | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| A location | here, there, inside, outside, upstairs, downstairs | The spare chairs are upstairs. |
| Direction | away, forward, backward | Please take one step backward. |
| Distance | nearby, far away | Our neighbours moved, but they still live nearby. |
| Place words with some-, any-, every- and no- | somewhere, anywhere, everywhere, nowhere | Is there anywhere to sit? |
| Another country | abroad, overseas | Leila is studying abroad this year. |
The verb and context matter: “Stay inside” gives a location; “Go inside” gives a destination. Here usually points to the speaker’s location, while there points to another location already understood or indicated. Somewhere leaves the place unspecified; everywhere means all the relevant places; nowhere means no place.
This grouping follows the British Council’s place-adverbial reference. Abroad and overseas both refer to another country; overseas is especially associated with countries across the sea, as explained in the Cambridge definition of overseas.
Adverb, adverb phrase or prepositional phrase?
Adverb names a word class. Adverbial names a job: giving information such as place, time or manner. An adverbial can be a single adverb, an adverb phrase or a prepositional phrase. Compare:
- “Wait outside.” — outside is an adverb.
- “Wait right here.” — right here is an adverb phrase, with here as its main word.
- “Wait outside the room.” — outside is a preposition; outside the room is a prepositional phrase.
All three highlighted expressions function as place adverbials. Saying “where?” identifies their function, but does not make every expression an adverb. See the British Council’s explanation of adverbial forms.
A preposition is commonly followed by a noun phrase or pronoun, but they need not be adjacent: “Which room are you waiting in?” ends with a preposition. This is preposition stranding, not a reason to relabel in as an adverb.
Where do adverbs of place go?
- Often after the verb or its object: “We waited outside.” “Leave your shoes there.” They can also follow be: “The children are upstairs.”
- Manner, place, time is a useful default: “The children played happily at the park yesterday.” Other orders can be natural when you change the focus: “Yesterday, the children played happily at the park.” It is not a rule that makes every alternative wrong.
- Front position does not always change verb order: “Outside, a dog was barking.” For an arrival, “Here comes the bus” uses verb-before-noun order. With a pronoun, say “Here it comes.”
These are common patterns, as set out in Cambridge’s guide to adverb position. Choose an order that fits what you want the listener to notice.
Exercise 1: Fill the gaps
Use each word once: upstairs · abroad · nearby · everywhere · outside. Choose the word that expresses the meaning given in each context.
- It is a lovely day, so we will have our picnic __________, in the garden rather than inside the house.
- I have checked every possible place in the flat: I have looked __________ for my keys.
- My grandmother lives on the same street, only a two-minute walk away. She lives __________.
- Tom normally lives in Ireland. This year he is studying __________ in Spain to improve his Spanish.
- The living room is on the ground floor. The bedrooms are one floor above it, so they are __________.
Check Exercise 1: answers and meanings
- outside — the picnic is in the garden, not inside the building.
- everywhere — all the possible places in the stated search area, not every place in the world.
- nearby — the two-minute walk establishes a short distance.
- abroad — Spain is another country relative to Tom’s usual home in Ireland.
- upstairs — the bedrooms are on a higher floor.
Exercise 2: Choose by meaning
- Your brother normally lives in Austria and now works in Canada. Choose the option that explicitly means in another country: “My brother is currently working __________.”
a) overseas b) away c) there - You are at your desk and want a colleague to join you at that same location. Choose the usual wording for this request: “Can you please come __________? I need to show you something.”
a) here b) there c) to here - You searched every room but did not find the remote control. Choose the option that expresses this failed search: “The remote control was __________ to be found.”
a) anywhere b) nowhere c) somewhere
Check Exercise 2: answers and alternatives
- a) overseas. Away and there can also make grammatical sentences, but neither word itself says “in another country”. Away means away from the usual place; there refers to a location understood from context. This question tests the stated meaning, not whether the other sentences are possible.
- a) here. The colleague is coming to the speaker’s location. We normally say come here without to. This does not mean a preposition can never precede here: “from there to here” is possible when contrasting endpoints.
- b) nowhere. It expresses the unsuccessful search. Another natural version is “We could not find the remote control anywhere.” Somewhere would not express the stated result.
Exercise 3: Put the words in order
Use all the words or chunks once. Add punctuation and change capital letters as needed. More than one natural order may be possible.
at the park / children / happily / played / Theher keys / looked / for / she / everywhere- You see your bus arriving. Announce its arrival, beginning with Here:
comes / the / here / bus
Check Exercise 3: model sentences and valid alternatives
- The children played happily at the park. Manner comes before place. “At the park, the children played happily” and “The children happily played at the park” are also natural. At the park is a prepositional phrase functioning as a place adverbial.
- She looked everywhere for her keys. “She looked for her keys everywhere” is also valid. Everywhere gives the search location; for her keys identifies what she was trying to find.
- Here comes the bus. This announces the arrival with a noun subject after the verb. With it, use “Here it comes.” “The bus comes here” is grammatical too, but describes its destination rather than making the requested arrival announcement.
Use it: Give a visitor clear directions
You are at a community centre’s reception desk on the ground floor, and you will stay there. A visitor’s workshop is one floor above. Their bag must stay inside the workshop room. The break will be in the garden outside the building. After the workshop, the visitor should return to you at reception.
Write four short directions or statements covering those details. Use upstairs, inside, outside and here once each. Make inside part of a prepositional phrase that names the room; use the other three as adverbs. Underline the place expressions.
Check a model and review your own directions
“Go upstairs for the workshop. Leave your bag inside the workshop room. The break will be outside, in the garden. Come back here after the workshop.”
Upstairs, outside and here are adverbs; inside the workshop room is a prepositional phrase. Your wording can differ. Check that the visitor goes to the correct floor, knows where to leave the bag and take the break, and returns to the speaker’s location. A partner can sketch the route from your instructions.
Choose your next practice
- If you confused word classes with place expressions, try the prepositions exercises.
- If sentence order was the difficulty, review the sentence structure guide.
- For a broader grammar check, try 12 mixed grammar questions with explained answers.
Frequently asked questions
Is outside an adverb or a preposition?
It can be either. In Wait outside, outside is an adverb. In Wait outside the room, outside is a preposition and outside the room is a prepositional phrase. Both expressions tell us where to wait.
Can an adverb of place start a sentence?
Yes. Outside, a dog was barking is possible without changing subject-verb order. An arrival expression such as Here comes the bus uses inversion with a noun subject. With a pronoun, use Here it comes.
Can I print these exercises without the answers?
Yes. Use the browser print command. The 11 questions and the directions task print with writing space. Answer explanations, the model and the reference sections are hidden in print, so learners can attempt the tasks first.
Sources and editorial note
The Kingdom of English revised this guide on October 21, 2026, with AI-assisted drafting and source checks against the British Council and Cambridge references linked beside the explanations. The existing exercise formats have been retained with clearer contexts, explanations and valid alternatives; the community-centre task is an original practice scenario. These public exercises are separate from the platform’s assignment library. See our editorial approach.