2.2. Using Adverbials to Make Your Writing More Effective
This self-guided grammar lesson will allow you to identify adverbs and adverb clauses, which can be used in your own travel writing. This is a self-guided lesson and you can work at your own pace.
3.1.1. Details, details, details...
In order to think about how writers use details, consider the following story.
I found an empty Intercity, a ghost train. An announcement said that the train might leave but this couldn’t be guaranteed. The voice apologized for any inconvenience. I decided to sit in the train and read. I chose a carriage. There were compartments. A man was tugging open the slide door to join me, a rather sad, lanky middle-aged man in a gray raincoat with a slack worried mouth and thick spectacles. He had a huge suitcase, the sort of suitcase that has you wondering. Are these all his worldly possessions? Is he a refugee?
The passage is understandable, but a lot of information is missing. When did this story happen ? Where was the train ? When would the train leave ? Why were there compartments ? Why did the narrator decide to stay in the train ?
Using adverbials is one way to convey information in English. Adverbials play a vital role in every language. They give information about a sentence, or modify a verb, and answer questions like : when, how, how fast, where, why, how long, etc...
Consider the same passage - from Tim Park's Italian Ways, on and off the rails from Milan to Palermo iwhich gives vital information, as well as an idea of how prevalent adverbials are in written English (adverbials marked in yellow).
Once, during a strike, I found a completely empty Intercity at Milan station, a ghost train. Eventually, an announcement said that the train might leave in two hours’ time but this couldn’t be guaranteed. The voice apologized for any inconvenience. Having no inclination to go and find myself a hotel, I decided to sit in the train and read. I chose a carriage half way down the long platform. Since it was an Intercity, there were compartments. Suddenly, a man was tugging open the slide door to join me, a rather sad, lanky middle-aged man in a gray raincoat with a slack worried mouth and thick spectacles. He had a huge suitcase, the sort of suitcase that has you wondering where on earth its owner can be going and for how long. Are these all his worldly possessions? Is he a refugee?