Introduction to Adverbs, Conjunctions, and Prepositions

Adverbs, conjunctions, and prepositions are the small but important words that enhance, join, and show the relationship between the nouns, adjectives and verbs in a sentence. Unlike nouns, which decline, and verbs, which conjugate, these words do not change based on number, case or person, and they have no gender or strength. For example, examine the below sentence, 'þa fuglas ond þa oxan beoþ on þæm felda - The birds and the oxen are in the field'. The conjunction 'ond' and preposition 'on' will always be the same, irrespective of the genders, cases, or number of the nouns they are associated with.

An adverb is a word that modifies a verb, adjective, clause, or another adverb.

A conjunction is a word which connects words and clauses with each other.

A preposition is a word which shows how a verb relates to a noun or pronoun.

Starting with adverbs, let’s look at how these relational words are formed, when they are used, and which ones have changed in modern usage.