3. Adverbs sometimes modify nouns.—This comes about often by abridging an adjective clause to an appositive phrase; for example, “John Adams was born at Quincy, then part of the ancient town of Braintree, on the 19th day of October (O. S.) 1735.”—Webster. If we supply which was after the noun Quincy, we have an adjective clause, in which the adverb then modifies the whole predicate—a regular construction. But in the sentence as originally written, the adverb modifies the noun part.
We occasionally find nouns used in the place of these modifying adverbs. We may say thrice the amount, wherein amount is modified by the adverb thrice, or we may substitute for thrice the noun phrase three times. We also find the noun something used in the place of the adverb somewhat, as in the sentence,—“He had something the manner of a Southerner.” Such a word restricts the application of the noun it modifies. The adverbs almost and about are used in the same way, as in almost a year, about a pound.
But is frequently used adjectively in the sense of only, having a limiting or restrictive force; thus, “He was but one generation removed from the soil.”—Boyesen.
Examples of adverbs modifying nouns are found in the following sentences:
(a) “The Scheld, almost exclusively a Belgian river, after leaving its fountains in Picardy, flows through the pleasant provinces of Flanders and Hainault.”—Motley.
(b) “It may well be doubted whether Roman literature, always a half-hardy exotic, could ripen the seeds of living reproduction.”—Lowell.
(c) “South Dome is a vast globe of bold rock, almost a full mile in height.”—King.
(d) “I fell a helpless prey to a boatman who addressed me in some words of wonderful English and then rowed me to the sea wall at about thrice the usual fare.”—Howells.
4. Some nouns like howl, cry, shock, derived from verbs denoting action, may be modified by an adverbial clause of time or place. We may say, “He cried out joyfully when he caught sight of me,” where the clause modifies the predicate cried out joyfully; or we may say, “His cry when he caught sight of me was joyful,” where the same clause with the same meaning modifies the subject his cry.
A clause introduced by as, with the meaning and construction of an adverbial clause of manner, may modify a noun and so save several words; for example, “Their plays are much shorter than the standard drama as it is known to us.”—Howells. Here as is equivalent to the group of words in the form in which.