# Why is "anyplace" an adverb? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 2, 2005, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-anyplace-an-adverb/333731 "2005-12-02T15:35:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-anyplace-an-adverb/333731/1 "2005-12-02T15:35:35Z")
Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I just sent someone an email where I used the word “anyplace” and then I started to wonder whether I should have written “any place.” So I looked at various web sites, and they all say that “anyplace” is an adverb. Why is it an adverb and not a noun? Is “any place” also an adverb? How about “some place”? How can someone go to something that’s an adverb? If I say I’m going to my house, “my house” isn’t an adverb, so why is “anyplace”? ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-anyplace-an-adverb/333731/2 "2005-12-02T16:07:03Z")
> [@ratatoskK](#): > > Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I just sent someone an email where I used the word “anyplace” and then I started to wonder whether I should have written “any place.” So I looked at various web sites, and they all say that “anyplace” is an adverb. > > Why is it an adverb and not a noun? Is “any place” also an adverb? How about “some place”? > > How can someone go to something that’s an adverb? If I say I’m going to my house, “my house” isn’t an adverb, so why is “anyplace”? It seems clear to me that “anyplace” modifies the verb “to put” in the sentence, "You can put it anyplace. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-anyplace-an-adverb/333731/3 "2005-12-02T16:10:02Z")
And in your example about going to “my house” the phrase functions as an adverb. It is an adverbial phrase. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-anyplace-an-adverb/333731/4 "2005-12-02T16:11:04Z")
So if I say “I put the book on the table”, “the table” is an adverb? I don’t think so! ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-anyplace-an-adverb/333731/5 "2005-12-02T16:58:24Z")
> [@ratatoskK](#): > > So if I say “I put the book on the table”, “the table” is an adverb? I don’t think so! “The table” is not an adverb, but “on the table” is a phrase functioning as an adverb, just “to my house” does in the earlier example. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-anyplace-an-adverb/333731/6 "2005-12-02T17:08:27Z")
So when the dictionary says that “anyplace” is an adverb, is this really shorthand for saying that the word “anyplace” functions as an adverbial phrase? ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-anyplace-an-adverb/333731/7 "2005-12-02T17:16:53Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > “The table” is not an adverb, but “on the table” is a phrase functioning as an adverb, just “to my house” does in the earlier example. I don’t think that’s satisgfactory. “On the table” is a prepositional phrase that functions as an adverbial. None of the words in that phrase are adverbs. I’m thinking of a formation, “It can be anyplace.” Here anyplace modifies the verb without the help of a preposition. ---
**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-anyplace-an-adverb/333731/8 "2005-12-02T17:21:02Z")
> [@ratatoskK](#): > > So when the dictionary says that “anyplace” is an adverb, is this really shorthand for saying that the word “anyplace” functions as an adverbial phrase? No, but close; the word “anyplace” is equivalent to the phrase “to any place”. To clarify, think about the sentence “I come from anyplace”; you can’t just substitute “anyplace” for this phrase, as the resulting sentence “I come anyplace” doesn’t mean the same thing (careful with that sentence in mixed company 😉 ) “To any place” is an adverbial phrase with a verb like “send” or “go”, so the single word “anyplace”–its substitute–is an adverb. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-anyplace-an-adverb/333731/9 "2005-12-02T17:33:48Z")
Thanks, that finally makes sense to me. I think the dictionary is misleading by simply saying that “anyplace” is an adverb. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-anyplace-an-adverb/333731/10 "2005-12-02T20:45:00Z")
It’s a single word which serves to modify a verb. If that’s not an adverb, what is it? ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-anyplace-an-adverb/333731/11 "2005-12-02T22:49:46Z")
> [@ratatoskK](#): > > Thanks, that finally makes sense to me. I think the dictionary is misleading by simply saying that “anyplace” is an adverb. “Anyplace” is a single word, an adverb. “Any place” is two words, an adjective and a noun. Two rather different animals. You may say “I will go anyplace”, you CANNOT say “I will go any place”, while you may say “I will go to any place” Somewhat like “awhile” (an adverb) and “a while” ( an article, and a noun). Used differently. ---
**Author:** ![633squadron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/ee59a6/32.png) [@633squadron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/633squadron)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-anyplace-an-adverb/333731/12 "2005-12-02T23:37:39Z")
> [@ratatoskK](#): > > Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I just sent someone an email where I used the word “anyplace” and then I started to wonder whether I should have written “any place.” So I looked at various web sites, and they all say that “anyplace” is an adverb. > > Why is it an adverb and not a noun? Is “any place” also an adverb? How about “some place”? > > How can someone go to something that’s an adverb? If I say I’m going to my house, “my house” isn’t an adverb, so why is “anyplace”? Anyplace is an **adverbial** , a word or phrase of time or place that modifies a verb. They usually modify intransitive verbs or the verb “to be”. They may not appear to be adverbs; that’s probably because most of us learned about adverbs in the context of transitive verbs. And don’t complain; at least we don’t have to write in _Latin_. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-anyplace-an-adverb/333731/13 "2005-12-02T23:55:57Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > It’s a single word which serves to modify a verb. If that’s not an adverb, what is it? I don’t think it modifies the verb. If I say “I go to the store” or “I go to the beach,” it’s still “I go,” and where I’m going has nothing to do with the quality of how I go. ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-anyplace-an-adverb/333731/14 "2005-12-02T23:57:49Z")
> [@ratatoskK](#): > > I don’t think it modifies the verb. If I say “I go to the store” or “I go to the beach,” it’s still “I go,” and where I’m going has nothing to do with the quality of how I go. Well, then what part of the sentence do you propose “to the store” is, if it is not the adverbial phrase? (Diagram the previous sentence for extra credit 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-anyplace-an-adverb/333731/15 "2005-12-02T23:58:00Z")
> [@groman](#): > > “Anyplace” is a single word, an adverb. “Any place” is two words, an adjective and a noun. Two rather different animals. You may say “I will go anyplace”, you CANNOT say “I will go any place”, while you may say “I will go to any place” > > Somewhat like “awhile” (an adverb) and “a while” ( an article, and a noun). Used differently. I don’t know, I think “any place” and “anyplace” mean the same thing. And I can say “I will go any place” because there is an implied “to”. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-anyplace-an-adverb/333731/16 "2005-12-03T00:00:29Z")
> [@groman](#): > > Well, then what part of the sentence do you propose “to the store” is, if it is not the adverbial phrase? (Diagram the previous sentence for extra credit 🙂 ) I agree with that. **CJJ** said the same thing earlier, and I agreed, and it makes sense to me. So basically, “I go anyplace” is short for “I go to any place” and “to any place” is adverbial phrase. So in this usage, “anyplace” is the adverbial phrase (so to speak) although it is being rendered as one word. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2005, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-anyplace-an-adverb/333731/17 "2005-12-03T20:02:06Z")
> [@ratatoskK](#): > > I agree with that. **CJJ** said the same thing earlier, and I agreed, and it makes sense to me. > > So basically, “I go anyplace” is short for “I go to any place” and “to any place” is adverbial phrase. So in this usage, “anyplace” is the adverbial phrase (so to speak) although it is being rendered as one word. You are getting hung up on something that is an underlying assumption of yours and is incorrect: That “anyplace” is functionally the same as “any place.” “Anyplace” cannot exist by itself. You can’t say, for example, “Anyplace is fine with me.” In such a sentence, the word “anyplace” would attempt to act as a noun, but that makes the construction of the sentence grammatically incorrect. You would have to say, “Any place is fine with me.” In that correct version, “any” is an adjective modifying the noun “place.” “Anyplace” is used to modify verbs. One does not just “go,” one “goes anyplace.” This is no different functionally than saying one “jumps quickly.” Thus, the word is an adverb.