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Molly
Installed by William yesterday or installed yesterday by William
I think both are correct but the paper says choose one out.
Feb 25, 2025 9:26 AM
Answers · 18
3
I agree with Tim that, in the real world, they are both correct and show emphasis. However, in an exam, I expect that they want the first version. 'Yesterday' is an 'adverbial of time', meaning that it should generally go at the end. Here is how I teach adverbials in my classes:
These generally go before the word that they modify:
Adverbials of Frequency
Adverbials of Degree
And these go after the clause that they relate to:
Adverbials of Manner
Adverbials of Location
Adverbials of Time
However there are many exceptions! I hope that helps :)
February 25, 2025
2
Both look perfectly correct to me. It depends if you want to emphasise who did it (1st) or when it was done (2nd).
February 25, 2025
2
They're equally fine. If your paper thinks one is wrong, then your paper is wrong, unless there's some additional context we're not seeing. Do you have a photo of this question in your paper?
February 25, 2025
Without the context that contains this dependent phrase, it is not possible to decide which is better. My first instinct would be to choose the second one because it places the adverb "yesterday" directly next to the adjective "installed" that it modifies.
However, there is more to it than that. "Installed" also wants to be next to the noun that it modifies, and that noun is missing from the phrase. The first choice would be the better one if it allowed "installed" to be placed next to the missing noun that it modifies:
"The software installed by William yesterday does not work"
works best because "installed" is directly next to the noun, "software", that it modifies.
March 2, 2025
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Molly
Language Skills
Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese
Learning Language
Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, Japanese, Korean
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