Placing "LY" Adverbs for Clarity

Workshop participants often ask about the appropriate place to locate "ly" adverbs in sentence structure. One good policy is to avoid placing an "ly" adverb between the subject and the verb. The sentence usually reads more smoothly if the "ly" adverb comes after the verb.

Here is an example I came across in a brochure this week while visiting in the Bay area near San Francisco:

Sunset's headquarters sits upon land that originally was part of a grant to Don Jose Arguello, governor of Spanish California in 1815.


This sentence reads more smoothly if the word "originally" is moved so it does not separate "that" from "was." (This is not a rule--just a preference.)

Sunset's headquarters sits upon land that was originally part of a grant to....

It is interesting to note that, in this same brochure, the suggestion about placement of the "ly" adverb is followed in this later sentence:

Flower color comes primarily from blooming shrubs and perennials.

In the sentence above, "primarily" does not separate "color" from "comes," as it would in the wording: "Flower color primarily comes from...."