Manner adverbials describe the manner in which an action is conducted. They are realized most commonly by adverbs (adjectives (+ de)) and less commonly by NP, prepositional phrases or clauses. The following are some examples:
1a.他像发疯的老虎似地咆哮着。
Tā xiàng fāfēngde lǎohǔ sì de páoxiàozhe.
(He was venting his rage like a desperate tiger.)
1b. 她极快地往外走。
Tā jíkuài de wǎng wài zǒu.
(She quickly walked towards the outside.)
1c. 妇女们穿戴得整整齐齐地去参加联欢会。
Fùnǚmen chuāndài de zhěngzhěngqíqí de qù cānjiā liánhuānhuì.
(The women, all dressed up, went to join the get-together.)
1d. 他们排成单行走着。
Tāmen páichéng dān háng zǒuzhe.
(They were walking in a single line.)
1e. 他敞开胸怀，尽情地呼吸自由的空气。
Tā chǎngkāi xiōnghuáijìnqíng de hūxī zìyóu de kōngqì.
(Opening wide his heart, he inhaled the air of freedom as much as he liked.)
Adverbials of manner in the above sentences are realized by adverbs (1b, e), or by VPs (1a, c, d), they all describe states that start with and accompany the actions performed by the subject referents.
[1] Loar, J. K. (2011). Chinese syntactic grammar: functional and conceptual principles. New York: Peter Lang.
