Which of the following can be an adverbial phrase?

• A. On Tuesday
• B. Yesterday
• C. Because
• D. Green

Answer: (A)

An adverbial phrase is a small group of words that functions like an adverb, telling us when, where, or how something happened. A common form is a prepositional phrase that adds time or place information to a verb.

“On Tuesday” fits this perfectly: it’s a prepositional phrase built from the preposition on plus the time noun Tuesday, and it answers when the action occurred or will occur. Because it’s a multi-word unit that modifies the verb by giving time, it qualifies as an adverbial phrase.

“Yesterday” is an adverb by itself, which can modify a verb to indicate time, but it isn’t a phrase of multiple words, so it doesn’t meet the “phrase” aspect of the question. “Because” is a conjunction, not an adverbial modifier. “Green” is an adjective describing a noun, not modifying a verb.

So the best choice is the two-word time phrase, since it explicitly functions as an adverbial phrase.