The focus of the present study is the subject modifier in sentences like She sadly read the letter. In this type of construction Present English (i.e. 20th-century English) seems to prefer adverbs; it appears, however, that historically other elements are used as well. It has been claimed that the Early Modern English period (c. 1500-1700) is generally a transitional period in terms of adverbial usage. The present study tries to determine whether Early Modern English adverb usage is unstable with respect to the function in question. The book also dicusses how the relevant function is realized in Present Norwegian, as well as in some earlier types of English. Additionally, topics such as adverbial orientation and distribution are touched upon, and these two factors in combination are claimed to partly explain the adverbialization of the construction discussed. Kristin Killie was born in 1967. In 1993 she received her cand. philol. degree (in English) from the University of Tromsø, where she is presently working. Tromsø Studies in Linguistics 13.