Hot answers tagged adverbs
31
It's technically redundant, since all opinions are personal, however it can modify the tone of the statement to some degree. It effectively takes emphasis away from the opinion itself by placing the emphasis on the holder of the opinion.
For example, suppose I'm in a group of people, and we're trying to decide whether to go to Madame Tussauds or to see a ...
12
Mark Liberman of Language Log discusses the “X much?” idiom with a recent entry from OED (some emphasis mine, some examples omitted):
colloq. (orig. U.S., freq. ironic). With a preceding adjective, infinitive verb, or noun phrase, forming an elliptical comment or question. The use was popularized by the film Buffy, the Vampire Slayer and the television ...
11
I think you are referring to a construction in which a characterization is presented in one word followed by the word much, read as a rhetorical question and intended as a criticism. It is not intended or imagined to be grammatically correct.
"Excited much?" would be "Do you get (this) excited often?" and is intended to paint the subject's enthusiasm as ...
10
The word instinctively fits here.
As James watched the other girl climb higher, he shuddered to think of his own sister being in such danger, and instinctively put his arm around her.
The action is done without thinking about it, as an innate reaction to thinking of the danger and protecting his sister.
7
Both sentences are completely grammatical.
The differences are in structure and clarity.
The first sentence is normal and unambiguous.
The second sentence has a small Garden Path, since
The paper published on Monday
would normally be interpreted as a constituent, an NP modified by a relative clause reduced by Whiz-deletion from:
The paper which was ...
7
I think that, although the term is overused, it definitely serves a very specific purpose.
Your example is:
I personally don't like wax museums
and
I don't like wax museums
In this particular situation, by using the word "personally", the individual emphasizes that others might be of another belief.
If I ask someone, "Do you like my drawing?", ...
6
It depends on the context and relationship of the subject and audience.
If the person typically or frequently wears the hat or shirt of some organization, and the audience recognizes that association, including the adverb 'personally' helps distinguish the speaker's opinion from the opinion of the organization.
6
Each is a Quantifier, a part of speech that wasn't discovered until the 19th century, which was too late to get into the Top Eight list, which was canonized much earlier. Quantifiers are a form of Determiner (another POS), and they "bind" noun phrases, which means they modify and quantify them. Like most noun modifiers, quantifiers are naturally found before ...
3
In example B) 'each' is the subject of the clause and therefore acts as a pronoun and governs the verb in third person singular.
In A) 'each' acts as an apposition to the subject of the relative clause 'that'. Even though some authorities (e.g. the OED) still call it a pronoun in this function, the verb in the clause is governed by 'that', and must ...
3
I think I found the answer. It's Focus.
Here's what McCawley 1998 says, page 68, Chapter 3
(Tests for Deep and Surface Constituent Structures):
iv. Placement of Elements with Focus
There are a number of words in English (only, even, too, also) that are associated with a focus: an element that is implicitly constrasted with other items, as in John ...
3
In principle it could mean that, but without a context to suggest that the person's sense of touch is at issue, it clearly refers to one's general sense of well-being.
There are a lot of expressions that could have alternate meanings but have clear defaults. Some of these are the basis for jokes. "How does she look?" "With her eyes, of course!"
2
“I only have discovered today” vs. “I only today have discovered” vs. “I have only today discovered”
or
I have discovered only today that we have a test tomorrow.
or
Only today have I discovered that we have a test tomorrow.
I would suggest it might read slightly more easily if the verbal phrase have discovered is not split.
2
The use of “personally”
(1) contrasts one's own preferences from those of their family, church, professional community, political party, or other peer group.
My classmates insisted on a field trip to the wax museum, but I personally don't like wax museums.
(2) connotes that other people may have different preferences/opinions, and that the ...
2
Contextually it is redundant. An opinion is personal already, so in order for that sentence to really be correct it must be followed with something like,
"but others have differing opinions."
The expression of the opinion on its own ('I like', 'I don't like') is in no way by itself either non-subjective or persuasive. Personally for opinion is used to ...
2
Look is a verb, while look up is a phrasal verb.
The term phrasal verb is commonly applied to two or three distinct but
related constructions in English: a verb and a particle and/or a
preposition co-occur forming a single semantic unit. This semantic
unit cannot be understood based upon the meanings of the individual
parts in isolation, but ...
2
Okay before getting all technical on the topic, let's try to figure out what do the two expressions seem to convey:
She came home angry expresses the subject's emotional state, without saying anything about its affect on the action of coming home. There is perhaps a weak cause-effect association, where her being angry may have caused her to come home. ...
1
The two sentences could be interpreted in subtly different ways but many readers would not do that. You could emphasise the difference by extending each sentence.
It can be safely deleted by {...} although other methods may damage linked files.
It can safely be deleted after you have ensured that {...}
If you fear that some users may misinterpret ...
1
Generally, yes, it would be considered redundant (assuming the speaker's opinion is in sympathy with the prevailing opinion, which generally is assumed to be the case (because that's how it got to be prevailing opinion).
There is such a thing as sentiment en masse, popular view, shared impression. At times when widely-held beliefs have been convincingly ...
1
Personally, it has been my experience that using the word "personally" in this manner give the connotation of: "Because you asked, here is my opinion, but keep in mind that it may not be the common or mainstream opinion." It accentuates that the opinion you are giving is based solely on your own perspective. If you say "I don't like wax museums," it's just a ...
1
I think in your example it is in fact irrelevant. I think the main difference is, well how I would use it anyways, is like this:
I would never do something like that
meaning that you want to tell the other person that you would disagree with him doing what he is about to do, pointing out that you have a "problem" with it.
As opposed to:
I would ...
1
The second example is not rude in the slightest. It is a like saying "would you be so kind as to...." and is in fact a polite way to ask somebody to do something, implying that there is no requirement for them to do it but that it would be kind if they would do it anyway.
The first example is not technically correct in English, unless you mean to imply that ...
1
"Previously" is more vague than "last time." Last time is a single event, and the most proximate one. Previously can be any time in the past.
In terms of construction, it's passive-voice and can be cleaned up by being more direct:
"I/we purchased [the item] from this vendor last time."
1
If you put a comma in there, the sentence is okay. "It looks like our house, inside." "House inside" is definitely wrong. The comma takes the place of the assumed words "on the." "It looks like our house on the inside."
I can't give you the grammatical rules; I forgot them a long time ago!
(I know this response is late, Pitarou- I hope you find it.)
(How ...
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