Questions tagged [adverbs]
An adverb is a word that modifies an adjective, adverb, preposition, phrase, or sentence, expressing some relation of place, time, circumstance, causality, manner, or degree.
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Difference in logical inevitability between therefore/thus/hence
I am trying to figure out the difference in the degrees of logical inevitability that the words therefore, thus, and hence express, when used in academic scientific writing.
Glenn Paquette explains in ...
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How to know when to use preposition with an adverb of place? [migrated]
I saw a video of an English tutor saying that we day "I am going home" not "I am going to home" because home is an adverb here. Why do we not follow the same with sentences like &...
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When should I use “inasmuch” vs “inasmuch as”?
I am wondering whether it is possible to use “inasmuch” without “as” right after. Consider the following sentences:
This paper agrees with author (year), inasmuch it reaches a similar conclusion.
This ...
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Why “…, like,…”?
Can someone explain why I need to set off the adverb like with commas? I saw The New Yorker use it in a recent article,
A senior defense official told me that Kahl was surprised by whom he was about ...
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Is it correct to write "feast luxurious" instead of "feast luxuriously"? [duplicate]
And much there is on which my ear and eye
Can feast luxurious.
The preceding sentence is a line from a sonnet by Michael Madhusudan Dutt (1824–1873).
Is it correct to write "feast luxurious"...
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What's up with -ly-based: -based as a suffix on non-nouns
I have always thought that the English "-based" suffix (plant-based diet, English-based creole languages, etc.) worked only on nouns. Adjectives, e.g. "large-based" or "sweet-...
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Which one is better "all incurred expenses" or "all expenses incurred?" [duplicate]
I am writing this document for HR at work and wish to outline what our staff should do to get reimbursed. The sentence should be something along the lines of...
All incurred expenses/expenses ...
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Slow or slowly? [closed]
Is this correct: "I want to start slow, then gradually increase the time I exercise." Or should it say "slowly"?
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Adverb for when a person has never questioned something they believe [duplicate]
What's an adverb to put behind "believe" when you're trying to communicate that a person has never questioned the thing they believe?
Example: Everything you've [ideal adverb] believed since ...
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"When" + future perfect usage
A Scots friend of mine corrected my usage of future perfect in this construction:
Right, see you in five years when your mother tongue will have taken another ten steps back.
Maybe the construction ...
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Stative verbs and adjectives/adverbs
Premise:
Verb 'want' is normally (?) stative
We use adverbs when we have an action verb and adjectives when the verb is stative
In sentence "I want it bad(ly)" we would use the adverb '...
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Is lovelyly the adverbal form of lovely? [duplicate]
We could say
it was painted beautifully
to convey that the way it was painted was beautiful. "beautifully" being the adverbal form of beautiful (an adjective).
What if the adjective is &...
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When an Adjective Is Used with “Kept” (and Possibly Other Participles?), Does It Become an Adverb? [duplicate]
In phrases with “kept” (and perhaps there are other participles that have the same effect?), such as:
He kept it secret.
It was kept hidden.
Do these (nominal) adjectives function effectively as ...
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Resounding positive vs resoundingly positive [closed]
When describing a situation where only positive feedback was received, which one is correct:
We received resoundingly positive feedback
We received resounding positive feedback
To my ears Nr 1. ...
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Are there any adverbs ending in -ly without an adjectival counterpart?
Just as underwhelm/overwhelm exist without any usage of 'whelmed' (generally speaking) I'm wondering if there's any adverb ending in -ly without an adjectival counterpart (or that has dropped out of ...
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What is the adverb you use when something increases drastically?
What is the adverb that is commonly used when describing something rapidly/drastically increasing? It's on the tip of my tongue and I can't get it out. It's not tenfold, rapidly, drastically, ...
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Proper Usage of "Too" in the Middle of a Sentence
I'm curious about the acceptability of using the adverb "too" in the middle of a sentence right after the contraction "there's." Specifically, I want to know whether "too"...
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Adverb use in sentence [closed]
Never,ever is it adverb? I have problem with use adverb in a sentence with auxiliary verb.
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Adverb Nowhere/Anywhere/Somewhere
I understand that anywhere is an adverb in this sentence:
We couldn't go anywhere nice to eat.
However, I am a little confused about how nice to eat is explained.
nice and to eat both modify the ...
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From which form of "longing" is the adverb "longingly" derived?
"Longingly" is the adverb form of "longing".
Depending on where you look, "longing" is described as an adjective, a verb, or a noun:
Oxford defines it as either a noun ...
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Adverb of time position in a sentence
I would like to know which of the following sentences is correct:
Ideally, we should leave tomorrow early
OR
Ideally, we should leave early tomorrow?
I know an adverb of time comes after the verb ...
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Is “if they are still not…” right and what is an alternative way to phrase this? [closed]
The sentence was this:
In his process of dying; the children, if they are still not independent of his guidance, shall perish.
The expression 'are still not' does not seem grammatically correct.
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When and where did 'irregardless' first emerge in print, how did it spread, and to what extent was it viewed as a dialectal word?
Merriam-Webster's Eleventh Collegiate Dictionary (2003) has the following entry for irregardless:
irregardless adv {prob[ably a] blend of irrespective and regardless} ca. 1912) nonstand[ard] : ...
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What part of speech is "not" when it takes the place of a conjunction?
What part of speech is "not" in the following sentences, and why?
I made him do it, not her.
To solve a linear system neatly is only the primary and most straightforward use of the matrix, ...
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What is the status of logically pointless adjectives and adverbs, such as chairy or chairly? [closed]
Adjectives and adverbs can be formed by adding "y" or "ly" to e.g. a noun, such as:
heart -> hearty, heartily
However, sometimes these words are not in use, or make no logical ...
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Do adverbs take complements?
Word types like nouns, verbs, and adjectives take complements and examples are easy to come by. But what about adverbs? It seems infrequent in English but here's an example that may be fitting.
She ...
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An adverb for algorithm [closed]
There have been good questions asked and good answers given regarding the usage of various derivations stemming from the noun "algorithm". I have not seen, however, an adverb transition from ...
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Can mostly be used to modify a noun [duplicate]
Mostly bikers come to this bar.
In this sentence, I’m trying to say that most of the people that come to this bar are bikers. Can you use mostly to modify bikers in this instance?
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What do the adverbs modify?
They crashed the ship three years later.
They crashed the ship three years ago.
In these sentences, do “later” and “ago” modify “crashed”? Also does “three years” modify “ago” and “later” since it ...
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Does this "eagerly active" make sense in this context? [closed]
I am not eagerly active on social media.
Is "eagerly" appropriate to use before an adjective, and does it make sense in the context of the above sentence?
I want to convey that I don't use ...
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Where should ‘previously’ be put? [duplicate]
I have previously been portrayed as the villain.
I’ve been previously portrayed as the villain.
Is the second sentence incorrect? The first one sounds more natural but the second one seems correct to ...
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What is the function of "ever" in this sentence and what is its relation (as a modifier) to another phrase in the sentence
I have loved the circus ever since I was a child.
Is ever modifying since, was or loved.
The word ever is listed in most dictionaries as an adverb. I describe word functions as narrowly as possible, ...
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Where should you place "also" in a sentence? Can it go after a main verb? [closed]
Which we interpret also as a representative metaphor - is this correct?
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Position of "further" in "They provide comments for me to further improve my teaching" [closed]
I am always confused regarding the position of "further/better" in this kind of structure.
Should it be "They provide comments for me to further improve my teaching" or "They ...
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Which is (more?) correct: "Highly-variable" or "High-variability"
I have a question regarding a caption I'm writing for a photograph. For the sake of this example, the sentence has to communicate this device can read many different types of text.
So, which is more ...
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What is the adverbial phrase "after my workout" modifying in the sentence, "I am hungry after my workout."?
I'm trying to determine if the adverbial phrase modifies the adjective "hungry" or the verb "am." Would it the answer change if the sentence were phrased like this instead: "...
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Such + adj. only: Is that acceptable usage? Or should I use "so" only in these cases?
For the word "such", most sources say that it should be followed by a noun (phrase) but mention nothing about "such" + adj.
e.g.
Such confident of him! But can he pull that off?
...
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How awkward does "it's really not expensive" sound to you? (adverb placement) [closed]
A colleague of mine who doesn't speak much English created a meme in which he added (in English)
Just buy it, it's really not expensive.
Specifically regarding "it's really not expensive," ...
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How are clauses, phrases and words following the adverb "then", meaning "next", parsed/analyzed?
"Then", meaning next or afterwards, is among a group of adverbs* that link independent clauses. Style manuals, e.g. the AMA Manual or the Mayfield Handbook, tell us that they should be ...
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Does 'commonly' modify a verb in this sentence from Walden?
In the first chapter of Walden, Thoreau writes:
The most interesting dwellings in this country,
as the painter knows, are the most unpretending, humble log huts and cottages
of the poor commonly; it ...
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Out-of-fashion pronominal adverbs [closed]
I'm not a native English speaker. When writing papers, I find myself using English pronominal adverbs (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:English_pronominal_adverbs) rather often, especially '...
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Do the adverb and adjective together modify the noun? [closed]
The really good golfer is playing well.
I know really modifies good and good modifies golfer, but does the full phrase really good modify golfer?
The really big house is for sale.
Does the phrase ...
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Can a present-participle (compound) verb which could function as an adjective be further modified with -ly become an adverb?
For example, if the height of an platform is such as to be sickness-inducing, then could the platform be said to be sickness-inducingly high?
Or take the example of mind-boggling -> mind-bogglingly....
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adjective vs adverb for a gerund
This sentence occurs in Wikipedia:
The method of voting can range from formal submission of written votes, through show of hands, voice voting or audience response systems, to informal noting which ...
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How are words ending with "-edly" pronounced?
I knew that "-ed-" in supposedly and assuredly are pronounced out as a syllable unlike when they don't have "-ly". I found a list of words ending in "-edly" (1), and ...
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What's the difference between backward(s) and backwardly?
What is the difference between backwards, backward, and backwardly? They're all adverbs, but I feel like there's some sort of difference in their meanings and uses.
Although this question is similar ...
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Is the adverb 'just in time' still used adverbially when used in the sentence, "He is just in time?"
Can this phrase ever be used adjectivally other than in a hyphenated way such as,'a just-in-time system'?
(I ask because in another language which I am learning, "He came just in time." is ...
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What does "regularly" refer to in this?
Can anyone help me find out what "regularly" modifies in the following excerpt? (My emphasis)
If we heard that an alien species had a word that could be meaningfully used to describe things ...
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Use of "consistently" at the beginning of a sentence
My question is about the use of the adverb "consistently" at the beginning of a sentence. For instance, in the sentence
Consistently with literature that pertains to acculturation and ...
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Are "many times", "a few times", "most days", etc. frequency adjuncts/adverbials? If so, of what type?
Huddleston and Pullum (2002) divide frequency adjuncts/adverbials into bounding (how many times) and non-bounding (how often). This is similar to Quirk et al's "definite" and "...
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