I dislike people that use 'literally' wrong.
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It is obvious that you need an adverb– CardinalCommented Jun 13, 2016 at 20:55
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3I forgot about our quality standards, so I answered. But usually you are expected to show some effort on your part. For example, do you think it is wrong or right and why? This is for future reference.– Em.Commented Jun 13, 2016 at 21:17
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Depends on what dialect the person speaks. Incorrect can be a 'flat adverb' (which means an adverb that doesn't end in -ly) in some dialects or just to some speakers. Standard English probably wants it to be incorrectly.– Alan CarmackCommented Jun 14, 2016 at 0:19
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2 Answers
You are using "wrong" and "incorrect" as modifiers for "use" and so they need to be adverbs.
I dislike people that use something wrongly.
I dislike people that use something incorrectly.
would be standard ways of using the adverbs.
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You are correct. However, "wrong" is often used in speech instead of "wrongly" (which seems a little stilted to my ears), but "incorrect" is (practically?) never used instead of "incorrectly". Hence "incorrect" is wrong-er [sorry!] than "wrong". Commented Jun 14, 2016 at 5:07
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If you use "wrong", though correct, it may introduce an ambiguity. For example, "use a spoon wrong" is unambiguous, but in "use something wrong" is the something inappropriate, or is the use incorrect? I was erring on the side of generality to avoid individual cases.– PeterCommented Jun 14, 2016 at 7:07
I dislike people that use 'literally' wrong.
This is ok! The word wrong acts an an adverb, so the sentence is grammatical.
I dislike people that use 'literally' incorrect.
This is not ok! It is grammatically incorrect because incorrect behaves as an adjective. We need an adverb here. It should be written as
I dislike people that use 'literally' incorrectly.
