Is it correct to say "I right got an up-vote." to mean "I got an up-vote right now."?
I know I can say "I just got an up-vote." but would right in a sentence like that be understood to mean right now?
asked Mar 29, 2013 at 16:03
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2 Answers
I sure wouldn't understand "I right got an upvote" to mean "I just now got an upvote". I doubt that most native speakers would. Is this possible in Italian? It's not normal in American English, but it might be some kind of slang.
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In Italian, there is just a phrase for just now, and right now. I could say appena adesso, or appena. (Adesso means now.) I guess that is the reason I am asking. Commented Mar 29, 2013 at 16:21
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I have never heard this and don't ever expect to from a native English speaker. I would be utterly surprised to find that it's accepted slang in any natively English speaking region. Commented Mar 29, 2013 at 16:23
Short answer: No.
Long answer: "Right" here is an adjective modifying "now". You can't normally use an adjective and omit the noun. It would be like trying to abbreviate "The stove is very hot" as "The stove is very." The logical response would be, "Very what?"
"Right" here is an intensifier, like "very", except that it is an adjective that modifies a noun, while "very" is an adverb that modifies an adjective. It's use with that meaning in English is very limited. The only commonly-used phrases I can think of that use "right" in this sense are "right now" and "right here" (meaning "in this specific place").
"Right" is sometimes used as a synonym for "very", i.e. modifying an adjective. Like in the classic poem "Night Before Christmas", where Santa Claus is described as "a right jolly old elf". Or the titles, "Right Reverend" for a high-ranking preacher and "Right Honorable" for some government officials. But this usage is mostly obsolete.
Perhaps you are confused because "right" is used with some specific idioms: "right there", "right up", "right down", etc. If you say, "I'll be right there", that means "I will arrive soon." Similarly "I'll be right up" and "I'll be right down" mean "I will soon be up" or "I will soon be down", usually meaning I will come to a higher or lower floor in a building or some such. These are idioms and so you can't really pick the words apart to make sense of them.
It occurs to me that "right there" can also mean "in that specific place", analogous to "right here". So "I'll be right there" can mean "I will arrive soon" as I mentioned above, or it can mean "I will be in that specific place", depending on context. "Honey, have you finished getting dressed yet?" "Almost. I'll be right there." She'll be coming down the stairs soon. (Or so she claims.) But "Where will you be standing when the ceremony begins?" "I'll be right there" (pointing to the spot).
