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He lives separate from her.
He lives separately from her.

Which one is correct?
Are these sentences correct?
Please define them with meanings.

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  • Truthfully, as a native English speaker neither sentence sounds natural. I think given more context there would be a more natural way of saying this.
    – user19874
    Aug 11, 2015 at 7:03

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The grammatically correct one is the one using the adverb: "He lives separately from her."

Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. In this case, the verb 'lives' is being modified by the adverb 'separately'.

How to check if 'separately' really modifies 'lives'? It is through asking if "separately [from her]" answers the question "How does he live?" according to the context.

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It would be "separately" - separately is an adverb, (because it ends in "ly"), but separate is an adjective.

Adverbs describe verbs (these are correct):

He runs quickly

He lives separately (from her)

However, you could say:

He lives in a separate house

Because then, separate is describing the house, and is an adjective.

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  • Here "separately" describes to what?
    – I don't know who I am.
    Aug 11, 2015 at 7:20
  • Can you please define my post as you shared your own examples? I mean to say, settle my post with its own shape.
    – I don't know who I am.
    Aug 11, 2015 at 7:21
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    @user124234 separately describes the word "lives" --> He lives separately (from her).
    – 13509
    Aug 11, 2015 at 8:29
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Using the word "separately" would be something like this:

He and she live separately

The best would be something like this:

He lives apart from her

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  • According to your point of views, are both sentences correct?
    – I don't know who I am.
    Aug 11, 2015 at 8:33

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