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I am not sure which sentence is correct.

In general the weights could be arbitrary chosen, but one special case is obtained by using exponential weights.

In general the weights could be arbitrarily chosen, but one special case is obtained by using exponential weights

According to a previous post of mine, I think arbitrarily is correct, since chosen is a verb. Is this correct?

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  • Yes, "arbitrarily." However, the second clause seems off; perhaps you mean "but in one special case, exponential weights are needed"?
    – verbose
    Aug 20, 2013 at 8:31
  • @verbose mh, I want to say, that using exponential weights leads to one certain specific model. So this model is generetaed resp. obtained if exponential weights are used?
    – Jen Bohold
    Aug 20, 2013 at 8:39
  • so "in general the weights could be arbitrarily chosen, except if the desire is to generate [specific model]; in the latter case, exponential weights are required." Is that a better statement of your meaning? Or is it "In most cases, weights can be arbitrarily chosen; if exponential weights are chosen, however, a special case obtains"?
    – verbose
    Aug 20, 2013 at 8:48

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The functional difference between adverbs and adjectives is what they are qualifying or describing, respectively. That is, an adjective gives further information about the associated noun or noun phrase. An adverb, in contrast, qualifies not only verbs (as the name indicates), but also adjectives, other adverbs and even whole clauses.

As you guessed, the word which is modified in your context is the verb to choose. The adverb tells that you do not need to choose a particular weight, but instead can just blindly grab for any one weight. Or, rather, choose arbitrarily.

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