New answers tagged adverbs
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Can I say "I am going to the downtown"?
Since this problem is quite tricky, let's break it down:
We definitely cannot use "a" or "an" for "downtown", so we are left with "the":
Articles are used ...
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In the expression "Elevator up" is "up" a preposition or an adverb?
It's an adverb. Lexico (definition 1.5) has:
[as exclamation] Used as a command to a soldier or an animal to stand up
and be ready to move or attack.
But in your sentence I think it's a brusque ...
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Why isn't 'half' an adjective in this sentence?
You could consider "half" an adjective that modifies "spoon". However, be aware that a determiner is usually the first element in a noun phrase, so it is unusual to put "half&...
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It will be correctly identified vs It will correctly be identified
They are both fine grammatically. Actually, I would tend to use a third form:
It will be identified correctly as X.
But they all mean the same, and are all perfectly good English.
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"Sometimes" in different positions
None of them is wrong in any formal sense, and I suspect that, with one exception, all are frequently used.
The exception is, as several have commented, #3. It is perhaps more clumsy than the others ...
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Accepted
Don't occasionally/don't sometimes
No adverbs of frequency can be negated the way you suggest. This is because an adverb of frequency defines how often you do something. When you define how often you don't do something, you are ...
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things to make you anxious
"(c) doesn't make sense. You can't make someone anxious just by telling them 'things'."
Sorry, but that is simply not true.
"I've hired an assassin to kill your wife. He should be on ...
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things to make you anxious
Your example (c) makes perfect sense. Of course you can make people anxious by telling them things.
Suppose I wanted to make a person anxious, for some reason, e.g. because I felt like being cruel to ...
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'very' or 'much' as a modifier for past participle adjectives
This is another of those cases where usage has changed over time...
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'very' or 'much' as a modifier for past participle adjectives
Grammatically, “much” can be used as adverb for a participle.
What ngram shows is that doing so has been going out of favor, particularly in American English, in written prose for decades.
https://...
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Accepted
Can we use existential 'there' and 'there' simply as an adverb of place together?
Yes. Using both types of "there" in the same sentence is acceptable to both native and educated speakers and not redundant.
"A cat was there" is grammatically valid, but it shifts ...
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Can we use existential 'there' and 'there' simply as an adverb of place together?
There was a cat there sounds 100% natural to me.
A cat was there. is grammatical, but less natural, so I would expect it to have some particular connotation: perhaps that the information is surprising,...
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How does 'nominally' an adverb rather than an adjective?
Words which are nominally adverbs can also be used to modify adjectives as well as verbs, and in many cases can modify nouns, thus functioning as adjectives. many words in English are not rigidly ...
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How does 'nominally' an adverb rather than an adjective?
An adverb is a word that modifies a verb, but adverbs can also modify adjectives, other adverbs, or whole clauses. For example, loudly, slightly, and almost are all adverbs. Here are some examples of ...
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Correct use of lately
I had a letter from him lately.
Cambridge is right. “Lately” applies to a vague range of time. You could say
“I have been getting letters from him lately.”
or
“I have not gotten a letter from him ...
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Confusion in 'not' sentences
He didn't play cricket because of Tim.
This can have two meanings, as explained by @George K in his answer. To avoid having ambiguities, we could in a conversation use various intonation, or in ...
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Are "two times" and "twice" interchangeable?
Yes, twice and two times are mostly interchangeable. You can say you have been twice to the shops or that you've been two times. Similarly, something can be twice as likely to occur or two times as ...
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Accepted
Are "two times" and "twice" interchangeable?
“Twice” is an adverb.
I went there twice
In the previous sentence, “twice” pertains to the verbal phrase “went there.” “Two times” as a an adverbial phrase is a synonym for “twice.”
Sally is twice ...
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Confusion in 'not' sentences
The sentence
(1) He didn't play cricket because of Tim
can mean either
(2) He is playing cricket but not because of Tim
(3) Because of Tim he is not playing cricket.
If a speaker was saying (1) ...
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using real instead of really
It's a very informal usage. Technically, really is an adverb and real is an adjective, but people do use real as an adverb sometimes. You should only use it in very informal contexts, like speaking ...
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Do I need "there" in "In my room is a bed"?
I would say that it is grammatical, but not natural, without there.
It's grammatical because the fronted locative phrase In my room serves to put the verb is in second place, where it usually needs to ...
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Where the adverb of manner could be placed in this sentence
They both have the same meaning, although the second sentence sounds more natural.
Based on the position of gradually, you might say that the first sentence emphasizes the withdrawal (gradual ...
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