not really far // really not far

[Verona_82]

Hello,

I'm wondering if the following sentences should be marked wrong because of the position of 'really':

(1) There's a good restaurant really not far from here
(2) There's a good restaurant not really far from here.

The test compiler wanted learners to come up with "a really good restaurant", but I got the sentences I've written above.

Thank you.

[TheParser]

[QUOTE=Verona_82;852663]


CAUTION: NOT A TEACHER


(1) This is how I interpret your sentences. I do not claim that I am right.

(2) First, the "easy" one: a really good restaurant = a very good restaurant.

(3) Now let's get to yours:

(a) "There's a good restaurant really not far from here."

I feel that you are answering someone who does not believe you. It's as

if you said:

Really! There's a good restaurant not far from here.
There's a good restaurant not far from here. Really!

It's as if you had written the sentence with commas:

There's a good restaurant, really, not far from here.

(And in speech, you would use pauses for those commas.)

In other words, you want your friend to believe the truth of your statement.

(b) There's a good restaurant not really far from here.

As someone explained in another thread, the position of "really" means

"just a little bit." OK, the restaurant is one mile away, but that is not really

far. We're young people. We can walk that distance in a few minutes. And a car

would get us there even more quickly.

Compare: There is a famous man (Of course, I shall not name him) who claims that

he is fluent in French, but when French journalists asked him questions in French, he

could not understand them. He does not really know French, although he might be

able to string together a few sentences or he may be able to read it (with a dictionary

at his side) or read aloud a speech (written for him).

Another example: Flight attendants aboard international flights can say a few sentences in many languages. But most of them do not really speak those
languages.

[Verona_82]

Thank you, TheParser

[symaa]

Wow! Great answer. It seems that the position of an adverb can be tricky.

Much obliged.

[5jj]

It seems that the position of an adverb can be tricky.

It can be, though if you think carefully, something not all native speakers do, it's not really really difficult.

However, the compilers of that test question really should have been aware that there are really four places that preposition could slot into in that sentence. Really!

[symaa]

Thank you so much.Well-appreciated.