He plays the piano bad, but it's tolerable.

[angliholic]

He plays the piano bad, but it's tolerable.
He plays the piano tolerably bad.



Do both of the above sound right and mean pretty much the same? Thanks.

[RonBee]

Originally Posted by angliholic

He plays the piano bad, but it's tolerable.
He plays the piano tolerably bad.

They are both pretty bad.


Try:

He plays the piano badly, but it's tolerable.

[angliholic]

Thanks, Ron.
What about the second one?

[baqarah131]

"He plays the piano tolerably well."--This is good English, but I don't think you can ever say "tolerably badly."

To do something tolerably well is a common expression. It means you do it adequately, but not very well.

If he is lousy at the keyboard, you can say:
He plays the piano quite badly.
He plays the piano rather badly.

The other sentence ["He plays the piano bad, but it's tolerable"] doesn't work. Bad is an adjective; the adverb is "badly."
There's no subject for "it."
Needs a complete rewrite: Something like "He plays the piano badly, but I don't mind listening."

baqarah

[RonBee]

I was hoping somebody would make a comment about "tolerably well". This is my lucky day.


In the sentence "He plays the piano badly, but it's tolerable" the it in it's is supposed to refer to his piano playing (implied but not explicity stated). Perhaps it (the sentence) could be more clear.

~R