[Grammar] You can definitely never predict what will happen

[NAL123]

I found an example in Cambridge Dictionary(https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/adverbs-and-adverb-phrases-position):

You can definitely never predict what will happen.

In the above example, what is the adverb "definitely" modifying?

a) You can [[definitely never] predict] what will happen. ('definitely' modifying 'never') Or

b) You can [never [predict definitely]] what will happen. ('definitely' modifying 'predict')

Can I write the original sentence the same way as b)?

 

[Phaedrus]

You can definitely never predict what will happen.

In the above example, what is the adverb "definitely" modifying?

"Definitely" isn't modifying "never" or "predict" in that example. It modifies, or comments on, the entire assertion: "You can never predict what will happen."

We could replace "definitely" with other adverbs that "express conviction" (to use Quirk et al.'s phrase, in their discussion of content disjunct adverbials*).

You can definitely/assuredly/certainly/surely/manifestly/obviously never predict what will happen.

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*A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, by Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, and Svartvik. Longman, 1985. Section 8.127, p. 620.

 

[NAL123]

Thank you. Can I call 'definitely' a 'sentence adverb'?

 

[Phaedrus]

Can I call 'definitely' a 'sentence adverb'?

Yes, I think so. I don't know what you understand by a "sentence adverb," but if it dovetails with this definition of "disjuncts" in Quirk et al., the term is fine.

"DISJUNCTS . . . have a superior role as compared with the sentence elements; they are syntactically more detached and in some respects 'superordinate', in that they seem to have a scope that extends over the sentence as a whole" (ibid., p. 613, emphasis mine).

 

[jutfrank]

I presume that by 'sentence adverb' NAL123 just means an adverb that modifies an entire clause/sentence.

So yes, if it works for you to call it that, NAL123, that's fine. .

 

[Phaedrus]

I presume that by 'sentence adverb' NAL123 just means an adverb that modifies an entire clause/sentence.

Yes, and the interesting thing here, from the standpoint of "definitely" being a sentence modifier, is that the sentence modifier appears mid-sentence.

While I do not think it works to say, "Definitely, you can never predict what will happen," the following Q&A teases out the modifier's sentence-level scope:

A: Is it true that you can never predict what will happen?
B: Definitely.

 

[NAL123]

Yes, I think so. I don't know what you understand by a "sentence adverb," but if it dovetails with this definition of "disjuncts" in Quirk et al., the term is fine.

Actually, 'sentence adverbs' are a type of 'disjuncts.' Just check out this Wikipedia article: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disjunct_(linguistics)