Horrible English

[Offroad]

Dear teachers...

Could you please mark these sentences wrong or right?

He speaks English so horrible.
He speaks horrible English
He speaks English so horribly.
He speaks English horribly.

It sounds like my English is going downhill.:-?

Many thanks

 

[José Manuel Rosón Bravo]

Hi offroad,

He speaks English so horrible. (Wrong)
He speaks horrible English. (Right)
He speaks English so horribly. (Right)
He speaks English horribly. (Right)

Regards,

José Manuel Rosón Bravo

 

[TheParser]

Dear teachers...

Could you please mark these sentences wrong or right?

He speaks English so horrible.
He speaks horrible English
He speaks English so horribly.
He speaks English horribly.

It sounds like my English is going downhill.:-?

Many thanks

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

Good morning, Offroad.

(1) Your English is actually going UP - UP - UP.

(2) Only your first sentence is "incorrect."

(3) He speaks English.

(a) How does he speak it? (adverb -- modifies the verb "speaks")

(i) horribly
(ii) so horribly
(iii) really horribly

(3) He speaks English.

(a) What kind of English? (adjective -- describes the noun "English")

(i) horrible English
(ii) such horrible English
(iii) really horrible English

Have a nice day!

 

[BobK]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

Good morning, Offroad.

(1) Your English is actually going UP - UP - UP.

(2) Only your first sentence is "incorrect."

...

:up: And even the first sentence is very close to a rather ornate (and maybe archaic) version:

'He speaks an English so horrible...'; this must be followed by an explanatory clause:, such as '...that I can't understand a word of it'.*

In an updated version, this would become either 'His English is so horrible that...' or 'He speaks such horrible English that...'

* I imagine this is an elided version of a form that is current, although it would be unlikely to be used with 'horrible': 'He speaks a form of English so complex that he sounds like a book'.

b

 

[Offroad]

Alright, many thanks to all of you.

Then it turns out my English is not that bad.

To me, only sentence #1 is incorrect, though it was writ(ten) by a native speaker of English!:-?

One last question:

Does this one read good?

He says wrong though a native speaker of English.

Thanks

 

[euncu]

He says wrong though a native speaker of English.

Do you mean?;


What he says is wrong (al)though he is a native speaker of English.

 

[Nightmare85]

Would Americans also say:
He horrible speaks English. :?:
You could also say:
He barely speaks English.
(The meaning would be different, but both words - barely and horribly - are adverbs.)

Cheers!

 

[euncu]

Would Americans also say:
He horrible speaks English. :?:
You could also say:
He barely speaks English.
(The meaning would be different, but both words - barely and horribly - are adverbs.)

As you have pointed out well, horribly is an adverb but horrible is not. It's an adjective.

 

[Nightmare85]

Oh, I misspelled it.
Thank you for the hint! :up:

Of course I meant:
He horribly speaks English.

Cheers!

 

[TheParser]

Oh, I misspelled it.
Thank you for the hint! :up:

Of course I meant:
He horribly speaks English.

Cheers!

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

Good afternoon, Nightmare.

(1) I believe that native speakers would prefer to put "horribly" at the end:

He speaks English horribly.

(2) The position of adverbs is a very difficult matter.

(a) By reading and listening, you will soon know where to put adverbs.

(3) I found this little passage from a textbook that used to be used in American high schools:

HOW adverbs:

Madge sings WELL.
Mr. Smith speaks French FLUENTLY.

TO WHAT EXTENT adverbs:

Dad RARELY drives to work.
He OFTEN walks to the office.

Have a nice day!

 

[BobK]

This is the sort of thing that make learning a language really tricky. ;-)

b