Adverbs, my final lesson?

Status
Not open for further replies.

Nightmare85

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2009
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
German
Home Country
Germany
Current Location
Germany
Hello guys,
I've been trying to master the adverbs.
My biggest problem is their position.
I'll try to give them a perfect position.
(I'm sorry if my examples are very poor, but examples are one of my weak points.)
He insulted an admin directly after getting warned.
Unfortunately, I don't have time yet.
We tried to quickly work, but it was too quickly, so we broke it completely.
We tried to work quickly, but it was too quickly, so we broke it completely. (For British English)
He was often missing, that's why we threw him fast out of the clan.
This person is now permanently banned on our servers.
However, such a ban can be easily bypassed.
Yesterday, I wrote a tutorial how to fully protect their own files.
Yesterday, I wrote a tutorial how to protect fully their own files.
(For British English)
He definitely has no idea at all.
We have been humiliatingly defeated, although we gave our best.
You have fully the right to park your car here.

We need to drive more carefully.
She speaks English very well.
His presence affects our mood badly.
He constantly comes too late to work.

I really hope that most of the sentences are correct :)
Adverbs are a tough topic, but I don't give up quickly.

Cheers!
 

Raymott

VIP Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2008
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Australia
Current Location
Australia
Hello guys,
I've been trying to master the adverbs.
My biggest problem is their position.
I'll try to give them a perfect position.
(I'm sorry if my examples are very poor, but examples are one of my weak points.)
He insulted an admin directly after getting warned.
Unfortunately, I don't have time yet.
We tried to quickly work, but it was too quickly, so we broke it completely.
This doesn't work for me. Is there really a non-BrE difference here?
You can say, "We tried to quickly work out the answer".

We tried to work quickly, but it was too quickly, so we broke it completely. (For British English)
He was often missing; that's why we threw him fast out of the clan.
No. "Quickly" would work here. "Fast" would need to be at the end. "They threw him out fast."

This person is now permanently banned on our servers.
However, such a ban can be easily bypassed.
Yesterday, I wrote a tutorial on/about how to fully protect their own files.
Yesterday, I wrote a tutorial how to protect fully their own files.
(For British English) ? You seem to be assuming that BrE doesn't allow a split infinitive. Or is there some other principle here?
Anyhow, this example is correct, but the previous one is better.

He definitely has no idea at all.
We have been humiliatingly defeated, although we gave our best.
You have fully the right to park your car here.

No, but the problem is with the expression, not the placement.


We need to drive more carefully.
She speaks English very well.
His presence affects our mood badly. Yes, or "... badly affects our mood"

He constantly comes too late to work.


I really hope that most of the sentences are correct :)
Adverbs are a tough topic, but I don't give up quickly.

Cheers!
They are mostly correct.
 

Nightmare85

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2009
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
German
Home Country
Germany
Current Location
Germany
Hello Raymott and thank you for your reply :up:

Once I created a thread about "How to + adverb" and TheParser told me it's fully normal to allow a split infinitive in American English.
I thought Britons dislike such a rule...
His presence affects our mood badly. Yes, or "... badly affects our mood"
Okay, but:
He badly affects our mood.
I think this would be not good, would it?

Cheers!


 

Raymott

VIP Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2008
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Australia
Current Location
Australia
Hello Raymott and thank you for your reply :up:

Once I created a thread about "How to + adverb" and TheParser told me it's fully normal to allow a split infinitive in American English.
I thought Britons dislike such a rule...
Maybe 80 years ago, they might have.

His presence affects our mood badly. Yes, or "... badly affects our mood"
Okay, but:
He badly affects our mood.
I think this would be not good, would it?
It's acceptable, but "He affects our mood badly" is better.
Cheers!

I think misplaced adverbs are the most common error of speaking that native Germans who are fluent in English make.
I was watching a German-Australian CEO of a large Australian company talking on TV a few nights ago. Apart from his slight accent and the occasional misplaced adverb, his English was perfect.
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
Hello Raymott and thank you for your reply :up:

Once I created a thread about "How to + adverb" and TheParser told me it's fully normal to allow a split infinitive in American English.
I thought Britons dislike such a rule...
His presence affects our mood badly. Yes, or "... badly affects our mood"
Okay, but:
He badly affects our mood.
I think this would be not good, would it?

Cheers!



Bear in mind that "he badly affects" is not a split infinitive. "To badly affect" would be. It is that which many grammarians have a problem with. One of the most famous examples of this is in the spoken introduction to the original Star Trek series, which included the phrase "to boldly go". It has been quoted many times as an example of "bad" English. However, as you can see from the link below, as far back as 1998, the compilers of the Oxford English Dictionary decided that there was no problem with split infinitives.

BBC News | UK | 'To boldly go' gets green light
 

Nightmare85

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2009
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
German
Home Country
Germany
Current Location
Germany
Thanks :)

@emsr2d2:
I'm sorry, I forgot to put a blank line there.
I thought Britons dislike such a rule...

(The following had nothing to do with the previous thing :))

His presence affects our mood badly. Yes, or "... badly affects our mood"
 

bhaisahab

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 12, 2008
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
Ireland
Bear in mind that "he badly affects" is not a split infinitive. "To badly affect" would be. It is that which many grammarians have a problem with. One of the most famous examples of this is in the spoken introduction to the original Star Trek series, which included the phrase "to boldly go". It has been quoted many times as an example of "bad" English. However, as you can see from the link below, as far back as 1998, the compilers of the Oxford English Dictionary decided that there was no problem with split infinitives.

BBC News | UK | 'To boldly go' gets green light

"As far back as 1998"? 1998 was yesterday!
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
"As far back as 1998"? 1998 was yesterday!

Ha ha! Well, I was surprised to find that it was 12 years ago! I thought the split infinitive argument had only been resolved in the last 2 or 3 years!
 

Nightmare85

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2009
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
German
Home Country
Germany
Current Location
Germany
Hello guys.
Thanks for your replies, by the way ;-)

I would like to try to understand this rule better:
Let's take these example sentences:
1. He insulted an admin directly, and was banned.
2. After he
directly insulted an admin (directly), he was banned.
3. I was there when he
directly insulted the admin (directly).

Now my question:
To 1. I understand that it sounds weird to put the directly after the He.
To 2. I think putting directly after he is equally good.
To 3. To me "he directly" sounds best here.

1. He affects these forums badly.
2. Yes, it's true that he badly affects these forums (badly).


My explanations:
I think such adverbs like directly, badly etc. should not be the 2nd word of a sentence.
If a sentence is long, like example 2 and 3, it does not sound bad to me.

1st word, adverb, 3rd word -> not good.
1st word, 2nd word, adverb, 4th word -> better.
(I'm not talking about adverbs like "Unfortunately" "Often" etc.)

I hope that was understandable...

Cheers!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top