came back safe/safely

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joham

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He came back safe/safely.

Is 'safe' as good to use as 'safely' in this sentence?

Thank you in advance.
 

5jj

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TheParser

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He came back safe/safely.

Is 'safe' as good to use as 'safely' in this sentence?

Thank you in advance.



ONLY A NON-TEACHER'S OPINION


(1) Please type "safe/safely" in the search box. There are some helpful threads.

(2) Please google "arrived safely/safe adjective." You will find helpful results in the

"everything," "discussions," and "books" sections.

(3) You may be interested in one scholar's opinion, which I found in the Google

"books" section. Mr. Alfred Slater West explains

the difference in his The Elements of English Grammar:

The adjective safe marks a quality of the agent he, the adverb safely marks the

mode of the action arrived.

If his horse ran away [My note: this book was written in 1898!], and he narrowly

escaped being upset, he might arrive safe, but he certainly would not arrive

safely, that is, in "a safe manner."
 

joham

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China
Thank you so much for your great answers, fivejedjon and TheParser. I've learned another great way to learn English:lol:. Thank you again.
 
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