[Grammar] How to think? positive or positively?

[vpkannan]

Hi,


Think positive vs. Think positively:


Are both of them correct grammatically? If so, what is the difference?


Thanks.

 

[Matthew Wai]

I consider 'think positively' grammatical because 'think' is a verb, which takes an adverb such as 'positively' as its modifier, but I am not a teacher.

 

[mawes12]

I think both are correct and there is no difference. I think most adverbs mean "in an (adjective) way/move" like when "positive" is used as an adverb, It means "in a positive way/move." Do you understand?

Not a teacher.

 

[Matthew Wai]

"positive" is used as an adverb

I would not use it as an adverb if the following dictionary is correct, but I am not a teacher.
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/positive

 

[tedmc]

There are other adjectives commonly used as adverb: work smart, drive safe.

 

[vpkannan]

Using some adjectives after some verbs is really difficult to understand. Is there any grammatical rule on when and where to use adjectives after verbs? Please clarify.

 

[mawes12]

And look for a list of linking verbs.

 

[MikeNewYork]

Adjective forms used as an adverb without -ly are called "flat adverbs" and they are generally accepted today.

 

[vpkannan]

Can we assume the following?

1. Linking verbs can take adjectives because they are functionally be-verbs and describe the state of the subjects.

2. For other verbs, both transitive and intransitive, adjectives called flat adverbs can be used, especially when the equivalent adverb forms are not available.

 

[MikeNewYork]

Yes, but not all adjectives can be used as flat adverbs.

 

[vpkannan]

Any guidance available for flat adverbs please?

 

[MikeNewYork]

Yes. Start by Googling "flat adverbs" and reading the information.

 

[MikeNewYork]

It is common in American English as a Google search will show.

 

[lotus888]

Apple wants you to "think different" instead of "think differently". It always hurts my ears when I hear it.


--lotus

 

[Eckaslike]

I don't think this term is widely used by British Grammarians. It is not used in A comprehensive Grammar of the English Language (1986), The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language or the Oxford Modern English Grammar (2011).

It looks like flat adverb was used in British English in the late 19th century, but then fell out use. http://tinyurl.com/nt4vsm8

However American English appears to have retained it to the present day, as Mike confirmed. http://tinyurl.com/pyn2vs3

Apple wants you to "think different" instead of "think differently". It always hurts my ears when I hear it.


--lotus

I think most British English speakers probably find this the case for the majority of occasions when the "ly" form is not used. I'm not bothered by "think positive", but probably wouldn't use it. I find that using the flat forms sounds like "business-speak", instructional "advertising-speak", or even local dialect:

"You gotta think different to succeed, aint ya Bob?" (Somerset dialect)

At school we were most definitely not allowed to use any of the flat forms either in writing, or in speech, unless talking very informally with friends. Even then only people with naturally broad dialects would use them, most wouldn't.

I have just spoken with a friend from the south-east of England and, without prompting, they've said that if a person uses flat adverbs it makes them think that the person never went to school. They said that they wouldn't use "think positive".

Flat forms were probably commonly used in BrE between the 16th and mid-18th centuries where we wouldn't use them now. I found this interesting discussion on the subject of flat adverbs, with some in favour and others against. https://teacherseducation.wordpress.com/2008/09/13/grammar-wednesday-81/

 

[TheParser]

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


" The tendency to ignore the distinction between adjectives and adverbs doubtless results from the influence on British speakers and writers of American speech, in turn strongly influenced by German, which hardly recognises a difference between adjectives and adverbs."

The author of those words is Michael Dummett, who was "Wykeham Professor of Logic at Oxford."

In his Grammar and Style for examination candidates and others (1993), he also says: "Phrases like to act natural [his emphasis] and he doesn't see good are pure Germanisms, and, though in common use by Americans, are recognised as slang."

(I am simply reporting Professor Dummett's comments without expressing my opinion regarding his views.)

*****

"If 'different' was supposed to modify the verb 'think,' it should be an adverb, as in 'think differently.' But [Steve] Jobs insisted that he wanted 'different' to be used as a noun [my emphasis], as in 'think victory' or 'think beauty.' Also, it echoed colloquial use, as in 'think big.' "

Mr. Jobs was quoted as saying, "Think differently wouldn't hit the meaning for me."

Source: The New Yorker magazine, November 14, 2011.

 

[Eckaslike]

" The tendency to ignore the distinction between adjectives and adverbs doubtless results from the influence on British speakers and writers of American speech, in turn strongly influenced by German, which hardly recognises a difference between adjectives and adverbs."

The author of those words is Michael Dummett, who was "Wykeham Professor of Logic at Oxford."

In his Grammar and Style for examination candidates and others (1993), he also says: "Phrases like to act natural [his emphasis] and he doesn't see good are pure Germanisms, and, though in common use by Americans, are recognised as slang."

Very interesting. Apparently the "ly" form was introduced as English moved away from using German case endings.

"Indeed, in centuries past, one rarely saw an –ly adverb (examples from Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage):

• I was horrid angry, and would not go (Samuel Pepys, diary, 29 May 1667)
• The weather was so violent hot (Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, 1719)
• The five ladies were monstrous fine (Jonathan Swift, The Journal to Stella, 6 Feb. 1712)
• I will not be extreme bitter (William Wycherly, The Country Wife, 1675)
  x

These are what we call flat adverbs. Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage says, “Originally such adverbs had not been identical with adjectives; they had been marked by case endings—usually a dative –e [it’s a German thing]—but over the course of Middle English the endings disappeared. The 18th-century grammarians … could not explain how these words were adverbs. They saw them as adjectives, and they considered it a grammatical mistake to use an adjective for an adverb. They preferred adverbs ending in –ly. Two centuries of chipping away by schoolmasters and grammarians has reduced the number of flat adverbs in common use and has lowered the status of quite a few others.”

http://www.jamiechavez.com/blog/2011/12/do-not-go-gentle-into-that-good-night/