Firstly, secondly, thirdly...

[albertino]

Nowadays, we usually say, Firstly, ... Secondly, ... Thirdly,... when listing of points. However, Michael Dummett in his "Grammar & Style" said the otherwise as follows:

"First can be either an adjective, as in 'The first man on the moon', or an adverb, as in 'He first filled the kettle and then put it on the stove'.

The form firstly is therefore as redundant as fastly would be, and should never be used. Hence an enumeration of points hould proceed: First, ...Secondly, ... Thirdly, .... The (fairly rare) exception occurs when there is a definite noun for the ordinal numberals to qualify, in which case we need first, ... , second, ... , third...: an example is 'He made three objections: first, that...; second, that...; and, third, that....'"

Any comments on that, dear teachers.

 

[Tdol]

I think his argument is flawed; many adverbs have two forms, so the analogy with 'fastly' is off the mark.

 

[albertino]

I think his argument is flawed; many adverbs have two forms, so the analogy with 'fastly' is off the mark.

Well, since the publication was made in 1993, the use of firstly and first might have changed in the course of time. BTW, having referred to the definition of Longman Dict as well, I do agree with your comment. Thanks, Tdol.:up:

Longman Dict.
Firstly:
used to say that the fact or reason that you are going to mention is the first one and will be followed by others
see also finally, lastly
Firstly, I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to this success.

 

[Tdol]

It's an expression of his preferences and doesn't reflect usage. ;-)

 

[Veron1]

My Enlish teacher said so too
She said it is awkward ,informal and redundant to use firstly....secondly and thirdly.
I don't why?
May she has the same book .:lol: :lol: :lol: