jiang
Key Member
- Joined
- Nov 18, 2003
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- Chinese
- Home Country
- China
- Current Location
- China
Dear teachers,
I get quite confused with the part of speech of the word tight and tightly.
In Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English it reads:
1. tight adj....: the patterns can be tight + n. or be + tight.
tightly adj. e.g. Marie held the baby tightly in her arms.
2. tight adv. e.g. Hold tight to the safety rail; I kept my eyes tight shut.
As far as I can understand when 'tightly' is used as an adj. the verb is a link verb. And when 'tight' is used as an adv. it should be used in a phrase.
However, when I was trying to find more examples in another dictionary I came across different explanations. The part of speech of the words are given by the lexicographer. And the examples in this dictionary are taken from other dictionaries.
1. tight adj. & adv. ( This is the same with Longman Dictionary)
2. tightly: adv. e.g. He caught her hand and held it tightly. ( The example is taken from Hans Frost of Walpole.
It's here that is different from Longman Dictionary which puts the part of speech of the word to Noun.
Could you please kindly tell me which dictionary is correct?
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thank you in advance.
Jiang
I get quite confused with the part of speech of the word tight and tightly.
In Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English it reads:
1. tight adj....: the patterns can be tight + n. or be + tight.
tightly adj. e.g. Marie held the baby tightly in her arms.
2. tight adv. e.g. Hold tight to the safety rail; I kept my eyes tight shut.
As far as I can understand when 'tightly' is used as an adj. the verb is a link verb. And when 'tight' is used as an adv. it should be used in a phrase.
However, when I was trying to find more examples in another dictionary I came across different explanations. The part of speech of the words are given by the lexicographer. And the examples in this dictionary are taken from other dictionaries.
1. tight adj. & adv. ( This is the same with Longman Dictionary)
2. tightly: adv. e.g. He caught her hand and held it tightly. ( The example is taken from Hans Frost of Walpole.
It's here that is different from Longman Dictionary which puts the part of speech of the word to Noun.
Could you please kindly tell me which dictionary is correct?
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thank you in advance.
Jiang