speaks clear

[Do228]

What is the difference between "somebody speaks clear" and "somebody speaks clearly"?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

The phrase "somebody speaks clear" needs to be followed by a noun. Example: He speaks clear English. That's because in that phrase clear is an adjective.

He speaks clearly is a complete sentence because there clearly is an adverb.

 

[Do228]

But in sentences like "Please speak loud and clear", there's no noun after "clear". Why is it acceptable to use an adjective in such cases where normally an adverb should be used?

 

[Roman55]

Loud and clear is a set phrase.

 

[bubbha]

Though it's technically wrong, many native speakers use adjectives when they should use adverbs.

 

[jutfrank]

to speak loud and clear

to speak is a verb and loud and clear is an adverb phrase. It describes a way of speaking.

 

[jutfrank]

Though it's technically wrong, many native speakers use adjectives when they should use adverbs.

Do you mean that people use words which are most frequently used as adjectives as adverbs? How is that technically wrong? If a word is used as an adverb, it's an adverb. Whether it's good usage or not is a different issue.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Though it's technically wrong, many native speakers use adjectives when they should use adverbs.

That's excruciatingly true. But in this case, I think Roman's comment that it's a set phrase trumps (Oh, Lord, can we use that word anymore?) standard grammar.

 

[jutfrank]

Most grammarians use the word 'adverb', like the names of other word classes, to label words by a combination of form and function.

I don't think grammarians are particularly interested in labelling words at all. Especially outside of the words in use. They're more interested in describing the structure of language. That is, the focus is more on function than form.

When speaking of function, it's more precise and useful to talk in terms of adverb phrases, noun phrases, adjective phrases, etc. rather than adverbs, nouns and adjectives, which can designate form.

When I said

If a word is used as an adverb, it's an adverb.

I should have more precisely said: If a word is used as an adverbial phrase, it's an adverbial phrase.

adverbially

Lovely adverb, by the way!

 

[jutfrank]

In form, an adverb phrase always has an adverb as its head.

So I wonder what you would say about the phrase loud and clear? If you say it's adverbial, is it an adverb phrase? Is there a head?

In They discussed it in a friendly way, the form of the underlined group of words is that of a preposition phrase. It functions adverbially (it modifies the verb 'discussed'), but it is not an adverb phrase.

I don't understand this. I would call it an adverb phrase. Am I wrong about this? Is that the difference between AdvPs and adverbial phrases?

An adverb on its own may be an adverb phrase, but it functions (it 'is used') to modify verbs, adjectives, adverbs,and other categories.

I'm not sure what you mean here. What do you mean by "An adverb on its own"?

 

[bubbha]

Do you mean that people use words which are most frequently used as adjectives as adverbs? How is that technically wrong? If a word is used as an adverb, it's an adverb. Whether it's good usage or not is a different issue.

For example, there are many native speakers who would say "He was walking slow" instead of "He was walking slowly". The adjectival form "slow" is being used as an adverb.

 

[Rover_KE]

For example, there are many native speakers who would say "He was walking slow" instead of "He was walking slowly". The adjectival form "slow" is being used as an adverb.

I thought so, too, but many dictionaries here accept 'slow' as an adverb in its own right.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

All good! Now excuse me while I go to shop smart, buy local, and eat healthy . . . .

 

[jutfrank]

I completely agree that there is much confusion and inconsistency, even with definitions of basic terms. I've been looking at various definitions of the words adverb, adverbial, adverb phrase, adverbial phrase, by various authorities.

I believe, along with many others, that when considering the meaning of the word adverb, there must be a functional definition. That is, for me, an 'adverb' is defined as a word that modifies a verb, clause, etc. Where the thing that modifies is a phrase, (not just a single word) we can call it 'adverbial', or 'an adverbial', or 'an adverbial phrase'. We're talking about function, not form. The term 'prepositional phrase' is a description of form (when defined as a phrase with a preposition as head), not function. The function of a PP is usually adjectival or adverbial.

In my view, it leads to all kinds of confusion if you try to define a word by its form. Often a word is not what it appears to be. How does one know if there's an adverb at the head? You're driving too slow. If slow is the head of the phrase too slow, how can I tell whether slow is an adverb? Only by how it's working in this particular use of language.

Things can get even more confusing if you try to define by way of a combination of both function and form.

I think what Piscean was saying is that for him an 'adverb phrase' is defined by its form (having an adverb as a head), not by what it does. (Piscean - please correct me if that's not right.) It seems that many people take this view. This does not seem to make much sense to me. What's the point of defining words by their forms? Well, there may be some pedagogical reasons for doing so, but if we want simply to describe language, surely we should focus on how it works to communicate what we mean, rather than what it tends to look like.

 

[Do228]

Swan l(Practical English Usage, 3rd edn (2005.24-7) lists a number of adverbs which (sometimes informally) are used like this. They include the underlined words in:

I clean forgot
dead tired
The plane goes direct from London to Houston
Take it easy
to play/fight fair
I'll be back as quick as I can
hold tight
You guessed wrong

Would it also be OK to say "I cleanly forgot", "deadly tired", "to play fairly" etc. or would that sound very strange?

 

[jutfrank]

Would it also be OK to say "I cleanly forgot", "deadly tired", "to play fairly"?

No, no, yes.