A Correct Adverb
I generally recommend against using adverbs (use a good verb instead) but here’s one where the guy got it right:
Looks like he even used an M-dash, though the spaces around it weren’t necessary.
Speaking of adverbs, I ran into a comic that I can’t find now that had the theme of using multiple adverbs. The punch line ran something like
Are you really absolutely positively utterly sure you turned off the oven?
The point being that the more adverbs, the greater the degree of certainty about something.
Okay, I ran into another string of adverbs, including a compound adverb!
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Awhile and a While
I haven’t run into this solecism lately, but I ran into the lesson on Facebook. Here it is:
The noun phrase “a while” can and often does follow a preposition, such as “for” or “in.” The adverb “awhile” cannot follow a preposition.
If you can replace “a while” with another article and noun such as “a year,” you know you want the two-word version. If you can replace “awhile” with another adverb such as “briefly,” you know you want the one-word version.
Remember Those Misused Introductory Adverbs?
I mentioned these guys before. More than once. People, even professional writers, sometimes start a sentence with an adverb when they should use an adjective or a phrase. Some examples of doing it wrong:
Firstly, we pour water into the bowl (how about just plain “first”?).
Reportedly, most kids don’t like peas (who’s doing the reporting? Identify the source!).
Supposedly, we can go play after dinner (how about “I suppose we can go play…).
You might remember the definition of adverbs as words that modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. Sometimes this can place an adverb first in a sentence, and here’s an example of that:
Equally important, MacLeish mobilized the Library of Congress for war.
So “equally” here tells how, or to what extent. Far better than “Equally importantly…”
Adverbs are often superfluous anyway. If you can leave an adverb out, leave it out.
And just to satisfy your curiosity, here’s a picture of Archibald MacLeish.
PS—Wouldn’t you know, I ran into a comic from Strange Brew on the subject. She calls it a sentence adverb, but same thing:
It’s All Well and Good
…or so goes the saying. “Well” and “Good” are often confused. Here’s a pretty (ahem) good example of correct usage, thanks to Flo and Friends.
Here’s the short version of the rule:
Good is an adjective. It describes things.
Well, is an adverb. It tells how.
And of course, as with many rules in English, the rule has exceptions.
Well is an adjective when you’re talking about health.
Good is a noun when you’re talking about morals.
So there you have it.
An Error I Mentioned Before
I mentioned this error before, so here’s a grim reminder not to make it. Perry Bible Fellowship is a rather grim comic anyway, even if it is funny to those of us with a grim mind set.
The error is made by both the students and the, um, professor, and the error is promulgated by lots of stuffy English teachers, so it’s fairly common.
That “preposition” at the end of the sentence isn’t a preposition. It’s an adverb! It’s part of a separable verb, of which English has many. (Or I might say, “…which English has many of.”)
Those words, which can also be used as prepositions in other contexts, are perfectly correct at the end of a sentence when they’re part of the verb. It brings to mind the apocryphal Winston Churchill quote, said when someone correct his English, “Impertinence, young man, is something up with which I will not put.”
