Adverbs

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yogi2005

#108104 Sun, 12 Jun 05 08:19 PM

hello,

I have a problem with what adverb to choose in the sentence below:

Because of the fog they could not see clear/clearly enough to land the plane.

In what context do we use 'to see clear" and 'to see clearly'?
Is there a difference in meaning?

thank you in advance

yogi2005

Joined on Thu, Mar 31 2005

Full Member (197)

Adverbs, Verbs

paco2004

#108113 Sun, 12 Jun 05 08:57 PM

Hello Yoqi

I think "clear" cannot be in general used as an adverb. Only one exception is "shine clear" like in "The Sun shines clear". Also you can use "clear" in the sense of "with clear voice": "She speaks clear" or "We can hear telephone loud and clear". But I don't think we can use it in the sense of "with clear sightedness" or "with optical distinctness". For this, we have to use "clearly". So my choice is "They could not see clearly enough to land the plane".

paco

paco2004

Joined on Wed, Nov 17 2004

Senior Member (4,095)

In Japan today even dogs are learning how to bow-wow in English.

Adverbs, Verbs

CalifJim

#108142 Sun, 12 Jun 05 11:41 PM

"... they could not see clearly enough ..." "clearly" is the norm is this type of construction.

But there's an idiom, "to see one's way clear to ...".

They could not see their way clear to make such an important purchase at this time.

CJ

CalifJim

Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004

California

Veteran Member (16,555)

"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche

Constructions, Idioms

paco2004

#108186 Mon, 13 Jun 05 04:08 AM

Hello CJ

My dictionary gives an idiom "see one's way clear to doing something" and says it means "be able and willing to do something". Is it different from your "see one's way clear to do something"?

paco

paco2004

Idioms

CalifJim

#108959 Wed, 15 Jun 05 06:00 AM

No. It's the same. For some reason my brain accepts either the infinitive or the gerund there! Most likely the gerund is more used, actually.

CalifJim

Gerunds

paco2004

#108994 Wed, 15 Jun 05 08:02 AM

Hello CJ

Thank you for your kind confirmation.

paco

paco2004

yogi2005

#109259 Wed, 15 Jun 05 11:13 PM

thank you for comments.

I found another example with " to see clear"

to see clear to the mountains

Is it the same idiomatic meaning as the one given by Jim?

yogi2005

CalifJim

#109344 Thu, 16 Jun 05 05:22 AM

yogi,

No, not at all. This is a different meaning. "clear to the" can mean "all the way to the", "the entire distance to the". It's an informal expression.

"No, sir. We don't have that book in stock. You'll have to check at our other branch, and that means driving clear to the next county."

CJ

CalifJim

Expressions

yogi2005

#109525 Thu, 16 Jun 05 02:54 PM

thank you CJ.

yogi2005