[title]Family quotes[/title] [description]Welcome to our family quotes section! Here you'll find some of the funniest (and wisest) quotes on the subject of family life![/description]
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Latest post Fri, May 30 2008 5:49 PM by elcid12345. 2 replies.
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elcid12345  +  520956 Fri, 30 May 08 04:58 PM
Hi,

 Please help me with the following sentences.

 i ) She certainly drives slow in that old Buick of hers.

  She certainly drives slowly in that old Buick of hers.

Can we use slow and slowly either of them in the present context?

ii) He spoke sharply, quickly, and to the point.

   He spoke sharp, quick, and to the point.

Same question as above. Are the two adverbs interchangeable?

What is the meaning of this one?

iii)He did wrong by her.

 

Thanks,

RG

 

Joined on Fri, May 30 2008
New Member 11
Grammar Geek  +  520962 Fri, 30 May 08 05:21 PM

Hi elcid, and welcome to the forums.

 Please help me with the following sentences.

 i ) She certainly drives slow in that old Buick of hers.

  She certainly drives slowly in that old Buick of hers.

Can we use slow and slowly either of them in the present context?

Here's what www.m-w.com says about using "slow" as an adverb (I've added the bold the sentence near the end):  usage Some commentators claim that careful writers avoid the adverb slow, in spite of the fact that it has had over four centuries of usage. In actual practice, slow and slowly are not used in quite the same way. Slow is almost always used with verbs that denote movement or action, and it regularly follows the verb it modifies.  Slowly is used before the verb and with participial adjectives. Slowly is used after verbs where slow might also be used <burn slow or slowly> and after verbs where slow would be unidiomatic

So -- either one..

ii) He spoke sharply, quickly, and to the point.

   He spoke sharp, quick, and to the point.

I would use only sharply and quickly.

 

What is the meaning of this one?

iii)He did wrong by her.

This is an idiomatic phrasing. He did something that caused her some harm, probably emotional harm.

Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006
Veteran Member 19,683
Barbara, who answers in American English. My housekeeping skills attest to the truth of the second law of thermodynamics: Left to themselves, things get more and more random!
elcid12345, 1 yr 179 days ago
Thanks GG! 
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