Search results for 'tag:Nouns tag:Adverbs' matching tags 'Nouns' and 'Adverbs'

Re: not / neither / nor

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 00:09:37 GMT

When looking up tricky constructions or words, one can often go to the dictionary to view its proper usage. For example, www.dictionary.com shows this definition and usage note for nor:

1. (used in negative phrases, esp. after neither, to introduce the second member in a series, or any subsequent member): Neither he nor I will be there. They won't wait for you, nor for me, nor for anybody.
2. (used to continue the force of a negative, as not, no, never, etc., occurring in a preceding clause): He left and I never saw him again, nor did I regret it.

So,

"Usage Note: When using neither in a balanced construction that negates two parts of a sentence, nor (not or) must be used in the second clause: She is neither able nor (not or) willing to go. Similarly, when negating the second of two negative independent clauses, nor (not or) must be used: He cannot find anyone now, nor does he expect to find anyone in the future; Jane will never compromise with Bill, nor will Bill compromise with Jane. Note that in these constructions, nor causes an inversion of the auxiliary verb and the subject (does he ... will Bill ...). However, when a verb is negated by not or never, and is followed by a verb phrase that is also to be negated (but not an entire clause), either or or nor can be used: He will not permit the change, or (or nor) even consider it. In noun phrases of the type no this or that, or is actually more common than nor: He has no experience or interest (less frequently nor interest) in chemistry. Or is also more common than nor when such a noun phrase, adjective phrase, or adverb phrase is introduced by not: He is not a philosopher or a statesman. They were not rich or happy. "

So, or is more common than nor, but nor is still acceptable (even if it sounds weird).
It further becomes clear that not...nor is acceptable when you look at the definition of neither, which is a conjunction for not either.

Re: Adj / Adverbial

Sausages — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 14:31:20 GMT

Hi,

'Possible' is an adjective, and 'possibly' is an adverb. In this case you need the adverb 'possibly' because you need it to modify the 'could be' part and not the 'person' part.

The adverb describes the verb, and the adjective describes the noun, basically.

Re: Determining parts of speech...

CalifJim — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 20:30:03 GMT

meemski
predicate adjectives

This is a function, not a part of speech. That is, there is no such thing as a part of speech called a "predicate adjective".

Most of your examples are nouns functioning as adjectives within a compound noun structure. If you need to know these for a class, check with the teacher or your textbook to find out whether, in the grammar system you're using in class, these should be considered nouns or adjectives. (Different textbooks classify these differently.)

The exceptions are water, which is a plain old noun, and back, which is an adverb. Some grammarians might interpret to be back as a phrasal verb, however. Some of these would call back a (phrasal verb) "particle"; others, an adverb.

Re: adjective or adverb ? - by N88 -

Nokia88 — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 21:30:04 GMT

Cool Breeze
Nokia88

The axe will fall the heaviest in its financial services division, which includes banking, wealth management and insurance operations.

The heaviest = adjective or adverb?

An interesting point, Nokia! In some languages, including my mother tongue, both an adjective and an adverb could be used in your sentence - and they would be different in form. Comparison is a vague and inexact form of art in English. Logic says that it makes no actual difference whether we consider the heaviest an adjective or an adverb. Its grammatical form suggests that it is an adjective. Heavy is a disyllabic adjective ending in y, and adverbs are formed by using the ly inflection from such adjectives. Examples:

(A): It rained heavily today. It rained even more heavily yesterday. It rained [the] most heavily last week.

(B): Heavier and heaviest are adjectives: My brother is heavier than me/I. He is the heaviest man I know.

CB

Dear Cool Breeze,
I am sorry!
I didn't know what had happened to me that day when I was reading your perfect post. I must have been over tired that I comprehended the two sets of examples just opposite.
The first set you wrote:
(A): It rained heavily today. It rained even more heavily yesterday. It rained [the] most heavily last week (adverb modifies verb).
(A): I misunderstood it as (adjective modifies noun).
The second set you wrote:
(B): Heavier and heaviest are adjectives: My brother is heavier than me/I. He is the heaviest man I know (adjective modifies noun).
(B): I misunderstood it as (adverb modifies verb).

Great Post!
Thank you very much!
Best regards, Nokia88

Re: adjective or adverb ? - by N88 -

Nokia88 — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 12:12:50 GMT

Dear MM,

I sincerely appreciate your great explanation (The answer probably can't be found elsewhere. Not to mention the Grammar books).

Some online dictionaries stated that the inflected forms of both the adjective and adverb of "heavy" are the same that confuse me.

http://www.bartleby.com/61/59/H0115900.html

ADJECTIVE: Inflected forms: heavÂ·iÂ·er, heavÂ·iÂ·est

ADVERB: Inflected forms: heavÂ·iÂ·er, heavÂ·iÂ·est

http://www.yourdictionary.com/heavy

ADJECTIVE: heavÂ·iÂ·er, heavÂ·iÂ·est

ADVERB: Inflected forms: heavÂ·iÂ·er, heavÂ·iÂ·est

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=***+0&dict=A

Heavy (GREAT DEGREE)

ADJECTIVE: heavy snowfall/rain/fog; a heavy fine

ADVERB: heavily armed; she's heavily involved in politics; the news weighed heavily on his mother.

Is The English Grammar rule fixed? (I mean for usage of Adjective and Adverb at the basic level in this part. Especially, when an adjective is also an adverb.) I will presumably think that I may be able to solve the problem of this sort as long as I stick to the following rule1 & 2. But not sure if this is the right way to learn.

1. An adjective describes a noun.

Examples: Louise caught the fast train; We didn't have a long wait; I had an early night.

2. An adverb describes a verb; An adverb can also modify an adjective or another adverb.

Examples: The train was going quite fast; We didn't have to wait long; I went to bed early.

Thanks for the further advice!

adjective or adverb ? - by N88 -

Nokia88 — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 11:02:29 GMT

Dear Sir,

1. An adjective describes a noun

2. An adverb describes a verb; An adverb can also modify an adjective or another adverb.

The bank made a net loss of 950m Swiss francs (Â£440m; $700m) in the last three months of 2002, pushing into a full-year loss of 3.3bn francs.

But Credit Suisse still aims to return to profit as early as this year, and is cutting its dividend payout by 95%, and shedding up to 1,250 jobs, to stem outgoings.

The axe will fall the heaviest in its financial services division, which includes banking, wealth management and insurance operations.

The heaviest = adjective or adverb?

I canât find the noun and the verb!

Your advice will be very much appreciated!

Re: definite article

Kooyeen — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 11:00:07 GMT

Hi,
it seems strange to me. The opposite would be a noun, and diametrically is an adverb, and they can go together. After looking up "diametrically" in my dictionary, I think you can only use that expression if you use "opposite" as an adjective.

What X expresses is diametrically opposite to what we generally mean by Y

Otherwise, you'd have to say something like "X expresses the diametric opposite of what we generally mean by Y", using the adjective "diametric" instead of the adverb "diametrically", but in this case I am not sure "diametric opposite" is still idiomatic. You might change it to "the exact opposite", also.

You'll have to wait for a native speaker.

Re: what does the adverb clause modify?

Raen — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:47:03 GMT

Thanks Philip.

According to the grammar book, the answer to the #1 question is the adjective "happy". My problem is why not the verb "seem".

I created the #2 question to mirror the question #1. But would the answer still be "happy", or the verb "act" would seem to be the more likely answer, and why and how?

I have a lot more questions about Noun clause vs. Adjective clauses, and Adverb clauses vs. Adjective clauses. But I'll wait to present them. So what do you think?

Regards

Raen

Re: it's probably wrong, but ...

Avangi — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 02:42:49 GMT

(We have rooms / a room.)

What would be the objection? That "there" cannot be object of the preposition because its not a noun? I think "in there" and "out there" are common constructions in all the romance languages. Sorry I don't know what it's called. - A.

Edit. Maybe I'm wrong about that. Maybe other languages are more like "there within" and "there without." "In" and "out" are probably adverbs. Edit. edit. Yes, my dictionary lists "in" as an adverb. I'm thinking, "Throw out the garbage," "Take in the washing from the line."

Re: Lack of emphasis on NPs in ESL

Kooyeen — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 20:38:55 GMT

I obviously agree with Forbes: it depends on your first language. I have never had any problems with passive sentences, subjects and objects, the difference between countable and uncountable, etc. because those are all features I have in Italian too. It is not difficult at all for me to use conditional structures (= modal verbs) in polite requests, like in "Could you lend me 1,000 dollars?", because very similar structures are used the same way in Italian too. On the other hand, I know some Asian languages don't even have past or future tenses, so it's easy to imagine how much more difficult it must be for them to learn English.

So instead of focusing on noun phrases, shouldn't we rather focus on the real difficulties, which happen to vary from learner to learner according to their native language and past experience with languages in general?

Anonymous

How about this student?

<<I assume many of you have watched the cartoon "Totally spies", right?
I just wonder why it is "Totally" here. "totally" is always an adverb, so what do they imply when using "totally" here? How can it go with the noun "spies"?>>>

Heh, good question! I don't know! Could somebody tell me more about that, as a side note here without going completely off topic? Otherwise I will open another thread. I would say "Total spies", but if I suspect that "totally" in "Totally spies" is used informally in some dialects to mean "definitely", like in, like " Are you, like, coming to my awesome party tonight? - Oh, yeah, totally!"
If that is the case, then I don't think that "totally" has anything to do with proving learners have trouble with noun phrases. It would suggest learners have trouble with informal English, and if you ask me, that's true.