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  What’s wrong with “hopefully”?

  1212 readersThere's no need to fear hopefully. Sentential adverbs are a part of life, and so are words with shifted meanings.

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  In Defense of Adverbs

  2001 readersEarlier this week, I discussed verbs in our “Parts of Speech” discussion. Verbs create the “meat” of our writing. In fiction, they move the plot forward. In articles and speechwriting, they tell the story. They’re the “do-ers.” If the adage “90 percent of the work is done by 10 percent of the people,” pertained to words,

• Flat Adverbs Are Flat-Out Useful

  4253 readersAn adverb is a word that modifies a verb or another adverb, or perhaps an adjective — or possibly even a clause or an entire sentence. How versatile! But there’s more to this part of speech: It can sometimes shed the nearly ubiquitous -ly ending and, though it subsequently appears to be an adjective, retains

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  Royal Order of Adverbs

  4052 readersThe order of adverbs is more flexible than that of adjectives, but order still matters. Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook.

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  A “hopefully” update

  2884 readersWhen I was talking about sentential hopefully, I said that hopefully meaning “in a hopeful manner” had pretty much fallen out of my idiolect. It turns out I was wrong.  I would definitely say this headline, “Obama Speaks Hopefully of Movement on Jobs Bill“, without a second thought, and without difficulty of interpretation. The position

• Adverbs Are Really Quite Acceptable

  4095 readersAdverbs are to verbs as adjectives are to nouns: They modify action words. However, they can also support other parts of speech, such as adjectives and other adverbs, as well as clauses and even entire sentences. Original Post: Adverbs Are Really Quite Acceptable Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook.

• 5 Sentences Saved by Em Dashes

  3646 readersSentential adverbs (words such as indeed or namely and phrases like “that is” and “of course”), and their close cousins the conjunctive adverbs, or adverbial conjunctions (however, “on the other hand,” and the like), indicate an interruption of thought, and should themselves appear as interruptions. Original Post: 5 Sentences Saved by Em Dashes Your eBook: Click

• Put Adverbs in Their Place

  4811 readersWhen, how, or why something is done is expressed by an adverb, whose primary function is signaled by its name: Adverbs modify verbs (and sometimes other parts of speech — more on that later). They appear more or less in proximity to the verb they modify, but their syntactical location can vary for diverse reasons. An

• Coordinate and Noncoordinate Adjectives

  2086 readersAn adjective is a word that provides detail about, or modifies, a noun. Adjectives are sometimes confused with adverbs, which modify verbs. The -verb in adverb gives you a clue, as does the -ject in adjective -- just like the -ject in object: The names of objects are always nouns. Original Post: Coordinate and Noncoordinate

• 9 Forms of the Past Tense

  4574 readersMultiple variations of past tense that employ regular verbs occur in English. Explanations of the distinctions follow. Note that each section includes examples of positive-declarative, negative-declarative, and interrogative forms. 1. Simple Past A sentence in the simple-past form describes an event that occurred in the past: “They agreed with us.” “They did not agree with us.” “Did they agree with