adverb of manner between verb and direct object?

Question

Lots of esl resources say that:

_Warning:_
_We don’t put adverbs between the verb and the object:_

I found this sentence in a book:

Ask the man to describe carefully whatever he saw.

Also, lots of results from google for "to describe carefully"

Thanks!

GPY · Accepted Answer

A belief that splitting the infinitive is wrong may be behind the "to describe carefully" choice. The other possible choice for people who adhere to that belief, "Ask the man carefully to describe what he saw", seems unsatisfactory due to potential ambiguity.

For those (like me) who don't care about split infinitives, "Ask the man to carefully describe what he saw" seems a better sentence.

Gtk_We don’t put adverbs between the verb and the object:_

I think that this rule is sensible in the great majority of cases, but there will be exceptions, e.g. "I drink only water". There are also many transitive phrasal verbs whose second part can be considered adverbial, e.g. "You should take back that comment". The rule is not meant to apply to these, I guess.

Cool Breeze · Answer

GtkWe don’t put adverbs between the verb and the object

This is usually true. English is quite peculiar in this respect. Even when there is no possibility of misunderstanding or ambiguity caused by an adverb between the main verb and the object, it is normally avoided. However, in your example the object is quite long, and this makes all the difference. I remember this sentence in my secondary school grammar book: I heard there the language of my childhood.

CB

adverb of manner between verb and direct object?

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