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Paco2004 Posted 21 years ago
Grammar
adverbial adjectives
Hello Teachers
Do you feel any semantic difference between the two sentences? If there is any diference, could you kindly explain it? If they are the same, which one sounds more natural to you?
[1] I bought this car cheap.
[2] I bought this car cheaply.
Thank you in advance.
paco
Do you feel any semantic difference between the two sentences? If there is any diference, could you kindly explain it? If they are the same, which one sounds more natural to you?
[1] I bought this car cheap.
[2] I bought this car cheaply.
Thank you in advance.
paco
Top answer
Yes, I feel a difference. The first sounds natural. The car was cheap; I bought it.
- Yes, I feel a difference.
- The first sounds natural.
- The car was cheap; I bought it.
- The second sounds less natural.
- I did the buying in a cheap manner.
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18 Answers
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Yes, I feel a difference. The first sounds natural. The car was cheap; I bought it.
The second sounds less natural. I did the buying in a cheap manner. I have trouble assigning too much meaning to this. I was somehow underhanded in my way of buying it, not forthright? I doubt I would generate this one. I doubt any of my friends would either.
CJ
The second sounds less natural. I did the buying in a cheap manner. I have trouble assigning too much meaning to this. I was somehow underhanded in my way of buying it, not forthright? I doubt I would generate this one. I doubt any of my friends would either.
CJ
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Hello CJ and other people
Thank you, CJ. So "cheaply" sounds to you as "in an inferior manner" rather than as "at a low price". Right? But how about the case of "Let's eat cheaply at the college cafeteria"? Isn't it more natural to you than "Let's eat cheap at the college cafeteria"?
paco
Thank you, CJ. So "cheaply" sounds to you as "in an inferior manner" rather than as "at a low price". Right? But how about the case of "Let's eat cheaply at the college cafeteria"? Isn't it more natural to you than "Let's eat cheap at the college cafeteria"?
paco
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Paco2004But how about the case of "Let's eat cheaply at the college cafeteria"? Isn't it more natural to you than "Let's eat cheap at the college cafeteria"?Hello people
This question of mine remains unanswered. Could someone kindly give me an answer or any comment?
paco
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'Eating cheaply', 'living cheaply', traveling cheaply', all sound fine to me and they both mean 'inexpensively'. 'Buying cheaply' doesn't seem to work like that. Sorry, I can't tell you what issue is involved that gives it the meaning of 'inexpensively' in one case, and 'in a sleazy manner' in another. 'Dressing cheaply' could mean both.
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Hello Davkett
Thank you for the quick answer. It's very interesting. You use "cheaply" in the meaning of "at a low/reasonable price" when it is used with an intransitive verb. But you use it mainly in the sense of "in a sleazy/cheap manner" when it is combined with a transitive verb. That is exactly what I have thought about the use of "cheaply". But no dictionaries give such an explanat
Thank you for the quick answer. It's very interesting. You use "cheaply" in the meaning of "at a low/reasonable price" when it is used with an intransitive verb. But you use it mainly in the sense of "in a sleazy/cheap manner" when it is combined with a transitive verb. That is exactly what I have thought about the use of "cheaply". But no dictionaries give such an explanat
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Paco, thank you for succinctly analyzing the difference that I had not noticed myself: the transitive/intransitive nature of the verbs.
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Hello People
As I wrote elsewhere, I'm now interested in the constructions of <S V O Adj> where Adj seemingly functions as a kind of adverb. Please look the sentence below.
[1] I bought this book new/used.
Semantically we might interpret "new"/"used" here to mean "in a state of being new/used". My concern is whether we should treat these
As I wrote elsewhere, I'm now interested in the constructions of <S V O Adj> where Adj seemingly functions as a kind of adverb. Please look the sentence below.
[1] I bought this book new/used.
Semantically we might interpret "new"/"used" here to mean "in a state of being new/used". My concern is whether we should treat these
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Both 1 and 2 sound natural to me. (I don't think, though, that I would choose to write, 'I bought used the dictionary I am now using.')
And I might consider some commas--'I bought, used, the dictionary that you'll find over there next to my computer.'
And I might consider some commas--'I bought, used, the dictionary that you'll find over there next to my computer.'
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Hi, Paco,
You've raised THE question/point that has been troubling me these days, i.e., in some cases, should we consider some adjectives as subject complements or adverbials ? Greenbaum and Quirk admit that there are ambiguous situations sometimes but they do not really settle in favour of one analysis instead of another. So that kind of adjective can be considered either a Cs or an adve
You've raised THE question/point that has been troubling me these days, i.e., in some cases, should we consider some adjectives as subject complements or adverbials ? Greenbaum and Quirk admit that there are ambiguous situations sometimes but they do not really settle in favour of one analysis instead of another. So that kind of adjective can be considered either a Cs or an adve
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Hi, Hela.
Did you underline correctly?
Assuning you are asking about 'bright' and 'shut,' I would say the former seems to be an adverbial that can be replaced with 'brightly,' and that the latter is a past participle that functions as an adjective explaining the resultative state. In view of this, your analysis seems to hold water.
(Oh, now I notice they are colored.)
Did you underline correctly?
Assuning you are asking about 'bright' and 'shut,' I would say the former seems to be an adverbial that can be replaced with 'brightly,' and that the latter is a past participle that functions as an adjective explaining the resultative state. In view of this, your analysis seems to hold water.
(Oh, now I notice they are colored.)
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