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Anonymous Posted 12 years ago
Vocabulary

Adverbs for senses

Hello. I've encountered a problem trying to succinctly and consistently describe a gas leak that could be seen, heard, and smelled. Here's what I have come up with so far, with problematic words bolded:

"I visually, auditorily, and olfactorily observed the component leaking vapor."

"I observed the component visibly, audibly, and olfactoribly leaking vapor."

I want to keep the different adverb forms consistent, so I don't think olfactorily_ would work next to _visibly_, for instance. Seems to me that, while _aurally might work in the first sentence as pertaining to the sense of hearing, the connotation of aurally is that it relates to the sensory organ more than the sense (like optically vs visually).

So A) how do I spell the adjective of auditory_, because I've seen different things online, B) can I use _audially there instead, or is that a made-up word, and C) is olfactoribly legitimate, or is there a legitimate alternative that fits?

Seems like I need to subscribe to OED online, but I haven't; so I apologize for not consulting that before I ask y'all.
  

Top answer

OP here, I just wanted to clarify that I meant to ask for spelling of the adverb for auditory, rather than the adjective. Also it appears trying to italicize so many words didn't work so well. Thanks to anyone who answers.

  • OP here, I just wanted to clarify that I meant to ask for spelling of the adverb for auditory, rather than the adjective.
  • Also it appears trying to italicize so many words didn't work so well.
  • Thanks to anyone who answers.
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5 Answers
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OP here,
I just wanted to clarify that I meant to ask for spelling of the adverb for auditory, rather than the adjective. Also it appears trying to italicize so many words didn't work so well.

Thanks to anyone who answers.
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The clearest thing is to say "The gas leak could be seen, heard and smelled." What you are trying to do just seems forced beyond the ability of the language to supply neat, parallel adverbs. Also, "observed" is associated with sight -- you can't "audibly observe" something, much less "olfactorily" or "olfactoribly."
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I hope you realize you are attempting to create a sentence that is rather bizarre.
You don't want to say simply this? I saw, heard and smelled the component leaking vapor.


Clive

PS - Sorry I posted late.
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It's disappointing that the sense of smell doesn't have a good parallel adverb to visibly or audibly or tangibly. Probably something to do with being a less important sense for us. Thanks.
Well you can observe things with more senses than sight. Since you made the point, I do agree that observe connotes the use of sight more than other senses, but I don't agree that it's as hard and fast as yo
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Stepping back a bit, it does seem a bit much. I left out the context that I'm a government regulator, and I'm mimicking the tone and language of US EPA regulations. They specifically reference A, V, and O methods of observation. But here I can tone it down; it's just a memo.

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