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English 1b3 Posted 16 years ago
Grammar
Adverbs: singularly & sometimes
When the sometimes angry tiger wakes up, he lets out a massive yawn.
Can we use sometimes as above instead of occasionally? Hyphen?
The striker is playing singularly.
Does singularly here mean he is playing on his own, with no one else on his team or he is playing with his team, but he is the only striker?
Thanks
Can we use sometimes as above instead of occasionally? Hyphen?
The striker is playing singularly.
Does singularly here mean he is playing on his own, with no one else on his team or he is playing with his team, but he is the only striker?
Thanks
Top answer
I would hyphenate - the phrase 'sometimes angry' is acting like a single adjective, so to read the sentence fluently I'd make it look like one: 'the sometimes-angry tiger'. I sub-edit for a magazine and this is the rule we follow. To me, 'The striker is playing singularly' would mean that he is playing very strangely or very well.
- I would hyphenate - the phrase 'sometimes angry' is acting like a single adjective, so to read the sentence fluently I'd make it look like one: 'the sometimes-angry tiger'.
- I sub-edit for a magazine and this is the rule we follow.
- To me, 'The striker is playing singularly' would mean that he is playing very strangely or very well.
- The word 'singular' can mean unusual or unique (as Sherlock Holmes most famously uses it - he calls problems 'singular', meaning unusual).
- To me, 'singularly' in this context would mean 'unusually', meaning 'strangely', or possibly 'unusually well'.
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9 Answers
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I would hyphenate - the phrase 'sometimes angry' is acting like a single adjective, so to read the sentence fluently I'd make it look like one: 'the sometimes-angry tiger'. I sub-edit for a magazine and this is the rule we follow.
To me, 'The striker is playing singularly' would mean that he is playing very strangely or very well. The word 'singular' can mean unusual or unique (as Sherlo
To me, 'The striker is playing singularly' would mean that he is playing very strangely or very well. The word 'singular' can mean unusual or unique (as Sherlo
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Thanks, Deborah
Would you say sometimes is an adverb in this case, but it combines with an adjective to form a compound modifier? Hence the hyphen.
Would you say sometimes is an adverb in this case, but it combines with an adjective to form a compound modifier? Hence the hyphen.
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I agree. I suppose it is acting adverbially as it's modifying the verb, i.e. the manner of his being angry is 'sometimes'. But yes they combine to form a semantic unit, the hyphen making it clear that the 'sometimes' goes with the 'angry' not the tiger, which would be confusing. It makes it a lot easier to read.
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deborah_dI suppose it is acting adverbially as it's modifying the verb, i.e. the manner of his being angry is 'sometimes'.
I don't think this is quite right. 'Angry' is an adjective here, so the adverb 'sometimes' is modifying this adjective, as it is entitled to do as an adverb.
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True, it can be used to modify an adjective, but surely only in so far as that adjective embodies the implied verb of being?
ps: this is an interesting discussion, I'm enjoying it!
ps: this is an interesting discussion, I'm enjoying it!
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I think I see what you're saying, that an adverb can only modify an adjective if it embodies a verbish aspect.
I've never thought of it like this. I've always just accepted adverbs modify verbs, adverbs, adjectives, and even sentences!
I've never thought of it like this. I've always just accepted adverbs modify verbs, adverbs, adjectives, and even sentences!
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Can you explain a little more what you mean by "embody the implied verb of being"? I'm afraid I don't follow.
My own two cents:
I think the sentence has an Adjective Phrase sometimes hungry modifying the noun tiger. Inside of that AP there's an adverb sometimes, which modifies the adjective hungry.
More formally, it seems to me the structure
My own two cents:
I think the sentence has an Adjective Phrase sometimes hungry modifying the noun tiger. Inside of that AP there's an adverb sometimes, which modifies the adjective hungry.
More formally, it seems to me the structure
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Well I always assumed that adverbs (which surely typically modify verbs) can modify some adjectives (or indeed other adverbs) because there's a verb implied - in this case 'to be'. So the phrase 'sometimes hungry' is shorthand for 'sometimes being hungry'.
After all, if you take the statement out of this construction, you have to put 'to be' back in: 'The tiger is sometimes hungr
After all, if you take the statement out of this construction, you have to put 'to be' back in: 'The tiger is sometimes hungr
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deborah_dWell I always assumed that adverbs (which surely typically modify verbs) can modify some adjectives (or indeed other adverbs) because there's a verb implied - in this case 'to be'. So the phrase 'sometimes hungry' is shorthand for 'sometimes being hungry'.Interestingly, in many languages there are no adjectives. Instead, the adjective-like words act
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