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Ipaintedafish Posted 12 years ago
Grammar

'Averagely'

I looked up the word 'averagely' and I got mixed answers from various sites.

I think this site implies that it can be used as a adjective: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/averagely

Whereas this site shows that it's an adverb: http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/averagely

I'm not sure where I can use it.

From these, would the use of averagely be right in the following sentence: 'I spend averagely three hours in a day writing stories.' What would be the correct use of averagely?

Thank you. Emotion: smile
  

Top answer

I personally have not used this word even once in all my adapted-American life. Assuming this is a real word, it ought to be buried in peace in my opinion. ' I won't comment on its grammatical nature but I would say it sounded horrible.

— Grammarfreak

  • I personally have not used this word even once in all my adapted-American life.
  • Assuming this is a real word, it ought to be buried in peace in my opinion.
  • ' I won't comment on its grammatical nature but I would say it sounded horrible.
  • / on my commute".
  • Since the bracketed phrase functions adverbially, it can be placed just about anywhere in the sentence.
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15 Answers
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I personally have not used this word even once in all my adapted-American life. Assuming this is a real word, it ought to be buried in peace in my opinion.
ipaintedafish 'I spend averagely three hours in a day writing stories.'
I won't comment on its grammatical nature but I would say it sounded horrible. In practical and everyday English, I'd say: " I spend th
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I can't even imagine my ever using that so-called word.
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"averagely" is familiar and normal to me as an adverb directly modifying an adjective. See sentence examples at http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/average#average

However, the use of the word in your sentence sounds wrong to me. I woul
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GPY"averagely" is familiar and normal to me as an adverb directly modifying an adjective.
Really! When was the last time you used it, may I ask ?
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GPYThe comments above make me think that the word may be specific to BrE. The link below suggests, at least, that it is quite a bit less common in AmE.
Averagely and averageness are listed at the very end of the information for average in the 1992 edition of American Heritage. Looks more like an afterthought than an entry to me.
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grammarfreakReally! When was the last time you used it, may I ask ?
It is fairly commonly used here. I use it from time to time. I would not expect to see it in very formal English.
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GPY grammarfreakReally! When was the last time you used it, may I ask ?It is fairly commonly used here. I use it from time to time.
Well, not in this part of world. If I told people " I spend three hours a day averagely on the road", they may think I am weird.
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GPY"averagely" is familiar and normal to me as an adverb directly modifying an adjective.
GPYthe use of the word in your sentence sounds wrong to me. I would use "on average".

grammarfreak: I won't comment on its grammatical nature but I would say it sounded horrible.
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grammarfreakWell, not in this part of world. If I told people " I spend three hours a day averagely on the road", they may think I am weird.
You misunderstood my post. That is not the sort of usage that I said was familiar to me.
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GPYYou misunderstood my post. That is not the sort of usage that I said was familiar to me.
Actually, there is another kind of usage that I would also accept (other than modification of an adjective), an example of which would be "He plays the piano averagely."
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