First vs firstly vs at first

Question

Hello!Could you, please, explain the difference between FIRST vs FIRSTLY vs AT FIRST?Thank you!

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Maria D
Hello!
Could you, please, explain the difference between FIRST vs FIRSTLY vs AT FIRST?
Thank you!

That is really too broad a question for a complete answer. If you want to know about their use as sentence adverbs, then "first" and "firstly" are the same, except "firstly" sounds prissy, as if you didn't realize that "first" is just as much an adverb for all its lacking the "ly" marker. Some people think it lends formality, though. It should be noted that whichever you choose, stick with the same form for subsequent enumerations in the piece, "second", "third", etc. "At first" is not like the others. It means "in the beginning", not "in the first place".

Cool Breeze · Answer

People don't expect anything to follow 'at first': At first I didn't believe him.

People expect something to follow 'first': "First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin." (A Leonard Cohen song called First We Take Manhattan)

I never use 'firstly'.

CB

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Maria DAT FIRST?

That refers to a time sequence. e.g. At first, I could not understand him, but I got used to his accent.

Maria DFIRST vs FIRSTLY

It is not wrong to use the -ly form. However, this is dying out in American English and is passé for all practical purposes. It sounds very antiquated, stilted and old-fashioned. The "-ly" forms are still used in legal documents and very formal treatises and I hear the -ly forms in lectures given by British professors.

On the other hand, the forms without -ly are contemporary English and accepted in both British and American English. Business English style guides today advise not to use the -ly forms and use "first, second, third,...." So if you are learning international English or American English, do not use "firstly." In the Cambridge exams, you might lose a bit if you are writing in American English and use "firstly."

Here are some frequency statistics for first as compared to firstly. Click on the blue links.

1. First is used as both an https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=first_ADJ%2Cfirst_ADV%2Cfirst&case_insensitive=on&year_start=1940&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t4%3B%2Cfirst_ADJ%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bfirst_ADJ%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BFirst_ADJ%3B%2Cc0%3B.t4%3B%2Cfirst_ADV%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bfirst_ADV%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BFirst_ADV%3B%2Cc0%3B.t4%3B%2Cfirst%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bfirst%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BFirst%3B%2Cc0 and adverb, but mostly as an adjective.

2. Firstly is only used as an https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=firstly_ADJ%2Cfirstly_ADV%2Cfirstly&case_insensitive=on&year_start=1940&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t4%3B%2Cfirstly_ADJ%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3BFirstly_ADJ%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bfirstly_ADJ%3B%2Cc0%3B.t4%3B%2Cfirstly_ADV%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3BFirstly_ADV%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bfirstly_ADV%3B%2Cc0%3B.t4%3B%2Cfirstly%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3BFirstly%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bfirstly%3B%2Cc0.

3. When first as an adverb is compared to the adverb https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=first_ADV%2Cfirstly&case_insensitive=on&year_start=1940&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t4%3B%2Cfirst_ADV%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bfirst_ADV%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BFirst_ADV%3B%2Cc0%3B.t4%3B%2Cfirstly%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3BFirstly%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bfirstly%3B%2Cc0, the overwhelming choice is "first."

The https://books.google.com/books?id=AfbaCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA123&dq=%22first,+firstly%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiCzJ2T2ofaAhVFwYMKHbcyB6QQ6AEIODAC#v=onepage&q=%22first%2C%20firstly%22&f=falseon this subject is very succinct and clear.

First vs firstly vs at first

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