Is it grammatically correct to place an adverb between a gerund and a verb?
Hello! Can somebody on here please help me settle a small, ongoing grammatical feud?
The sentence in question is 'Buying branded clothes clearly is a personal decision'. I claim that the adverb 'clearly' can be placed in that position. However, my teacher disagrees and claims that it's grammatically incorrect even though I have explained to her that in that position it's used to emphasise the verb 'to be' and even showed her some similar examples.
Can somebody on here please explain which one of us is right, and why? Thank you so much in advance!
Top answer
"Buying branded clothes clearly is a personal decision" is possible, though it would be a less common word order than "... ", and there is the slight downside that it can momentarily be misread as "Buying branded clothes clearly / is a personal decision". I see no signficant difference in meaning between the two word orders.
- "Buying branded clothes clearly is a personal decision" is possible, though it would be a less common word order than "...
- ", and there is the slight downside that it can momentarily be misread as "Buying branded clothes clearly / is a personal decision".
- I see no signficant difference in meaning between the two word orders.
- I would say that "Buying branded clothes clearly is a personal decision" possibly works better in speech, where the emphasis makes the phrasing more obvious.
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"Buying branded clothes clearly is a personal decision" is possible, though it would be a less common word order than "... is clearly ...", and there is the slight downside that it can momentarily be misread as "Buying branded clothes clearly / is a personal decision". I see no signficant difference in meaning between the two word orders. I would say that "Buying branded clothes clearly is a
0All of the following options are acceptable, depending on what you want the adverb to modify and how much emphasis you want to express.
Buying branded clothes is a personal decision, clearly.
Buying branded clothes is a clearly personal decision.
Buying branded clothes is clearly a personal decision.
Buying branded clothes clearly is a personal
0
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