Similar vs. similarly

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hi,which of the following is grammatically correct ?storks have long and beautiful bills. a similar long and beautiful bill is also found in woodpeckers.(or)storks have long and beautiful bills. a similarly long and beautiful bill is also found in woodpeckers.thanks !!

Usenet · Accepted Answer

In our last episode,
(Email Removed), the lovely and talented Badi Maii
broadcast on alt.usage.english:
[nq:1]hi, which of the following is grammatically correct ? storks have long and beautiful bills. a similar long and beautiful bill is also found in woodpeckers.[/nq]
Storks have long and beautiful bills. A similar long and beautiful bill is also found in woodpeckers.
[nq:1](or) storks have long and beautiful bills. a similarly long and beautiful bill is also found in woodpeckers.[/nq]
Storks have long and beautiful bills. A similarly long and beautiful bill is also found in woodpeckers.
Both sentences are grammatically correct, but each mean something different. The second is factually incorrect, for a woodpecker's bill is not similar in length to a stork's.

Lars Eighner ~~finger for geek code~~ (Email Removed) http://www.io.com/~eighner/ Writing became such a process of discovery that I couldn't wait to get to work in the morning: I wanted to know what I was going to say. Sharon O'Brien

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]hi, which of the following is grammatically correct ? storks have long and beautiful bills. a similar long and beautiful bill is also found in woodpeckers. (or) storks have long and beautiful bills. a similarly long and beautiful bill is also found in woodpeckers.[/nq]
Neither or either, whichever you mean.
I would avoid the "a bill (singular) ... found in (rather than on) woodpeckers (plural)," especially after saying that "storks (plural) have ... bills (plural)."
If you want to say that woodpeckers have similar bills, which are long and beautiful, then "similar" is right.
If you want to say that woodpeckers have bills which are similarly long and beautiful, the "similarly" is right.
Decide whether you are modifying the noun, when you would use the adjective "similar," or the adjectives, when you would use the adverb "similarly."

Martin Ambuhl

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Badi Maii broadcast:[/nq]
I'm a bit unesay about the "*in* woodpeckers". I might have chosen "on" for that particular construction.

Skitt (in Hayward, California)
www.geocities.com/opus731/

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Badi Maii broadcast: Storks have long and beautiful bills. A ... woodpecker's bill is not similar in length to a stork's.[/nq]
[nq:1]I'm a bit unesay about the "*in* woodpeckers". I might have chosen "on" for that particular construction.[/nq]
Same here. I'd use "on." "A bill is also found IN woodpeckers" means to me that a bill is in the stomach/intestines of, or embedded in the body of, a dead or very sick woodpecker.

Reinhold (Rey) Aman

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Badi Maii broadcast: Storks have long and beautiful bills. A ... woodpecker's bill is not similar in length to a stork's.[/nq]
[nq:1]I'm a bit unesay about the "*in* woodpeckers". I might have chosen "on" for that particular construction.[/nq]
They take them off at night and put them in a tumbler beside the bed?

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]I'm a bit unesay about the "*in* woodpeckers". I might have chosen "on" for that particular construction.[/nq]
[nq:1]They take them off at night and put them in a tumbler beside the bed?[/nq]
Are you saying that they swallow them instead?

Skitt (in Hayward, California)
www.geocities.com/opus731/

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