'slow' and 'slowly'

Question

Hello, would you please tell me what's the difference between 'slow (adv.)' and 'slowly' ? thanks.P.S. Is there a rule or well-known list about which words can be both adj. and adv. ?

Mr Wordy · Accepted Answer

Opinions may differ on this one, and there are regional differences too.

As a general rule (with some exceptions), in my own usage (BrE) I find adverbial "slow" somewhere between inferior and unusable. For example, I would personally never say "I was walking slow" or "This tree grows very slow". However, I accept it from speakers of UK regional dialects where it (and similar adverbial use of "quick", "easy", "brilliant", etc.) are commonplace. Also, I can picture "real slow" as common in AmE (I would say "really slowly"), so perhaps adverbial "slow" is more widely accepted over there too.

There is some discussion at http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slow , and the example sentence they give -- beans…are best cooked long and slow -- seems acceptable to me, so this is one of the exceptions I mentioned.

Vorpar · Answer

I don't heard the adv form "slow" much in west coast dialect. Only in specific usages: "The clock is running slow."

I doubt there is any rule that can let you know if a word is both an adjective and an adverb, it's one of those things you'll have to learn by listening to or reading English. If an adjective relates to actions, like slow, then there is the possibility that it can be used as an adverb.

BillJ · Answer

VorparI don't heard the adv form "slow" much in west coast dialect. Only in specific usages: "The clock is running slow."

There is no adverbial form 'slow'. 'Slow' is an adjective - to call it an adverb is nuts. The adverb form is 'slowly'. Clocks don't run 'slow', they run 'slowly'. Regional dialects may well use 'slow' as an adverb, but that doesn't make it correct in standard English. One of the purposes of this website (and the only one that could ever make sense) is to explain things as they are in standard English, otherwise we end up with a sort of 'grammatical anarchy'.

VorparI doubt there is any rule that can let you know if a word is both an adjective and an adverb, it's one of those things you'll have to learn by listening to or reading English.

Some words have such dual-classification, but 'slow' as not one of them.

BillJ

Mr Wordy · Answer

BillJ 'Slow' is an adjective - to call it an adverb is nuts.

Most dictionaries are nuts then.

BillJ · Answer

Mr Wordy
BillJ 'Slow' is an adjective - to call it an adverb is nuts.
Most dictionaries are nuts then.

By 'most dictionaries' are you including the Oxford? It's not in my version. 'Slow' can be inflected for comparison - 'slow', 'slower', 'slowly' - a clear sign that it's an adjective. Adverbs are not inflected like that. As I said, you will come across it in regional dialects used as an adverb, and you may even find it defined that way - but then the sheer 'chutzpa' of some dictionaries never ceases to amaze me. If you want to mess up the contrast between the definitions of adjective and adverb, that's up to you.

BillJ

Mr Wordy · Answer

BillJIf you want to mess up the contrast between the definitions of adjective and adverb, that's up to you.

No, it's not up to me, it's up to the numerous dictionary compilers who list "slow" as an adverb. If you specifically want a dictionary with "Oxford" in the title then here is an example:

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0782580#m_en_gb0782580

Mr Wordy · Answer

BillJAdverbs are not inflected like that.

What about "I ran faster and faster"?

Mr Wordy · Answer

Mr WordyNo, it's not up to me, it's up to the numerous dictionary compilers who list "slow" as an adverb. If you specifically want a dictionary with "Oxford" in the title then here is an example:
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0782580#m_en_gb0782580

Sorry, I retract this example; it does later give caveats about the use of "slow" as an adverb, except in certain special cases.

CalifJim · Answer

BillJClocks don't run 'slow', they run 'slowly'.

I see. Then what about trains?

"The trains are running slow" says to me that they are running behind schedule.
"The trains are running slowly" says that they are just creeping along.

I think we need to recognize certain idiomatic uses of slowas an adverb. I speak American English -- what you probably call a regional dialect -- so my clocks and watches run slow when they lose time. (In this country we are all, of course, sincerely ashamed of ourselves for creating such grammatical anarchy.

)

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

BillJ, you are incorrect. From the OED:

slow, adv.

View as:

Quotations:

Pronunciation: /sl??/

Forms: Also 15 slaw(e, slau.

Etymology:< slow adj.

1.

Thesaurus »

a. In a slow or tardy manner; slowly.

a1500 Adrian & Epotys 22 in Brome Bk. 25 Than seyd þe Emprore, note slawe, ‘Arte thow wysse wysdam to teche?’

1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid viii. vii. 105 The mychty *** of fyr..als tyte, And no slawer,..Furth of his bed startis.

1600 Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream i. i. 3 But oh, me thinks, how slow This old Moone waues.

1645 Milton Il Penseroso in Poems 40, I hear the far-off Curfeu sound,..Swinging slow with sullen roar.

1680 J. Moxon Mech. Exercises I. xii. 209 In large and heavy Work the Tread comes slow and heavily down.

1733 W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farming 109 It grew so slow, as provoked him to take it up.

1762 W. Jones Arcadia in Poems (1777) 103 Slow he approach'd; then wav'd his awful hand.

1812 Byron Childe Harold ii. xli, As the stately vessel glided slow Beneath the shadow.

1848 Thackeray Vanity Fair viii. 66 We drove very slow for the last two stages on the road.

1858 Edinb. Rev. July 207 The narrative moves slow.

'slow' and 'slowly'

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