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Entrebaillir Posted 16 years ago
Grammar
To Well Hear It...Not!
Hello all!
To my fuzzy ears,
1. "to well appreciate it" and "to well understand it" sound fine (though slight stilted), ?
2. "to well speak it" and "to well hear it" sound fine (though also a bit formal), ?
3. "to better appreciate it" and "to better understand it" sound perfectly great! ?
4. BUT "to better speak it" and "to better hear it" sound absolutely horrid. ?
I'm not the only to perceive them thusly. Am I?
Putting aside the nitpicking over the split infinitive "controversy", is there a grammatical reason behind such perception?
All of these are "to + adverb + verb + it," so why do some sound better than others and #4 utterly awkward?
Thanks for your input.
To my fuzzy ears,
1. "to well appreciate it" and "to well understand it" sound fine (though slight stilted), ?
2. "to well speak it" and "to well hear it" sound fine (though also a bit formal), ?
3. "to better appreciate it" and "to better understand it" sound perfectly great! ?
4. BUT "to better speak it" and "to better hear it" sound absolutely horrid. ?
I'm not the only to perceive them thusly. Am I?
Putting aside the nitpicking over the split infinitive "controversy", is there a grammatical reason behind such perception?
All of these are "to + adverb + verb + it," so why do some sound better than others and #4 utterly awkward?
Thanks for your input.
Top answer
I'm definitely not a teacher, so I can't really explain, but here are my thoughts: 1. These don't sound right. 2.
- I'm definitely not a teacher, so I can't really explain, but here are my thoughts: 1.
- These don't sound right.
- 2.
- These are the ones I know are wrong, although "to speak/hear it well" works.
- 3.
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1 Answers
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I'm definitely not a teacher, so I can't really explain, but here are my thoughts:
1. These don't sound right.
2. These are the ones I know are wrong, although "to speak/hear it well" works.
3. I agree with you.
4. I think these sound fine.
To my knowledge, "well" comes after the verb when it is used as an adverb.
1. These don't sound right.
2. These are the ones I know are wrong, although "to speak/hear it well" works.
3. I agree with you.
4. I think these sound fine.
To my knowledge, "well" comes after the verb when it is used as an adverb.
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