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Usenet Posted 22 years ago
Usage

Tricky adverb question

Well, it is for me, anyway:
It is not necessarily speed or grammatical perfection or breadth of vocabulary.
How to explain the need to use the adverb "necessarily" in the above sentence? Is it just a sentence adverb like "possibly" or "certainly"?

Best wishes
Dave
  

Top answer

[nq:1]Well, it is for me, anyway: It is not necessarily speed or grammatical perfection or breadth of vocabulary. How to explain the need to use the adverb "necessarily" in the above sentence? [/nq] The need arises because the writer requires it to express a view.

— Usenet

  • [nq:1]Well, it is for me, anyway: It is not necessarily speed or grammatical perfection or breadth of vocabulary.
  • How to explain the need to use the adverb "necessarily" in the above sentence?
  • [/nq] The need arises because the writer requires it to express a view.
  • " is perfectly grammatical and rules out the three skills mentioned.
  • " restricts the reasons to one of three.
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10 Answers
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[nq:1]Well, it is for me, anyway: It is not necessarily speed or grammatical perfection or breadth of vocabulary. How to explain the need to use the adverb "necessarily" in the above sentence? Is it just a sentence adverb like "possibly" or "certainly"?[/nq]
The need arises because the writer requires it to express a view. "It is not speed or grammatical perfection or breadth of vocabulary." i
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[nq:2]Well, it is for me, anyway: It is not necessarily ... Is it just a sentence adverb like "possibly" or "certainly"?[/nq]
[nq:1]The need arises because the writer requires it to express a view. "It is not speed or grammatical perfection or ... to use the adverb" arises from the fact the adverb makes the sentence mean something different. John Dean Oxford[/nq]
Sorry, I didn't express my
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[nq:1]Sorry, I didn't express my question clearly enough. The meaning is perfectly clear; I am questioning the grammatical reason for usingan adverbial form, "necessarily", here not an adjective. I need to explain the construction to a foreign learner of English.[/nq]
Ah, right. Choose between adverb modifying the verb "is", or adverb modifying the adverb "not". I'd go for "modifying 'is'". Co
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[nq:1]Adjectives, of course, can't modify verbs or adverbs: for that you need an adverb.[/nq]
You're dead right.

Ross Howard
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[nq:1]Well, it is for me, anyway: It is not necessarily speed or grammatical perfection or breadth of vocabulary. How to ... an adverbial form, "necessarily", here not an adjective. I need to explain the construction to a foreign learner of English.[/nq]
We have to start by considering the sentence as
a whole: and it is a negative existential proposition. Generally there is seldom any gram
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[nq:2]Adjectives, of course, can't modify verbs or adverbs: for that you need an adverb.[/nq]
[nq:1]You're dead right.[/nq]
So are you: this "dead" is an adverb.
Mike.
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[nq:1]So are you: this "dead" is an adverb.[/nq]
You're deadly right again.

Ross Howard
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[nq:1]Well, it is for me, anyway: It is not necessarily speed or grammatical perfection or breadth of vocabulary. How to explain the need to use the adverb "necessarily" in the above sentence? Is it just a sentence adverb like "possibly" or "certainly"?[/nq]
I think you are asking specifically about the difference between:

It is not A, B, or C. (meaning) It is not A, it is not B, it i
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[nq:1]It is not necessarily speed or grammatical perfection or breadth of vocabulary. How to explain the need to use the adverb "necessarily" in the above sentence? Is it just a sentence adverb like "possibly" or "certainly"?[/nq]
Yes.

Mark Brader > "Simple things should be simple." Alan Kay, on UIs (Email Removed) > "Too many ... try to make complex things simple ... Toronto &g
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Thanks. I guess I'd got kind of hung up on the fact that verbs like "to be" take an adjective.

Dave R.
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