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Anonymous Posted 9 years ago
Grammar

Verb"alter"

HI.
i just wanna know your idea about the verb”alter”.
Definition says alter means change something, usually SIGHTLY,

but most used adverbs of collocations of “alter”
Are”alter significantly or alter radically”. These adverbs(SIGHTY and significantly or radically)go to the opposite side!! This makes me wonder(><)
  

Top answer

'Alter' does indeed mean to change something and I can understand the confusion. Although we normally use 'alter' to show a relatively minor change, it is usual to expect a significant effect due to that change. There isn't a hard-and-fast rule to say what constitutes 'altering' rather than 'changing' and some people use an adverb to demonstrate that the effect of alteration is more significant than you'd expect.

— David Hatton

  • 'Alter' does indeed mean to change something and I can understand the confusion.
  • Although we normally use 'alter' to show a relatively minor change, it is usual to expect a significant effect due to that change.
  • There isn't a hard-and-fast rule to say what constitutes 'altering' rather than 'changing' and some people use an adverb to demonstrate that the effect of alteration is more significant than you'd expect.
  • To alter something 'radically' is more than you would expect from altering something.
  • That's why someone has put the adverb in there, to show how significant the effect is.
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1 Answers
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'Alter' does indeed mean to change something and I can understand the confusion. Although we normally use 'alter' to show a relatively minor change, it is usual to expect a significant effect due to that change. There isn't a hard-and-fast rule to say what constitutes 'altering' rather than 'changing' and some people use an adverb to demonstrate that the effect of alteration is more significant
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