College English Grammar Grammar and Writing By Zhu

College English Grammar: Grammar and Writing By Zhu Xiangjun

Unit 4 Modifiers：Adverb • Grammar: Adverbs • Writing: Correcting: Misplaced Modifiers and –ly Modifiers Rewriting: Relationship and completeness

Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, or an entire clause by making its meaning more specific. • • • We go shopping. We often do that at weekend. We often go shopping at weekend. [modifying verb “go”] Bob is a student. He is good. His goodness is unusual. Bob is an unusually good student. [modifying adjective “good”] My child gets up. He gets up at seven. He almost always gets up at seven. My child almost always gets up at seven. [modifying adverb “always”]

• • • Many adverbs are formed by adding –ly to an adjective: general --- generally, bad --- badly, soft --- softly, definite --- definitely, happy --- happily, frequent --- frequently Like adjectives, some adverbs have three forms of comparison: positive, comparative, and superlative. Positive Comparative Superlative badly worse worst farther/further farthest/furthest fore former foremost/first later latest/last little less least much more most well better best

1) Kinds of Adverbs • Adverbs of Time: afterwards, later, now, soon, yesterday, then, recently, still, finally etc. • Adverbs of Place: abroad, anywhere, outside, somewhere, there, home etc. • Adverbs of Manner: well, fast, slowly, carefully, quickly etc. • Adverbs of Frequency: always, often, usually, frequently, never, seldom, sometimes, etc. • Adverbs of Degree: almost, entirely, greatly, highly, partially, practically, totally, very, etc. • Adverbs of Negation: no, not, neither, nor etc. • Adverbs of Probability: certainly, definitely, maybe, perhaps, possibly, probably etc. • Adverbs of Interrogative: when, where, how, why etc. • Others: also, too, only etc.

1. Position of adverbs When an adverb modifies an adjective or another adverb, the modifying adverb must immediately precede the word modified. • The prices are quite reasonable. • We are very much hoping you can attend our wedding. When an adverb modifies a verb, it has three positions in a sentence: front (before the subject), middle (between the subject and the main verb) and end (after the verb or object). • • • Sometimes I feel quite lonely. “Mathematics” is sometimes abbreviated to “math”. I can not sense your meaning sometimes.

The adverb should not be put between the verb and the object: • She picked up slowly the gun. • She picked up the gun slowly. • However, adverbs should always come after intransitive verbs (= verbs which have no object). • Ill weeds grow fast. • It pays to work honestly.

Also, some common adverbs (well, badly, hard etc. ) are almost always placed after the verb. • They suffered badly during the flood. • Although grumbling sometimes, he worked hard. As a general rule, it is wise to place the adverb as near as possible to the word that it modifies. • He drives carefully. • The party has thoroughly searched the whole cave.

Adverbs of manner and place are usually put behind the direct object (or behind the verb if there's no direct object). • The boy sneaked out of the house quietly. • We have to walk back home. Adverbs of time are usually put at the end of a sentence but, to catch attention, you can also put them at the beginning of a sentence. • She stayed in the Bears' house all day. • Tomorrow I'm going to tidy my room. Adverbs of frequency are usually placed before the main verb but after auxiliary verbs (such as be, have, may, must). • You must always fasten your seat belt. • I have never forgotten my first kiss.

3. Order of adverbs Usual word order with different adverbs is: manner + place + time • She sang beautifully in the bathroom last night. • The murder escaped quickly from the village at dusk. As a general rule, shorter adverbial phrases go before longer adverbial phrases, regardless of content. • The cat takes a walk after super every day of its life. • He will wait for us at six at the west gate of the university.

A second rule is that among similar adverbial phrases of kind (manner, place, frequency, etc. ), the more specific adverbial phrase comes first. • Mozart was born in January in 1756. • They lived in a little log cabin in the mountains. Of adverbs of manner, the shorter usually comes before the longer and they are linked with each other by conjunctions such as and, but etc. • Please drive slowly and carefully. • She spoke fast but clearly.

Exercises 1: Combine the sentences in each set into a single clear sentence. 1. The company has acquired an office building. The purchase is recent. The building is new. The building is in central Boston. The company has recently acquired a new office building in central Boston. 2. He put forward a good suggestion. The suggestion is for students. The students are going to study abroad. He put forward a good suggestion for students (who are going) to study abroad. 3. The old man drives his boat. He does it slowly. He wants to avoid hitting the rocks. . The old man drives his boat slowly to avoid hitting the rocks.

4. She led an existence. Her existence was solitary. She was lonely. Her loneliness was seldom. She led a solitary existence but was seldom lonely. 5. Technology has changed our life. It has done that over the past two decades. The change is total. . Technology has totally changed our life over the past two decades. 6. The hotel is not spacious. The hotel is not comfortable. The hotel is neither spacious nor comfortable. 7. The word derives from Latin. It is probable. The meaning of the word escapes me. The word, whose meaning escapes me, probably derives from Latin.

Misplaced Modifiers and –ly Modifiers A modifier is a word or phrase that gives more information about the subject, verb, or object in a sentence. It should be placed as close as possible to the words it modifies 1. Misplaced modifiers A misplaced modifier is simply a word or phrase describing something but not placed near enough the word it is supposed to modify. It causes confusion because it modifies wrong word in a sentence. You can place the modifier near or next to the word it is meant to modify. • • • Dick became ill after he married and died. After he married, Dick became ill and died. • • The man whistled to the dog on the way to the park. On the way to the park, the man whistled to the dog.

Much attention should be given to the adverbs such as only, just, nearly, and almost. They are often misplaced and cause an unintended meaning. The boy nearly made a hundred dollars last week. The boy made nearly a hundred dollar last week. People who use drugs frequently suffer health problems. People who frequently use drugs suffer health problems. Examples are often misplaced. Don’t place examples onto the end of a sentence when the idea being illustrated is elsewhere. Economic problems are difficult to handle such as inflation and unemployment. Economic problems such as inflation and unemployment are difficult to handle.

2. -ly Modifiers There are two common errors for modifiers ending in –ly. 1) Although most –ly modifying words are adverbs, there are still some exceptions (usually n-ly) you should give special attention to. Cowardly, friendly, gingerly, leisurely, likely, lowly, miserly, niggardly and timely are usually adjectives. He timely arrived to help us out. His arrival to help us out was timely. It was timely that he arrived to help us out. At the church, they welcomed these young skiers friendly. At the church, they gave these young skiers a friendly welcome. At the church, these young skiers received a friendly welcome. For a long time, he has been dreaming to enjoy a lunch leisurely. For a long time, he has been dreaming to enjoy a leisurely lunch.

2) Avoid using consecutive (three or more) –ly modifiers. Awkward: He had himself spent some time in the probably relatively lowly position of a ship’s surgeon. Better: He had himself spent some time in the perhaps relatively humble position of a ship’s surgeon.

Exercises: Correct the following misplaced or dangling modifiers. 1. Her employee is a pleasant young woman with a ring named Rebecca. 2. They stood in line to buy tickets to the show for twenty minutes. 3. A dog was hit by a car running across the street. 4. The homework scarcely took them an hour to complete. 5. The president only has two days to stay with his family. 6. I almost waited a half an hour for my brother. 7. While cleaning his gun, it went off unexpectedly. 8. Approaching the woods, a cabin will come into your sight. 9. To save money enough to afford her daughter’s education, her house has been sold out. 10. After looking out the window for hours, the rain passed.

Correcting: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. woman named Rebecca with a ring stood in line for twenty minutes A dog running across the street scarcely an hour only two days almost a half an hour While he was cleaning his gun, it went off unexpectedly. A cabin will come into your sight when you’re approaching the woods. 9. To save money enough to afford her daughter’s education, she has sold out her house. 10. After I looking out the window for hours, the rain passed.

The exercise in this section is to create effective passages by combining the short sentences which you think is related into longer, more complex ones. If there are some mistakes, correct them. Passage 1 (Adapted from Lesson 11, New Concept English by L. G. Alexander) • I had dinner at a restaurant. Tony Steele came in. Tony worked in a lawyer's office years ago. He is now working at a bank. He gets a good salary. He always borrows money from his friends. He never pays it back. Tony saw me. He came over. He sat at the same table. He has never borrowed money from me. He was eating. I asked him to lend me twenty pounds. I was surprised. He gave me the money immediately. Tony said "I have never borrowed any money from you. Now you can pay for my dinner!"

Passage 2 (Adapted from Lesson 14, New Concept English by L. G. Alexander) • I had an experience last year. It was amusing. I had left a small village. It was in the south of France. I drove on to the next town. On the way, a young man waved to me. I stopped. He asked me for a lift. He had got into the car. I said good morning to him. I used French. He replied. He used French too. I only know a few words. I do not know any French at all. He and I did not speak during the journey. I had nearly reached the town. The young man suddenly said, "do you speak English? ' His speaking was very slow. I soon learnt. He was English himself!