Question: Why is it "sleep tight" and not "sleep tightly"?

Tuesday, 5 May 2015 07:32
[identity profile] green-grrl.livejournal.com
Today’s question is why we say “sleep tight” and not “sleep tightly.” After all, “sleep” is a verb, so shouldn’t we use the adverb form “tightly”?

Readers of a certain age might remember a similar issue with Apple’s “Think Different” advertising campaign in the 1990s, which had thousands of people crying, “No, think differently!” More recently, singer and grammar nerd “Weird Al” Yankovic has been seen changing a road sign from “Caution Drive Slow” to “Caution Drive Slowly.”

The good news is that there are readers who recognize that an action verb (like sleep or think or drive) should be modified by an adverb, not an adjective. The bad news for people trying to use correct grammar is that there are times when what looks like an adjective actually is an adverb, called a “plain” or “flat” adverb.

( Let’s take a closer look at these little known modifiers with examples from Marvel’s Avengers. )
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Friday Funnies: Language Nerd

Friday, 3 April 2015 11:13
[identity profile] whymzycal.livejournal.com
xkcd shows us why the language nerds shall rule the Earth: it's gotta be those mad linguistic skills!



Hovertext: Not to go all sentence fragment on you.


To become an Earth-ruling language nerd yourself, pop over to our "parts of speech" tags, peruse our "Grammar 101" tag, or have a peek at a couple of articles from About.com and NYTimes.com to read up on verbing nouns, adverbing adjectives, nouning verbs, and adjectiving nouns, etc.
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Answer: what is the correct way to use the word “hopefully”?

Monday, 2 March 2015 17:40
randi2204: (mag7 - JD startled)
[personal profile] randi2204
We’ve been asked “what is the correct way to use the word ‘hopefully’?”  Let’s take a look at this historically controversial issue with some help from the Magnificent Seven.

( Hoping and hoping and hoping )
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Answer: “seldom” versus “seldomly"

Monday, 10 December 2012 21:55
chomiji: Tenpou from Saiyuki Gaiden. with the caption Not necessarily by the book (Tenpou - Not by the book)
[personal profile] chomiji

[livejournal.com profile] enemytosleep wanted to know, "When do you use 'seldom' versus 'seldomly'?" The answer may surprise you.

( To learn more, we'll take a trip to the teeming metropolis of Ankh-Morpork in Terry Pratchett's Discworld ...  )
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Answer: "Regrettable" versus "regretful" and "regrettably" versus "regretfully."

Monday, 29 October 2012 15:23
[identity profile] achacunsagloire.livejournal.com
Our next question comes from [livejournal.com profile] srsly_yes, who would like to know:

When do you use “regrettable” versus “regretful” and “regrettably” versus “regretfully”?

( An excellent question, srsly_yes, and one whose answer we must regretfully venture into the sleepy town of Silent Hill in order to find... )
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Foul-Mouth Friday: "shi"--err, "the s-word."

Friday, 3 August 2012 21:21
[identity profile] achacunsagloire.livejournal.com
It’s Friday, and you know what that means, dear watchers: it’s time for another Foul-Mouth Friday!

In this edition of Foul-Mouth Friday, we’re moving from the bedroom to the bathroom to take a look at a word that is vulgar not only in its usage but in its very definition: shi—excuse me, the s-word.

To help us better understand this, erm, indecent word, we’re also going to look at some examples of its usage in Kevin Smith’s View Askew film series.

( Now let’s click on the cut for more shi—I mean, information. )
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Answer: Can "further" and "furthermore" be used interchangeably?

Monday, 14 May 2012 21:39
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How do you eliminate and replace extraneous adverbs?

Monday, 14 November 2011 13:09
[identity profile] supercheesegirl.livejournal.com
[livejournal.com profile] west_side asks, "How do you eliminate and replace extraneous adverbs?"

First of all, what's an adverb? An adverb is at its root a word that describes or modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb. In any sentence, an adverb answers the questions how, when, where or to what degree something is happening. If you're not clear on what exactly an adverb is or does, check out our Grammar 101 post on adjectives and adverbs to learn more!

So now you've got a sense of what an adverb is and how to spot it in your sentence - and now that you're spotting them, you're noticing an awful lot of them. It's very easy to misuse adverbs - in fact, the "very" in this sentence is an example of an adverb that gets overused frequently. Let's take a look at a few techniques to cut down on excess adverbs in our writing.

( With examples from Doctor Who. )
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Feature: It's Not Just Us!

Friday, 11 December 2009 16:20
[identity profile] melayneseahawk.livejournal.com
Wesley: Her abuse of the English language is such that I understand only every other sentence.

Believe it or not, the same kind of issues we talk about in [livejournal.com profile] fandom_grammar appears in the source text of some of our favorite fandoms. For this Feature, we've gathered some of these examples and are going to break down the grammar and syntax topics they discuss.

Examples from the source texts of Bones, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Castle, Friends, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and Stargate SG-1.

( Off we go! )

We'd love to do this again sometime. So, if you can think of any quotes about grammar, syntax, or any other topic we have or could cover, you can comment and leave them for us right here.
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Reference: Three Writing Articles

Wednesday, 29 July 2009 09:41
[identity profile] melayneseahawk.livejournal.com
"Three Grammar Rules You Can (and Should) Break"
Michelle Pierce, Copyblogger

Description: A list of three grammar rules that never made all that much sense to begin with.

Why Is It Useful? A straightforward explanation of much-mocked rules about prepositions and splitting infinitives, including neat things like pop-culture examples. An ancestor to our own humble efforts?

Quote: Come on: “to go boldly where no man has gone before” just doesn’t have the same ring to it as “to boldly go.” If it sounds better to split the infinitive, then take an axe to it!


"5 Evergreen Editing Tips"
Maria Schneider, Editor Unleashed

Description: Five common mistakes that can easily be corrected in the editing phase.

Why Is It Useful? One would think that these mistakes (run-on sentences, modifier abuse) are simple mistakes to catch, but they're very common. Like the first article, this one lays them out in simple, easy-to-understand ways. This article is written by a professional editor.

Quote: Run-on sentences may seem deep and complex, but are often awkward and difficult to follow. Rewriting into two or three sentences will lead to better flow and readability.


"Follow These Rules for Stronger Writing"
Writer's Digest

Description: Thirteen tips for clean, efficient writing, both prose style and plotting.

Why Is It Useful? This article contains a variety of tips, as well as examples of incorrect and fixed sentences for the grammar and style ones.

Quote: The best prose has a rhythm to it. Honor that rhythm.
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Grammar 101: Adjectives, Adverbs and Interjections

Friday, 5 December 2008 12:25
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Answer: How do you correctly use "only" in a sentence?

Monday, 12 May 2008 22:57
[identity profile] katiefoolery.livejournal.com
How do you correctly use “only” in a sentence?

Only is no ordinary word. Not only an adverb, it is also an adjective. Only too happy to be useful, it also serves as a conjunction, only you shouldn’t really use it this way unless you’re being slightly informal.

( With examples from the Chrestomanci novels, Buffy and Discworld )
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