Adjective in place of Adverb
Today I found myself in the position of wanting to use “volatile” in the sentence “The bombs rested volatile on the edge of the shelf.” I immediately realized the sentence seemed choppy. I also realized, however, that “volatilely” is not a word. I was thinking of “precariously” but wanted to express a more explosive mood instead of the somewhat timid-sounding “precariously.”
Are there situations where an adjective can be used in place of an adverb? For instance, tonight I heard a teleivision show use the phrase “You’ve done nothing but wax idiotic.”
Any examples, rules, or guidelines relating to the use of this kind of adjective/adverb structure would be a boon to my understanding. Thank you.
pain
September 13, 2004, 3:38pm
These "adjectives" are known as "flat" adverbs. It's much like a normal adverb, but it <em>looks</em> like an adjective. Google for "flat adverb" to find more references. However, in some situations you might be able to use a comma to change the sense of the original sentence:
<em>The bombs rested, volatile on the edge of the shelf.</em>
Doesn't quite work in this case, although hopefully you can see where I'm going!
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jeudi (unregistered)
September 14, 2004, 6:29am
Does it mean that any adjective that doesn't have a registered adverbial form can be used adverbially as it stands?
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speedwell2
September 14, 2004, 8:18am
Peter, I think your example sentence would be punctuated like this: "The bombs rested, volatile, on the edge of the shelf." However, "volatile" still modifies the noun "bombs" and not the verb "rested," thus it is still an adjective. I think vindibul did want the adverb.
Some uses of what you call a "flat" adverb can be seen in the recent comments to the Jan 20 post by slo.
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ng strahar (unregistered)
September 14, 2004, 8:26pm
jeudi's question intrigues me. I can't answer it but would appreciate others explaining this further. I've tried a few sentences and these these "flat" adverbs sometimes sound quite intelligent / engaging simply because of the divergence from the usual linguistic fair.
More knowledge! Feed me!
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mmcteer
September 16, 2004, 9:32pm
"The bombs rested precariously volatile on the edge of the shelf."
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speedwell2
September 17, 2004, 8:13am
You mean, "The bombs rested, precariously volatile, on the edge of the shelf."
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mmcteer
September 17, 2004, 8:59am
Nah, I meant what I wrote. I'm also beginning to wonder if it's even necessary to distinguish between adverbs and adjectives in most cases.
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mpt
September 19, 2004, 8:45am
Probably the most famous example is the slogan "Think different".
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IngisKahn (unregistered)
October 4, 2004, 12:26am
Matt, what speed was saying was that in your example "precariously volatile" modifies the noun not the verb.
mpt, it could be argued the “Think different” is short for “Think (of something) different.”
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speedwell2
October 4, 2004, 8:33am
Yes, IngisKahn, that's exactly it, thank you. I can be the very bitch mother of impatience sometimes.
I always thought it wasn't "think different," but something more like, oh, I don't know...
Think, "different."
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Janet (unregistered)
October 19, 2004, 9:13am
The one that gets me is friendly. There is no adverb form. In formal writing I use "in a friendly manner" or something pretentious like that. Informally I have been heard to utter "friendlily!!"
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