| 词组 | adverbs |
| 释义 | adverbs 1. An adverb is a member of one of the traditional part-of-speech classes. The class of adverbs is highly useful to grammarians and lexicographers, for into it they toss many terms otherwise resistant to classification. Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, verbals, phrases, clauses, and sentences. They probably even modify nouns on occasion—at least they commonly modify adjectives used as nouns ("the very wealthy"). Some interesting aspects of the usage of adverbs can be found under these headings: flat adverbs; sentence adverb. 2. Copperud 1970, 1980 talks about an erroneous idea widespread among newspaper journalists that adverbs should not separate auxiliaries from their main verbs (as in "you can easily see" or "they must be heartily congratulated"). This bugaboo, commentators agree, seems to have sprung from fear of the dread split infinitive (see split infinitive). Copperud cites five commentators on the subject, all of whom see no harm in placing an adverb between the parts of a verb, and one of whom (Fowler 1965) prescribes such placement. Fowler (under position of adverbs) has a long and detailed discussion, complete with numerous examples in which the adverb has been improperly (to his mind) shifted so as to avoid the split. Since dividing the auxiliary from the verb with an adverb has been approved at least since Lindley Murray 1795, it would seem that Fowler is justified in calling the avoidance a superstition. Comments in the 18th-century grammars of Priestley, Lowth, and Murray indicate a considerable interest in the placement of adverbs. Murray, for instance, rejects "We always find them ready when we want them," correcting the placement to "We find them always ready...." For more discussion of this sort of adverb placement, see even and only 1. 3. Copperud 1970, 1980 states flatly that "an adverb should not intervene between a verb and its object," citing Fowler, himself, Evans, and Follett as being of that opinion. The statement is oversimplified. For instance, the sentence He claimed quickly the victory is certainly more awkward than He claimed the victory quickly. But if we change the object to a clause, He claimed quickly that he had won means one thing, and He claimed that he had won quickly something else. Thus, you as writer have to think the problem of meaning through for yourself in each case, and not just rely on a simple rule of thumb. (Here, for instance, "He quickly claimed ..." might be the best possible solution in both cases.) Another exception can occur with those phrasal verbs—verbs followed by particles—where the close connection of the adverbial particle to the verb may keep it comfortably before the direct object: • Clemens struck out the side in the seventh inning. This question, then, is partly a matter of grammar, partly of style, and partly of idiom. You will need to rely on your common sense and your ear for the language rather than on a rule. |
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