Comments on: The Fate of ‘-ly’ in English http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=230 A Blog about Words and Language(s) from alphaDictionary.com Tue, 16 Apr 2013 09:00:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.6 By: The Ridger http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=230&cpage=1#comment-114215 The Ridger Sat, 23 Aug 2008 01:12:56 +0000 http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=230#comment-114215 1. Flat adverbs are very old in English, not very new. 2. Adverbs keep their -ly when not used predicatively. 3. Long adverbs, or adverbs from foreign stock, generally keep their -ly anyway. 4. -ly also makes adjectives out of nouns, so it probably won't disappear. I come from a flat-adverb area and while I'd say "He runs quick" (or some such), I'd never say "predicative" or "general" in 2 and 3... 1. Flat adverbs are very old in English, not very new.
2. Adverbs keep their -ly when not used predicatively.
3. Long adverbs, or adverbs from foreign stock, generally keep their -ly anyway.
4. -ly also makes adjectives out of nouns, so it probably won’t disappear.

I come from a flat-adverb area and while I’d say “He runs quick” (or some such), I’d never say “predicative” or “general” in 2 and 3…

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