Have you noticed that our dear, sweet lovely adverb that modifies a verb and an adjective and another adverb seems to be getting short shrift these days? To wit, overheard on the TV:
"He did that perfect."
"My business is doing wonderful."
(From an artist) "I'm laying this sky on pretty heavy."
Okay, so I'm talking about the "ly" adverbs here. Perfectly. Wonderfully. Heavily. (Not to be confused with "ly" adjectives such as, "He's a friendly lad." Or non-"ly" adverbs such as "quite," "well," "often," "again.")
If all of these incorrect speakers were creative writers, I might get a hint as to where the adverb has gone since writing classes/workshops/teachers tell their students (and I've been one of those students) that the "ly" adverb can (for the most part) be eliminated because it speaks of amateurish writing--Trying Too Hard To Be Descriptive. The thinking seems to be: Why dress up a weak verb with a burdensome adverb when you can sharpen the verb, eliminate the adverb, and keep your writing sprightly? Why say, "He walked quickly" when you can say, "He dashed"? That sort of thing.
I even long ago copied out a fine description I read in The New Yorker in a piece by Roger Angell. "Use the short adjective rather than the expected adverb. 'A soft owl flew over the lane.'" For a writer, it's excellent advice.
Except how many speakers today are turning "ly" adverbs into misplaced adjectives because they've been in creative writing classes! Anyway, they'd know better.
Some problems result because the speaker eliminates a few words. So, as I heard on the Weather Channel, "Life started out normal ... " Using "normal" here would work if you said, "Life started out to be normal ..." Then, "normal," an adjective, would define "life." But as used here, it defines "started" so needs to be "normally." And when a cooking show's hostess said, "The chocolate angel food cake came out pretty good," she really meant to say that it came out pretty well. It was good, but it came out well. It's just that sticky little difference between being an adjective or an adverb. Between modifying the subject or modifying the verb.
Then there's that sign we see everyday: "Drive Slow"(ly).
It all comes down to sloppy thinking, sloppy educations, plus a total lack of concern for proper grammar. So much of what goes on today (at least in this country) seems to lack structure. Do your own thing. Who cares if you can't speak the language properly!
Aside from the adverb problem, here are some other transgressions I've come across.
From NPR: "So much more faster."
A recent book supposedly written in the 19th century vernacular that speaks of "the get-go."
The name of Roy Lichtenstein's 1964 painting, "Ohhhh .... Alright ...." that recently sold at auction for $42.6 million. (At least the movie, The Kids Are All Right, got it right. "Altogether" is one word, "already" is one word, but "all right" is two words.)
From a letter: "I would have went ..."
From reality TV programs: "If her and I get married ..." and "If it was really tore up ..."
From a news source: "A dead lion lays by the fence." There's that lie/lay thing again. (See my December 10, 2011 posting.)
From Wikipedia: "the eldest son" of two boys. ("Eldest" is used if there are three or more; otherwise, you use "elder.")
Conversely, Diane Rehm often says that she "feels badly" about something. I was taught that feeling badly means that your sense of touch is impaired. No: you feel bad about something. So, yes, verbs of the senses ("touch," "smell," "feel," "taste," "look") take adjectives.
So how do I illustrate a posting on the adverb? How about a camel-riding tourist smiling jauntily at the camera!
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