Grammar Stammer
  • Words to the Wise
  • About the Author/Blog
  • Contact me

Really?

3/29/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture

The other day I received a great question from a reader of this blog. It was:

"Which is correct? 
Let me explain something really quick.
Let me explain something really quickly."


And while I did answer her, I do feel like many people have the same question. Hence, this blog post.



The correct answer is:
Let me explain something really quickly.

Reason: 

Forget about the word "really" for a second. How would you write your sentence? The right answer is "Let me explain something to you quickly". Why? Because the adverb "quickly" is modifying the verb "explain".

Note: Adjectives modify nouns. Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.

The trick to solving whether or not to use an adjective or an adverb after seeing "really" is to remove "really". Once you do, then you'll know what kind of word you're modifying. 

Take the next sentence:
"I think she's really pretty." 
Remove "really" and you have "I think she's pretty". You would not write "I think she's prettily", so use the adjective "pretty", not the adverb, "prettily".

Make sense?

To add an interesting twist to this, the word "fast" can act as both an adjective and an adverb. So you could also write this sentence as "Let me explain something to you really fast", and you'd be correct.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.


    Archives

    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    January 2013
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011

    Categories

    All
    Abbreviation - Acronym Vs. Initialism
    Adjectives Vs. Adverbs
    Adverb Clause
    Adverb Phrases And Dangling Modifiers
    Adverbs: Spelling Rules
    Adverse Vs. Averse
    (a) Few Vs. (a) Little
    Affect Vs. Effect
    All Right Vs. Alright
    A Lot Vs. Alot
    Amount Vs. Number
    Apart Vs. A Part
    Because Vs. Since
    Bootlegging
    Catch-22
    Cat Idioms
    Cat Nap
    Christmas Expressions
    Climactic Vs. Climatic
    Collective Nouns
    Commas
    Complement Vs. Compliment
    Comprise Vs. Compose
    Conscience Vs. Conscious
    Continuous Vs. Continual
    Dashes
    Disburse Vs. Disperse
    Disinterested Vs. Uninterested
    Double Negatives
    E.g. Vs. I.e.
    Eh?
    Elicit Vs. Illicit
    Envy Vs. Jealousy
    Every Vs. Any
    Farther Vs. Further
    Fun Videos
    Geek - Nerd - Dork - Dweeb
    Good Vs. Well
    Greatful Vs. Grateful
    Halloween's Origin
    Hyphens And Adjectives
    Hyphen Vs. Dash
    If Vs. Whether
    Imply Vs. Infer
    Irony
    It's Vs. Its
    I Vs. Me
    Lay Vs. Lie
    Lip Synching Vs. Lip Singing
    Literally
    Misused English Expressions
    Moot Vs. Mute
    More/Most Important
    Neither – Nor
    Non-count Subject-verb Agreement
    Nouns
    Onomatopoeia
    Oversight
    Oxford Comma
    Oxymoron
    Pair Of Pants
    Palindromes
    Parentheses
    Play By Ear
    Plurals
    Poisonous Vs. Venomous
    Possessive Adjective
    Postpositive Adjectives
    Pronouncing /th/
    Really
    Really Vs. Very
    Real Vs. Really
    Real Vs. Really - Exercises
    Regardless Vs. Irregardless
    Segue Vs. Segway
    Shamrock Vs. Clover
    Simple Present Vs. Present Progressive
    Slash
    Subjunctive
    Thank You Vs. Thank-you
    Than Vs. Then
    The Bible
    The Dog Days Of Summer
    Too Vs. To
    Twerk
    Uncivil Vs. Incivil
    Who's Vs. Whose
    Who Vs. Whom
    Wishes
    Word Origins
    Writing Editor
    Your Vs. You're

    References

    Azar-Hagen Grammar series
    Focus on Grammar series
    Practical English Usage

    RSS Feed

    Author

    Disciplined English grammar geek and former language consultant providing free assistance to all in 
    easy-to-swallow and enjoyable chunks.

Proudly powered by Weebly