Tag Archives: flat adverbs

Just out: paper on flat adverbs by Morana Lukač and Ingrid Tieken

Posted on August 14, 2019 by Ingrid Tieken

Congratulations, Sandra Jansen and Lucia Siebers, on the appearance of your book, and to Raymond Hickey in whose honour it was published! As for Morana and me, we’re very happy that it is out, and in my case, just in … Continue reading →

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Hoary witticisms and other prescriptivist jokes

Posted on November 10, 2015 by Ingrid Tieken

In going through our usage guides, we occasionally come across linguistic jokes – not terribly funny, admittedly, but they apparently appeal to writers on usage. And they have done so from the earliest days of the usage guide tradition onwards, … Continue reading →

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We need YOU …

Posted on July 21, 2015 by Ingrid Tieken

… to help us get enough data by filling in the survey on flat adverbs (as in go slow rather than slowly). Our target is to have over 100 respondents, and we are not nearly half way there. So please fill in … Continue reading →

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Steven Pinker’s Sense of Usage

Posted on October 22, 2014 by Robin Straaijer

Last month, Steven Pinker’s The Sense of Style was published in Britain and the US. As a specialist on books of usage advice, and as someone who needs to write for a living, I find The Sense of Style interesting because it … Continue reading →

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Grammar Rock

Posted on June 5, 2012 by Cynthia Lange

In a single day of reading, copying, pasting, and generally mulling over usage guide entries, grammar songs – such as Conjunction Junction and that one about pronouns – occur to me more often than I care to admit. Although these … Continue reading →

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Who coined the term “flat adverb”?

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Ingrid Tieken

Elsewhere in this blog I reported on the first quotation from the OED for the term “flat adverb”: 1871    J. Earle Philol. Eng. Tongue vii. 361   The Flat Adverb is simply a substantive or an adjective placed in an adverbial position. (This … Continue reading →

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Flat adverbs

Posted on December 13, 2011 by BtU Admin

“Flat Adverbs” are defined by the OED as follows: “Not distinguished by a characteristic ending, as an adverb which has the same form as an adjective or substantive, or a substantive used as an adjective” (OED, s.v. flat, adj., adv. … Continue reading →

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