Restricted use of certain adverbs
Certain adverbs, just like some adjectives and other parts of speech, have a restricted use. This means that they cannot be used freely in any type of sentence or language mode (spoken or written).
Sometimes there is a logical explanation behind the restricted use: "little" and "few" are rarely used in spoken language because of the possible confusion with "a little" and "a few". We rather say "hardly any" or use a negative verb with much/many (I didn't see much. instead of saying I saw little.). We can also further modify "little/few" to avoid confusion (so little, too few, comparatively little etc.).
However, there are also words which simply are not used by native speakers in all contexts. One does not see a particular reason for their restricted use but it still exists. Using those words freely, i.e. without restriction, would not necessarily result in ungrammatical sentences but rather in an unnaturally sounding English.
Adverbs "long", "near", "far" and "much", for example, have a restricted use.
1) LONG
a) As it often happens with both adjectives and adverbs, comparative and superlative forms can be used freely:
- Which one of you waited longest? (interrogative verb)
- This may take longer than we thought. (affirmative verb)
- That liaison did not last longer than expected (negative verb)
b) On the other hand, the positive form of the adverb, i.e. long, is used chiefly in the interrogative and negative sentences:
- How long have you been waiting? (interrogative)
- I won't be long. (negative)
In the affirmative long is often modified (too long, so long, long enough):
- I stayed out in the sun for too long.
- I have been waiting long enough.
*We can also use "(for) a long time" in the affirmative:
- We've been friends a long time.
- It would take a long time.
* In conversation "(for) a long time" can be replaced by "(for) ages" (this is less formal):
- It took us ages to get there.
* It is also important to note that long is more usual in questions than a long time as well as the possible difference in meaning between these two expressions when used in the negative:
- Have you been here long?
- I haven't been here for a long time. (A great deal of time has passed since I was here last.)
- I haven't been here long. (I arrived a short time ago.)
2) NEAR
a) Again the comparative and superlative, nearer and nearest, can be used without restriction:
- He motioned for him to come nearer.
- He came nearest.
* "nearest" is very rare.
** You should be careful not to confuse the prepositions "near to", "nearer to", and "nearest to" with the adverb/ adjective near (and their comparative and superlative forms):
- I'll think about it nearer (to) the time. (when it is about to happen)
- She was near to tears.
- This colour is nearest (to) the original.
- Nobody else comes near her in intellect.
- I am nowhere near finishing the book.
- Do you live near here? (* near is used here before an adverb)
As you can notice, the prepositions usually come before nouns, gerunds (-ing form) and pronouns.
b) The positive form near is usually qualified by too, very, quite, so or enough:
- Don't come too near - you might catch my cold.
- I was just standing near enough to hear what they were saying.
- They live quite near.
* The preposition near with noun/pronoun/gerund or adverb has a wider use.
3) FAR
a) Far as an adverb has two forms of comparatives and superlatives (just like the same adjective):
- farther/farthest: used of distance
- further/furthest: used of distance and in the abstract sense (The police decided to investigate further.)
As it was the case with both near and long, the comparatives and superlatives of far too can be used quite freely:
- The hospital is further down the road.
- Nothing could be further from the truth.
- He went furthest of all and said that no toy guns should be sold.
b) Far in the positive form is used mainly in the interrogative and negative sentences (just like long)
- Have you come far?
- We didn't go far.
* In the affirmative far is often replaced by a long way
& far away by a long way away (similar to long and a long time) :
- We went a long way. (We went far.)
- The restaurant is a long way from here. (The restaurant is far from here. but "The restaurant is not far from here." is usual as it is a negative sentence.)
- Australia is a long way away. (Australia is far away.)
The sentences with far or far away are just less usual.
It is also possible to use very far away quite freely as well as the modified far (so far, too far, quite far, far enough):
- I'm not sure I can walk so far.
- We've gone far enough.
- He lives very far away.
* Far from/below/away/apart is also frequently used:
- He looked down at the traffic far below.
- Far away in the distance, a train whistled.
* Far can be used as an adverb of degree with comparatives or too/so + positive:
- That's a far better idea.
- She always gives us far too much homework.
* Far can have an abstract meaning:
- You've gone too far! (You have insulted me.)
4) MUCH
a) The comparative and superlative form, more and most, can be used quite freely as it was the case with the other above mentioned adverbs.
- I like her more than her husband.
- I love this painting most.
b) The positive form, much, has a restricted use:
It is quite freely used in the negative:
- We didn't see much.
- I'm not much good at tennis.
In the interrogative it is common with how :
- How much is it?
- How much money do you have?
* In questions that do not start with how it is often replaced by a lot:
- Have you written a lot/much?
In the affirmative we normally modify much (so much, too much, as much) or use the expressions a lot/a good deal/ a great deal:
- She talks too much.
- He loved her so much.
- You've helped me a lot.
- He writes a great deal.
* You should be aware of the fact that much is both an adjective (determiner) and adverb, while many is only an adjective (determiner). The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary lists both much and many in questions starting with how as determiners, while Thomson-Martinet grammar mentions much as an adverb in such questions. (This is due to different classifications of words.)
Very much (= greatly) is frequently used:
- Thank you very much for the flowers.
- I would very much like to see you again.
- We are very much aware of the lack of food supplies.
Thomson-Martinet grammar lists certain verbs that are often used with very much: blame, praise, thank and verbs concerned with feelings such as admire, amuse, approve, dislike, distress, enjoy, impress, like, object, shock, surprise etc. It is hard of course to memorise them but it is useful to know that it is often combined with verbs concerned with feelings and attitude/opinion.
Much or very much can be used with past participles: admired, amused, disliked, distressed, impressed etc.
- He was much loved by all who knew him.
Much (= a lot) can modify comparatives and superlatives of adverbs and adjectives:
* far can modify comparatives only
- Nikolai's English was much the worst.
- She is much better today.
- They did much worse last year.
Much too is used with positive forms:
* far too + positive (explained above)
- The other jacket was much too expensive.
Most before an adjective or adverb (usually of two or more syllables) can mean very :
- It was most kind of you to meet me.
- We shall most probably go to New York this year.
- He was most apologetic.
To conclude, the positive form of certain adverbs (as well as adjectives) tends to have a restricted use. Most of these adverbs can be used freely in the interrogative and negative (in all their forms), but the affirmative is characterised with restrictions. The positive form is more freely used when modified with some adverbs of degree (such as so/too/very/ or enough) or we can also replace it by certain expressions (a long time, a long way, a long way away etc.). Knowing these restrictions and ways around them makes our English sound more natural to native speakers. This is also true of collocations (or words that go together) which will be the topic of one of my future posts.
Small hint: In my experience it is easy to confuse the comparative and superlative forms of adverbs and adjectives (when they have the same form), so it is recommendable to always think of the word's function in the sentence as well as their position. (I have written about distinguishing between adverbs and adjectives in one of my previous posts.)
Sometimes there is a logical explanation behind the restricted use: "little" and "few" are rarely used in spoken language because of the possible confusion with "a little" and "a few". We rather say "hardly any" or use a negative verb with much/many (I didn't see much. instead of saying I saw little.). We can also further modify "little/few" to avoid confusion (so little, too few, comparatively little etc.).
However, there are also words which simply are not used by native speakers in all contexts. One does not see a particular reason for their restricted use but it still exists. Using those words freely, i.e. without restriction, would not necessarily result in ungrammatical sentences but rather in an unnaturally sounding English.
Adverbs "long", "near", "far" and "much", for example, have a restricted use.
1) LONG
a) As it often happens with both adjectives and adverbs, comparative and superlative forms can be used freely:
- Which one of you waited longest? (interrogative verb)
- This may take longer than we thought. (affirmative verb)
- That liaison did not last longer than expected (negative verb)
b) On the other hand, the positive form of the adverb, i.e. long, is used chiefly in the interrogative and negative sentences:
- How long have you been waiting? (interrogative)
- I won't be long. (negative)
In the affirmative long is often modified (too long, so long, long enough):
- I stayed out in the sun for too long.
- I have been waiting long enough.
*We can also use "(for) a long time" in the affirmative:
- We've been friends a long time.
- It would take a long time.
* In conversation "(for) a long time" can be replaced by "(for) ages" (this is less formal):
- It took us ages to get there.
* It is also important to note that long is more usual in questions than a long time as well as the possible difference in meaning between these two expressions when used in the negative:
- Have you been here long?
- I haven't been here for a long time. (A great deal of time has passed since I was here last.)
- I haven't been here long. (I arrived a short time ago.)
2) NEAR
a) Again the comparative and superlative, nearer and nearest, can be used without restriction:
- He motioned for him to come nearer.
- He came nearest.
* "nearest" is very rare.
** You should be careful not to confuse the prepositions "near to", "nearer to", and "nearest to" with the adverb/ adjective near (and their comparative and superlative forms):
- I'll think about it nearer (to) the time. (when it is about to happen)
- She was near to tears.
- This colour is nearest (to) the original.
- Nobody else comes near her in intellect.
- I am nowhere near finishing the book.
- Do you live near here? (* near is used here before an adverb)
As you can notice, the prepositions usually come before nouns, gerunds (-ing form) and pronouns.
b) The positive form near is usually qualified by too, very, quite, so or enough:
- Don't come too near - you might catch my cold.
- I was just standing near enough to hear what they were saying.
- They live quite near.
* The preposition near with noun/pronoun/gerund or adverb has a wider use.
3) FAR
a) Far as an adverb has two forms of comparatives and superlatives (just like the same adjective):
- farther/farthest: used of distance
- further/furthest: used of distance and in the abstract sense (The police decided to investigate further.)
As it was the case with both near and long, the comparatives and superlatives of far too can be used quite freely:
- The hospital is further down the road.
- Nothing could be further from the truth.
- He went furthest of all and said that no toy guns should be sold.
b) Far in the positive form is used mainly in the interrogative and negative sentences (just like long)
- Have you come far?
- We didn't go far.
* In the affirmative far is often replaced by a long way
& far away by a long way away (similar to long and a long time) :
- We went a long way. (
- The restaurant is a long way from here. (
- Australia is a long way away. (
The sentences with far or far away are just less usual.
It is also possible to use very far away quite freely as well as the modified far (so far, too far, quite far, far enough):
- I'm not sure I can walk so far.
- We've gone far enough.
- He lives very far away.
* Far from/below/away/apart is also frequently used:
- He looked down at the traffic far below.
- Far away in the distance, a train whistled.
* Far can be used as an adverb of degree with comparatives or too/so + positive:
- That's a far better idea.
- She always gives us far too much homework.
* Far can have an abstract meaning:
- You've gone too far! (You have insulted me.)
4) MUCH
a) The comparative and superlative form, more and most, can be used quite freely as it was the case with the other above mentioned adverbs.
- I like her more than her husband.
- I love this painting most.
b) The positive form, much, has a restricted use:
It is quite freely used in the negative:
- We didn't see much.
- I'm not much good at tennis.
In the interrogative it is common with how :
- How much is it?
- How much money do you have?
* In questions that do not start with how it is often replaced by a lot:
- Have you written a lot/much?
In the affirmative we normally modify much (so much, too much, as much) or use the expressions a lot/a good deal/ a great deal:
- She talks too much.
- He loved her so much.
- You've helped me a lot.
- He writes a great deal.
* You should be aware of the fact that much is both an adjective (determiner) and adverb, while many is only an adjective (determiner). The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary lists both much and many in questions starting with how as determiners, while Thomson-Martinet grammar mentions much as an adverb in such questions. (This is due to different classifications of words.)
Very much (= greatly) is frequently used:
- Thank you very much for the flowers.
- I would very much like to see you again.
- We are very much aware of the lack of food supplies.
Thomson-Martinet grammar lists certain verbs that are often used with very much: blame, praise, thank and verbs concerned with feelings such as admire, amuse, approve, dislike, distress, enjoy, impress, like, object, shock, surprise etc. It is hard of course to memorise them but it is useful to know that it is often combined with verbs concerned with feelings and attitude/opinion.
Much or very much can be used with past participles: admired, amused, disliked, distressed, impressed etc.
- He was much loved by all who knew him.
Much (= a lot) can modify comparatives and superlatives of adverbs and adjectives:
* far can modify comparatives only
- Nikolai's English was much the worst.
- She is much better today.
- They did much worse last year.
Much too is used with positive forms:
* far too + positive (explained above)
- The other jacket was much too expensive.
Most before an adjective or adverb (usually of two or more syllables) can mean very :
- It was most kind of you to meet me.
- We shall most probably go to New York this year.
- He was most apologetic.
To conclude, the positive form of certain adverbs (as well as adjectives) tends to have a restricted use. Most of these adverbs can be used freely in the interrogative and negative (in all their forms), but the affirmative is characterised with restrictions. The positive form is more freely used when modified with some adverbs of degree (such as so/too/very/ or enough) or we can also replace it by certain expressions (a long time, a long way, a long way away etc.). Knowing these restrictions and ways around them makes our English sound more natural to native speakers. This is also true of collocations (or words that go together) which will be the topic of one of my future posts.
Small hint: In my experience it is easy to confuse the comparative and superlative forms of adverbs and adjectives (when they have the same form), so it is recommendable to always think of the word's function in the sentence as well as their position. (I have written about distinguishing between adverbs and adjectives in one of my previous posts.)
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