Ned in Albany had a question about the phrase, used in this column, “that works out great.” He asked, “Isn’t ‘great’ an adjective and what’s it modifying here? Shouldn’t it be ‘well’ in uncorrupted ...

1. Only Rakesh broke the glasses yesterday. 2. Rakesh only broke the glasses yesterday. 3. Rakesh broke only the glasses yesterday. 4. Rakesh broke the glasses only yesterday. In the four sentences ...

Adverbs are of different types. Among such are adverbs of manner (like smoothly, awkwardly and loudly) and those of time (today, yesterday and now). But there is a type not commonly taught: the one ...

Aspiring science-fiction authors receive one piece of advice above all others: Forsake the adverb, the killer of prose. It’s terribly, awfully, horrendously important. But why? Really, adverbs aren’t ...

“Many older adults said they feel positively about their lives,” the New York Times reported recently. That sentence probably sounds as acceptable to you as it did to the Times editors. But what if ...

Is there something unforgivably, infuriatingly obfuscatory about the unrestrained use of adjectives and adverbs? Many celebrated stylists think so. Crime writer Elmore Leonard, who died last week, ...

In Spanish, adjectives are usually placed after the noun they describe and they must agree in gender and number with the noun hey describe. Invariable adjectives do not change. Position of adjectives ...