英语语法：32 Adverbs Ending in -ly

Rumack: Can you fly this plane, and land it?
Ted¹ Striker: Surely you can't be serious.
Rumack: I am serious... and don't call me Shirley.
That exchange from the movie “Airplane!” is presented—gratuitousLY—to spotlight² adverbs ending in –ly, our topic for this week.
Refresher on Adjectives and Adverbs
Before we get into adverbs' more nuanced applications, let’s have a quick refresher on adjectives and adverbs and the differences between them.
An adjective modifies a noun or a pronoun:
the red apple
the warm sun
silly me
An adverb can modify a verb, an adjective, another adverb, or a whole sentence:
Aardvark smiled slyly. (“Slyly” modifies the verb “smiled.”)
They engaged in a hotly contested campaign. (“Hotly” modifies the adjective “contested.”)
Squiggly danced very badly. (“Very” modifies the adverb “badly.”)
Fortunately, nobody noticed. (“Fortunately” modifies the whole sentence.)
You may have noticed that three of the four adverbs had –ly endings, and that’s not unusual. Many adverbs are just adjectives with the -ly suffix³: “accidental” becomes “accidentally,” “perfect becomes “perfectly,” “loving” becomes “lovingly,” “foolish” becomes “foolishly,” and so on. I’d list them all, but we’d be here indefinitely.
Exceptions
Some words that end with –ly aren't adverbs, of course: “family” and “elderly,” among others. “Family” is a noun that can be used as an adjective: a family outing. “Elderly” is most commonly an adjective--the elderly daredevil--but it can be used as a collective noun as in this phrase: caring for the elderly.
In the case of the word “bodily,” the –ly suffix turns a noun (“body”) into an adjective, “bodily,” as in “bodily functions”; but “bodily can also be used as an adverb, as in “Cindy removed Bruno bodily.”
On the other hand, if you tack⁴ an –ly onto the noun “ear,” you get “early,” which can be an adjective and adverb, but has nothing to do with hearing – unless your parole hearing is early, I suppose.
You can see from these variations and similarities how confusion can arise—easiLY.
Transitions
Writers often clutter⁵ their text by tossing in a superfluous⁶ –ly, often because common parlance⁷ has superseded⁸ proper usage. That is, people’s speech—which by nature is more casual—takes hold in even the most formal writing.
Say you’re writing a letter, memo⁹, or article with several elements, and you want to offer them in serial¹⁰ form. Begin the paragraphs (or sentences, for shorter elements) with “first,” “second,” and “last”—NOT “firstly,” “secondly,” and “lastly.”
Let’s let the word “first” set the standard for the rest; the usages are the same. First can be an adjective—the first man on the moon—or an adverb—phone first if you’re coming to visit.
You might write or say: “First, the goal of this project is to increase sales of our sardine¹¹ cookies.” (And good luck with that.)
Here, “first” is basically shorthand for “the first point is.” What follows is a noun; in this case it’s a big noun, a nominative clause—the goal of the project—but it still behaves like a noun, so its modifier is an adjective: first.
One could argue that by “first” you mean “in the first place,” so it would be an adverb. Fair enough, but either way you don’t need “firstly”; “first” will be just fine.
Is “firstly” a word? Well, sure, it’s in the dictionary. But if “first” can be used as an adverb, why the heck would you need or want to slap an –ly suffix on it? Spare your fingers the extra keystrokes, your mouth the extra syllable¹², and your audience the clunkiness of “firstLY.
An ‘Important’ Point
Now let’s think about the phrase “most important,” which leads into a number of sentences and paragraphs. People often write and say, “most importantly.”
Dictionary.com, citing Random¹³ House, offers this: “Today, more importantly is the more common, even though some object to its use on the grounds that more important is an elliptical form of ‘What is more important’ and that the adverb ‘importantly’ could not occur in such a construction.”
Importantly is an adverb. It could be used in a sentence as a synonym¹⁴ for pompously¹⁵ or pretentiously¹⁷ (alternative definitions, by the way): Aardvark strutted¹⁸ around his new office importantly.   Yes, I’ll bet he did.
So, let’s go with “more (or most) important” as a lead-in—and use it judiciously¹⁹. It's shorter and less contested. Often what the writer feels is most important may not be a priority for the reader. Then, the author could be writing “importantly”—in that pompously pretentious¹⁶ meaning of the word.

The Tip
If what you have to say next is an important thing to convey and receive, drop the –ly:
For example, “Most important, put a lid on the pot before the popcorn²⁰ kernels²¹ start to pop.”
One Last Thing
Incidentally, the usage of another -ly adverb, “hopefully,” was addressed in Episode 76... and in “The Grammar Devotional” (on page 45).
One last word about –ly adverbs, and it comes with guidance from the Associated Press Stylebook. When using a compound modifier, do not use a hyphen to link any adverb ending in –ly with the word it’s modifying: a recently hired executive, freshly baked bread, a newly minted coin, and so on.

Surely that’s easy to remember. Yes, yes—don’t call you Shirley.
 

1 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

2 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

3 suffix   

n.后缀；vt.添后缀

参考例句：

• We add the suffix "ly" to make the adjective "quick" into the adverb " quickly ".我们在形容词“ quick”后加“ly” 构成副词“quickly”。
• It described the meaning of suffix array and also how to built it.它描述的含义，后缀数组以及如何建立它。

4 tack   

n.大头钉；假缝，粗缝

参考例句：

• He is hammering a tack into the wall to hang a picture.他正往墙上钉一枚平头钉用来挂画。
• We are going to tack the map on the wall.我们打算把这张地图钉在墙上。

5 clutter   

n.零乱，杂乱；vt.弄乱，把…弄得杂乱

参考例句：

• The garage is in such a clutter that we can't find anything.车库如此凌乱，我们什么也找不到。
• We'll have to clear up all this clutter.我们得把这一切凌乱的东西整理清楚。

6 superfluous   

adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的

参考例句：

• She fined away superfluous matter in the design. 她删去了这图案中多余的东西。
• That request seemed superfluous when I wrote it.我这样写的时候觉得这个请求似乎是多此一举。

7 parlance   

n.说法；语调

参考例句：

• The term "meta directory" came into industry parlance two years ago.两年前，商业界开始用“元目录”这个术语。
• The phrase is common diplomatic parlance for spying.这种说法是指代间谍行为的常用外交辞令。

8 superseded   

[医]被代替的，废弃的

参考例句：

• The theory has been superseded by more recent research. 这一理论已为新近的研究所取代。
• The use of machinery has superseded manual labour. 机器的使用已经取代了手工劳动。

9 memo   

n.照会，备忘录；便笺；通知书；规章

参考例句：

• Do you want me to send the memo out?您要我把这份备忘录分发出去吗？
• Can you type a memo for me?您能帮我打一份备忘录吗？

10 serial   

n.连本影片，连本电视节目；adj.连续的

参考例句：

• A new serial is starting on television tonight.今晚电视开播一部新的电视连续剧。
• Can you account for the serial failures in our experiment?你能解释我们实验屡屡失败的原因吗？

11 sardine   

n.[C]沙丁鱼

参考例句：

• Every bus arrives and leaves packed as fully as a sardine tin.每辆开来和开走的公共汽车都塞得像沙丁鱼罐头一样拥挤。
• As we chatted,a brightly painted sardine boat dropped anchor.我们正在聊着，只见一条颜色鲜艳的捕捞沙丁鱼的船抛了锚。

12 syllable   

n.音节；vt.分音节

参考例句：

• You put too much emphasis on the last syllable.你把最后一个音节读得太重。
• The stress on the last syllable is light.最后一个音节是轻音节。

13 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

14 synonym   

n.同义词，换喻词

参考例句：

• Zhuge Liang is a synonym for wisdom in folklore.诸葛亮在民间传说中成了智慧的代名词。
• The term 'industrial democracy' is often used as a synonym for worker participation. “工业民主”这个词常被用作“工人参与”的同义词。

15 pompously   

adv.傲慢地，盛大壮观地；大模大样

参考例句：

• He pompously described his achievements. 他很夸耀地描述了自己所取得的成绩。 来自互联网

16 pretentious   

adj.自命不凡的，自负的，炫耀的

参考例句：

• He is a talented but pretentious writer.他是一个有才华但自命不凡的作家。
• Speaking well of yourself would only make you appear conceited and pretentious.自夸只会使你显得自负和虚伪。

17 pretentiously   

参考例句：

• This author writes pretentiously. 这个作者有点自我吹捧。 来自互联网
• The term describes a pretentiously showy or impressive facade to draw attention away from dirty conditions. 它表示自负的华丽或令人印象深刻的假象来吸引远离肮脏情况的注意。 来自互联网

18 strutted   

趾高气扬地走，高视阔步( strut的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The players strutted and posed for the cameras. 运动员昂首阔步，摆好姿势让记者拍照。
• Peacocks strutted on the lawn. 孔雀在草坪上神气活现地走来走去。

19 judiciously   

adv.明断地，明智而审慎地

参考例句：

• Let's use these intelligence tests judiciously. 让我们好好利用这些智力测试题吧。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His ideas were quaint and fantastic. She brought him judiciously to earth. 他的看法荒廖古怪，她颇有见识地劝他面对现实。 来自辞典例句

20 popcorn   

n.爆米花

参考例句：

• I like to eat popcorn when I am watching TV play at home.当我在家观看电视剧时，喜欢吃爆米花。
• He still stood behind his cash register stuffing his mouth with popcorn.他仍站在收银机后，嘴里塞满了爆米花。

21 kernels   

谷粒( kernel的名词复数 )； 仁； 核； 要点

参考例句：

• These stones contain kernels. 这些核中有仁。
• Resolving kernels and standard errors can also be computed for each block. 还可以计算每个块体的分辨核和标准误差。