Collins Cobuild English Grammar (171 page)

unhappily

unnecessarily

One of the uses of
at least
and
anyway
is to show that you are pleased about a particular fact, although there may be other less desirable facts.

At least
we’re agreed on something.
I like a challenge
anyway
, so that’s not a problem.

USAGE NOTE

9.81
    There are a few commenting adverbials that are often followed by
enough
when used to show your opinion of what you are talking about:

curiously

funnily

interestingly

oddly

strangely

Oddly enough
, she’d never been abroad.
Funnily enough
, I was there last week.

distancing and being more specific

9.82
    There are several commenting adverbials that have the effect of showing that you are not completely committed to the truth of your statement.

Rats eat
practically
anything.
It was
almost
a relief when the race was over.
They are,
in effect
, prisoners in their own homes.
In a way
I liked her better than Mark.

The following adverbials are used in this way:

almost

in a manner of speaking

in a way

in effect

more or less

practically

so to speak

to all intents and purposes

to some extent

up to a point

virtually

Note that
almost
,
practically
, and
virtually
are not used at the beginning of a clause.

Expressions such as
I think
,
I believe
, and
I suppose
are also used to show your lack of commitment to the truth of what you are saying.

indicating your point of view

9.83
    With adverbs such as
luckily
,
fortunately
,
happily
, and
unfortunately
, you can show whose point of view you are giving by adding
for
and a noun phrase referring to the person.

‘Does he do his fair share of the household chores?’ – ‘Oh yes,
fortunately for me
.’
Luckily for me and them
, love did eventually grow and flourish.

indicating a quality shown by the performer of an action

9.84
    Another group of commenting adverbials is used to show a quality you think someone showed by doing an action. They are formed from adjectives that can be used to describe people, and are often placed after the subject of the sentence and in front of the verb.

The League of Friends
generously
provided about five thousand pounds.
The doctor had
wisely
sent her straight to hospital.
She
very kindly
arranged a delicious lunch.
Foolishly
, we had said we would do the decorating.

The following adverbials are used in this way:

bravely

carelessly

cleverly

correctly

foolishly

generously

helpfully

kindly

rightly

wisely

wrongly

mentioning your justification for a statement

9.85
    If you are basing your statement on something that you have seen, heard, or read, you can use a commenting adverbial to show this. For example, if you can see that an object has been made by hand, you might say
It is obviously made by hand
.

His friend was
obviously
impressed.
Higgins
evidently
knew nothing about their efforts.
Apparently
they had a row.

These are some common adverbials used in this way:

apparently

clearly

evidently

manifestly

obviously

plainly

unmistakably

visibly

showing that you assume your hearer agrees

9.86
    People often use commenting adverbials to persuade someone to agree with them. In this way, they show that they are assuming that what they are saying is obvious.

Obviously
I can’t do the whole lot myself.
Price,
of course
, is an important factor.

The following adverbials are often used in this way:

clearly

naturally

obviously

of course

plainly

indicating reality or possibility

9.87
    Some adverbials are used to show whether a situation actually exists or whether it seems to exist, or might exist.

She seems confident but
actually
she’s quite shy.
They could,
conceivably
, be right.
Extra cash is
probably
the best present.

The following adverbials are used like this:

actually

certainly

conceivably

definitely

doubtless

hopefully

in fact

in practice

in reality

in theory

maybe

no doubt

officially

perhaps

possibly

presumably

probably

really

unofficially

~

allegedly

apparently

nominally

ostensibly

potentially

seemingly

supposedly

theoretically

undoubtedly

The adverbials in the second group are often used in front of adjectives.

We drove along
apparently empty
streets.
It would be
theoretically possible
to lay a cable from a satellite to Earth.

indicating your attitude

9.88
    If you want to make it clear what your attitude is to what you are saying, you can use a commenting adverbial.

Frankly
, the more I hear about him, the less I like him.
In my opinion
it was probably a mistake.
In fairness
, she is not a bad mother.

Here is a list of some of the common adverbials used in this way:

as far as I’m concerned

frankly

honestly

in all honesty

in fairness

in my opinion

in my view

in retrospect

on reflection

personally

seriously

to my mind

using infinitive clauses

9.89
    Another way of showing the sort of statement you are making is to use
to be
followed by an adjective, or
to put it
followed by an adverb.

I don’t really know,
to be honest
.
To put it bluntly
, someone is lying.

politeness

9.90
    When someone who is making a request wants to be polite, they use the adverb
please
.

May I have a word with you,
please
?
Would you
please
remove your glasses?
Please
be careful.

Exclamations

9.91
    
Exclamations
are words and structures that express your reactions emphatically. You usually show this in speech by your intonation and in writing by the use of an
exclamation mark
(usually called an
exclamation point
in American English) at the end of the sentence, although full stops are often used instead. If the exclamation is only a part of a sentence, it is separated from the rest of the sentence by a comma.

showing your reactions

9.92
    There are various ways of showing your reaction to something that you are experiencing or looking at, or that you have just been told. One way is to use an exclamation such as
bother
,
good heavens
,
oh dear
, or
ouch
.