Grammar-Quizzes › Adverbials › Stance Adverbs › Opinion Adverbs
ADVERBS FOR OPINION |
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An adverb can be used to express what the speaker believes to be true about a situation. |
Maybe¹, he will reach the top. (uncertain) |
He will definitely reach the top. (certain) |
Possibly, he'll descend the same day. (certainty) |
No doubt², he'll return before dark. (certainty, necessity) |
He apparently has super-human strength. (inference) |
MODALS |
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A modal before the verb can be used to express a similar meaning. |
He might reach the top of the mountain. (uncertain) |
He will reach the top. (certain) |
He may descend the same day. (uncertain) |
He must return before dark. (necessity) |
He must have super-human strength. (inference) |
¹maybe (VP) combined words meaning "it may be that"
²no doubt (NP) a noun phrase meaning "there is no doubt that")
inference (N) – a conclusion reached on the basis of evidence or reasoning
Also see Will / Might and Should/ Must
Also known as Modal Adjuncts / Epistemic Stance Adverbials. See Grammar Notes.
ADVERBS |
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Opinion adverbs (or prepositional phrases) express a wide range of opinion: certainty, reality, sources, limitations and precision of the situation. |
CERTAINTY & DOUBT |
Undoubtedly, he'll reach the top of the mountain. (a sure guess) Perhaps¹, he'll reach the top of the mountain. |
ACTUALITY AND REALITY |
He actually climbed it by himself. (factual, widely accepted) Actually, he climbed it by himself. |
VIEWPOINT OR PERSPECTIVE |
Professionally, he's pretty amazing. (limiting it to my opinion) |
SOURCE OF KNOWLEDGE |
Apparently, he climbed it in world-record time. (second-hand information)
Younger climbers, reputedly, are less strategic climbers. |
LIMITATION / GENRALIZATION |
He mostly climbed it by himself. (had some assistance) |
IMPRECISION / APPROXIMATION |
Roughly, he climbed it in four hours. (about) |
PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES |
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An adverb expressing opinion regarding the truth value of the situation may occur with an -ly suffix, in prepositional phrase or as both (truthfully, in truth). |
CERTAINTY & DOUBT |
Without a doubt, he'll reach the top of the mountain. (a sure guess) certainly, decidedly, undoubtedly, definitely, most likely, very likely, quite likely, of course With luck, he'll reach the top of the mountain. |
ACTUALITY AND REALITY |
In fact, he climbed it by himself. (factual, widely accepted) In other words, he did what no one had done before. |
VIEWPOINT OR PERSPECTIVE |
From my view, he's pretty amazing. (limiting it to my opinion) |
SOURCE OF KNOWLEDGE |
According to them, younger climbers are less strategic climbers.
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LIMITATION / GENRALIZATION |
For the most part, he climbed it by himself. (had some assistance) |
IMPRECISION / APPROXIMATION |
In a way, he had help from others. He sort of cheated by taking a helicopter down. |
¹perhaps [1520s ME] perhappes, from per by + happes chance
(Biber 10.1.1 764 854)
CERTAINTY / DOUBT | ACTUALITY & REALITY | VIEWPOINT |
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express degree of certainty |
express clarity and accuracy |
express limitation to field of knowledge |
SPECULATE | CLARIFY | LIMIT FIELD |
assuredly / certainly |
in fact |
from my perspective |
decidedly / definitely |
really |
in his view |
necessarily / surely |
actually |
in our opinion |
obviously / most likely |
truly / truthfully / in truth |
from a linguistic point of view |
undoubtedly / undeniably |
in actual fact |
with respect to the law |
very likely / probably |
I mean |
regarding the law |
conceivably / maybe |
that is to say |
officially (domain) |
perhaps, possibly |
in other words |
economically |
I guess / I doubt |
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legally / morally |
unlikely |
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clarify (V) – reword information so that it is more easily or accurately understood.
domain (N) – a field of action, thought or influence
limit (V) – restrict information to a particular way of thinking about something, for example, a way which is influenced by a person, a profession, a field of study or a social norm.
speculate (V) – guess, think, form an opinion or theory without sufficient evidence for proof.
stance (v) – a mental or emotional position adopted with respect to something:
SOURCE OF KNOWLEDGE | GENERALIZATION / LIMITATION | PRECISION |
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casually mention as second-hand knowledge |
specify how customary, regular or widespread |
mention as an estimation |
REFER TO INDIRECTLY | ESTIMATE EXTENT | APPROXIMATE |
evidently |
commonly / uncommonly |
exactly / approximately |
apparently |
in most cases / in a few cases |
on the nose¹ / about |
reportedly |
mainly / secondarily |
squarely / around |
reputedly |
typically / atypically (rarely) |
precisely / roughly |
according to X |
generally / specifically |
literally / figuratively (so to speak) |
supposedly |
largely / partially (partly) |
in fact / sort of (in a way, kind of) |
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on the whole / individually |
smack-dab² / nearly |
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chiefly / unimportantly |
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¹on the nose, on the button, on the money (expressions) – precisely
²smack, smack-dab (informal expressions) – precisely
"softening and correcting" — I think, I feel, I guess, apparently, so to speak, more of less, well, really , I'm afraid, I suppose, rather, actually I mean (Swan 157.16)
INITIAL SENTENCE POSITION |
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Most opinion words can be place before the clause or sentence (separated by a comma.) Prepositional phrases are usually placed before the clause. |
In truth, we don't know how long the climb will take. |
Actually, we don't know how long the climb will take. / |
Probably, the climb will take five hours. |
In our opinion, the climb will take five hours. |
In fact, the climb will take five hours. |
In fact, the climb will take five hours. |
*About, the climb will take five hours. (Use "Roughly, ") |
MID SENTENCE POSITION |
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Words ending in -ly are usually placed after an auxiliary verb if there is one and before the main verb. Prepositional phrases are usually set off with commas if placed mid-sentence. |
We truly don't know how long the climb will take. |
We don't really know how long the climb will take. / |
The climb will probably take five hours. |
The climb, in our opinion, will take five hours. |
The climb, in fact, will take five hours. |
The climb will take five hours. |
They expect the climb to take about five hours. |
*Yellow highlighted words are examples of incorrect usage.
QUIRK / BIBER | HUDDLESTON / SWAN |
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Quirk, Randolph and Sidney Greenbaum. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language (1989) refer to these words as style disjuncts: "Style disjuncts convey the speaker's comment on the style and form of what he is saying, defining in some way under what conditions he is speaking as the 'authority' for the utterance. (8.123-33) style disjunct: content disjunct:
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Huddleston and Pullum, The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, refer to these structures as clause adjuncts. (Huddleston 765-7) modal adjuncts "Adverbs such as necessarily, probably, possibly, surely belong among the quite diverse set of forms expressing modal meaning…" domain adjuncts "Adjuncts of this kind restrict the domain to which the rest of the clause applies…" |
Biber, et al. Longman Grammar Of Spoken And Written English, 1999, refer to these words as epistemic stance adverbs. (Biber 10.3) Stance adverbs "have the primary function of commenting on the content or style of a clause…" They fall into three categories: epistemic — It was, definitely, a waste of time. (personal belief, "truth or value of the proposition, commenting on: certainty, reality, sources, limitations and precision of the proposition.") |
Swan, Michael. Practical English Usage, 2009, refers to these words as discourse markers:showing one's attitude to what one is saying; making things clear; generalising |
Jack Shields is an extreme ice climber. I guess he is the most adventurous person I know. He does about twenty-five to thirty climbs a year. In fact, he is currently attempting to climb the Jungfrau in Interlaken, Switzerland. According to ice climbers, this is one of the most difficult mountain faces to climb. Apparently, that is why Jack wants to do it. He might be able to climb the south face, but it is unlikely that he can climb the north face wall.
In terms of the weather, the conditions should be perfect. There is a train that runs half-way up the mountain. But Jack doesn't plan to take it because that's sort of cheating. According to other climbers, the upper section is where most accidents occur. The view atop the Jungfrau on a clear day is undeniably one of the most beautiful in the world.
"Jungfrau." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 2016, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jungfrau#Climbing_routes.
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