Speak good English - Get it correct
Last week, we looked at the common error among users of the English language of arranging different adjectives in the comparative and the superlative degrees any how, without following laid down conventions.
We said, for instance, that it is incorrect to write or say:
Jane is more serious and cleverer than her sister.
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This is because in English when we put two or more adjectives in the comparative and the superlative degrees together to qualify a noun, the -er and -est adjective comes before the more and most adjective, as in:
Jane is cleverer and more serious than her sister.
Other correct examples of this combination are:
Your friend is humbler and more respectful than you.
Mr Oti's new wife is prettier and more accommodating than the first one.
Now, we know that when it comes to arranging the three main types of adverbs after the verbs they modify, we go by the convention MANNER, PLACE and TIME (in order of closeness to the verbs), as in:
Daddy arrived quickly (MANNER) home (PLACE) yesterday (TIME).
So it is incorrect to write sentences such as:
The meeting takes place on Saturday at the community centre at 9 a.m.
We met last Sunday hurriedly in her house.
The correct sentences should be:
The meeting takes place at the community centre at 9 a.m. on Saturday.
We met hurriedly in her house last Sunday.
Sometimes there could be two adverbs of the same type, as we have in the first example above, which has Sunday and 9 a.m. as two adverbs of time.
In such a situation, the more exact adverb comes before the less exact one, as in:
The meeting takes place at the community centre AT 9 A.M. ON SUNDAY.
It is incorrect to write:
.......centre ON SUNDAY AT 9 A.M.
(To be continued)