Questions about Unusual Hyphenations and Adjectives
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I hope you are all well today. :)
I have a few questions about two topics; so, let's begin!
First topic: We all know that hyphenation is used in English in order to clear any confusion in a phrase or sentence. However, hyphens should not be used with 'ly' and "very" adverbs, such as: "The finely tuned engine is roaring." My question is: What if instead of: (ly adverb + past participle) formula we have a (noun+adverb) formula? For example, "That noise was ear piercingly loud!" Should we use a hyphen between 'ear' and 'piercingly'? My grammatical sense tells me so because 'noun+adverb' is a very weird sight to me. Further, would you extend the same rule of non-hyphenation for "very" to the adverb "so"? Meaning, would you write the following phrase with a hyphen or not, "The not so/(very) silent night?"
Second topic: What is the function and category of "headless" in the following sentences, "You scared me headless," and in "Johnny is scared headless." To me, the former one is a bit obvious, that is, 'headless' is an objective complement. However, in the latter instance, I'm very doubtful. Normally, 'head+less' is an adjective, but in the the latter sentence it seems as if it were modifying "scared," an adjective, which is rather weird because adjectives cannot modify adjectives, only adverbs do that. So, I was thinking, maybe it now functions as an adverb in this instance? That is to say, "how scared is Johnny?" "Headless."
Thank you all so much for reading.
I apologise for the long topic, but I'm very passionate about grammar and I love knowing all its tid bits.
I'll update my topic if I'm permitted to.
adjectives hyphenation
asked 9 mins ago
J.Kar
63
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0
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I hope you are all well today. :)
I have a few questions about two topics; so, let's begin!
First topic: We all know that hyphenation is used in English in order to clear any confusion in a phrase or sentence. However, hyphens should not be used with 'ly' and "very" adverbs, such as: "The finely tuned engine is roaring." My question is: What if instead of: (ly adverb + past participle) formula we have a (noun+adverb) formula? For example, "That noise was ear piercingly loud!" Should we use a hyphen between 'ear' and 'piercingly'? My grammatical sense tells me so because 'noun+adverb' is a very weird sight to me. Further, would you extend the same rule of non-hyphenation for "very" to the adverb "so"? Meaning, would you write the following phrase with a hyphen or not, "The not so/(very) silent night?"
Second topic: What is the function and category of "headless" in the following sentences, "You scared me headless," and in "Johnny is scared headless." To me, the former one is a bit obvious, that is, 'headless' is an objective complement. However, in the latter instance, I'm very doubtful. Normally, 'head+less' is an adjective, but in the the latter sentence it seems as if it were modifying "scared," an adjective, which is rather weird because adjectives cannot modify adjectives, only adverbs do that. So, I was thinking, maybe it now functions as an adverb in this instance? That is to say, "how scared is Johnny?" "Headless."
Thank you all so much for reading.
I apologise for the long topic, but I'm very passionate about grammar and I love knowing all its tid bits.
I'll update my topic if I'm permitted to.
adjectives hyphenation
asked 9 mins ago
J.Kar
63
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
favorite
up vote
0
down vote
favorite
I hope you are all well today. :)
I have a few questions about two topics; so, let's begin!
First topic: We all know that hyphenation is used in English in order to clear any confusion in a phrase or sentence. However, hyphens should not be used with 'ly' and "very" adverbs, such as: "The finely tuned engine is roaring." My question is: What if instead of: (ly adverb + past participle) formula we have a (noun+adverb) formula? For example, "That noise was ear piercingly loud!" Should we use a hyphen between 'ear' and 'piercingly'? My grammatical sense tells me so because 'noun+adverb' is a very weird sight to me. Further, would you extend the same rule of non-hyphenation for "very" to the adverb "so"? Meaning, would you write the following phrase with a hyphen or not, "The not so/(very) silent night?"
Second topic: What is the function and category of "headless" in the following sentences, "You scared me headless," and in "Johnny is scared headless." To me, the former one is a bit obvious, that is, 'headless' is an objective complement. However, in the latter instance, I'm very doubtful. Normally, 'head+less' is an adjective, but in the the latter sentence it seems as if it were modifying "scared," an adjective, which is rather weird because adjectives cannot modify adjectives, only adverbs do that. So, I was thinking, maybe it now functions as an adverb in this instance? That is to say, "how scared is Johnny?" "Headless."
Thank you all so much for reading.
I apologise for the long topic, but I'm very passionate about grammar and I love knowing all its tid bits.
I'll update my topic if I'm permitted to.
adjectives hyphenation
asked 9 mins ago
J.Kar
63
I hope you are all well today. :)
I have a few questions about two topics; so, let's begin!
First topic: We all know that hyphenation is used in English in order to clear any confusion in a phrase or sentence. However, hyphens should not be used with 'ly' and "very" adverbs, such as: "The finely tuned engine is roaring." My question is: What if instead of: (ly adverb + past participle) formula we have a (noun+adverb) formula? For example, "That noise was ear piercingly loud!" Should we use a hyphen between 'ear' and 'piercingly'? My grammatical sense tells me so because 'noun+adverb' is a very weird sight to me. Further, would you extend the same rule of non-hyphenation for "very" to the adverb "so"? Meaning, would you write the following phrase with a hyphen or not, "The not so/(very) silent night?"
Second topic: What is the function and category of "headless" in the following sentences, "You scared me headless," and in "Johnny is scared headless." To me, the former one is a bit obvious, that is, 'headless' is an objective complement. However, in the latter instance, I'm very doubtful. Normally, 'head+less' is an adjective, but in the the latter sentence it seems as if it were modifying "scared," an adjective, which is rather weird because adjectives cannot modify adjectives, only adverbs do that. So, I was thinking, maybe it now functions as an adverb in this instance? That is to say, "how scared is Johnny?" "Headless."
Thank you all so much for reading.
I apologise for the long topic, but I'm very passionate about grammar and I love knowing all its tid bits.
I'll update my topic if I'm permitted to.
adjectives hyphenation
adjectives hyphenation
asked 9 mins ago
J.Kar
63
asked 9 mins ago
J.Kar
63
asked 9 mins ago
J.Kar
63
asked 9 mins ago
J.Kar
63
asked 9 mins ago
J.Kar
63
63
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