# Grammar

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar/45662>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [December 15, 2000, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar/45662 "2000-12-15T01:41:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![SirBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@SirBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirBob)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2000, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar/45662/1 "2000-12-15T01:41:42Z")

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On whether “acting strangely” is grammatically correct or not:

it totally depends upon the context.

For instance: acting could be acting as a gerund…for those of you that don’t know a gerund is bascially a verb with the -ing ending that is acting as a noun (id est, _running_ blows.) In this case the word modifying it should be an adjective, ergo acting strange is correct.

However if acting is being used as a verb and not a verbal…then the adverbial form of the modifier is correct. ergo acting strangely is correct.

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**Author:** ![Nanook\_of\_the\_North\_Shore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc8723/32.png) [@Nanook\_of\_the\_North\_Shore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanook_of_the_North_Shore)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2000, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar/45662/2 "2000-12-15T03:59:59Z")

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[Arnold Winkelried]  
Welcome to the SDMB, and thank you for posting your comment.  
Please include a link to Cecil’s column if it’s on the straight dope web site.  
To include a link, it can be as simple as including the web page location in your post (make sure there is a space **before** and **after** the text of the URL).

Cecil’s column can be found on-line [here](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_151.html)  
[/Arnold Winkelried]

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**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2000, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar/45662/3 "2000-12-15T04:51:30Z")

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But if “acting” is a gerund (and therefore a noun), shouldn’t any modifying adjective appear _before_ it? As in “That sure is some strage acting, Fred.”

Cecil’s point was that in the phrase “her son had been acting strangely recently,” the verb acting is serving as a linking verb, which takes an adjective instead of an adverb. Consider this progression:

The car is red. (noun - linking verb - adjective)  
The car is strange. (noun - linking verb - adjective)  
The car acts strange. (noun - linking verb - adjective)  
The car is acting strange. (noun - linking verb - adjective)

If you think that the adverb would be correct, then you would prefer this:

The car acts. (noun - intransitive verb)  
The car is acting. (noun - intransitive verb)  
The car is acting strangely. (noun - intransitive verb - adverb)

To me, the first progression of sentences arrives at what is really meant, not the second. The adjective form is correct.

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**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2000, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar/45662/4 "2000-12-15T15:20:02Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> But if “acting” is a gerund (and therefore a noun), shouldn’t any modifying adjective appear before it?

That’s an example of generalizing incorrectly.

But the general point is correct. (As someone or other said, “The only person who has a right to say, ‘I’m feeling badly,’ is an incompetent dirty old man.”)

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**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2000, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar/45662/5 "2000-12-15T16:54:34Z")

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What Nanook said.

And also:

The column ( **including** Slug Signorino’s illustration) can also be found on pages 151-153 of Cecil Adams’ book «[_Triumph of the Straight Dope_](http://www.straightdope.com/otheroutlets/books.html)».

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