# Removing "ly" from the end of a word... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 2, 2008, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-ly-from-the-end-of-a-word/432031 "2008-01-02T20:24:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shark\_Sandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Shark\_Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shark_Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-ly-from-the-end-of-a-word/432031/1 "2008-01-02T20:24:06Z")
Sorry if this has been asked before. Wasn’t exactly sure how to search for it. I’ve noticed something that’s been happening more and more often lately, and I wanted to ask if this is correct. Let me give an example. There is a radio commercial that runs pretty often here, and it’s the voice over guy supposedly talking to an insurance agent and they mention how they can tailor policies, blah, blah, blah. They mention people who smoke vs. people of medication, and the “insurance agent” says, “I just did a policy for someone who is 46 years old, smokes, and is on medication for diabetes. Most insurance companies would price that different.” Shouldn’t that be “different **ly** ,” or am I mistaken here? I’ve also heard people do this with the word “serious.” As in, “You’d better take me serious.” I’d think that should be “seriously.” It doesn’t sound right, but I’m not exactly sure if it’s grammatically correct. - SS ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-ly-from-the-end-of-a-word/432031/2 "2008-01-02T20:32:53Z")
The OED says “different” as an adverb (“I told him \*different”) is “Now only in uneducated use.” That’s a close to incorrect that you’re going to get these days. The OED also indicates that “serious” is never an adverb. “You’d better take me \*serious” is incorrect. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-ly-from-the-end-of-a-word/432031/3 "2008-01-02T20:33:25Z")
Hey, those extra letters take time, and time is money. Don’t take it personal. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-ly-from-the-end-of-a-word/432031/4 "2008-01-02T20:35:34Z")
As **An Arky** illustrates, there have long been dialects that omit the “ly.” ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-ly-from-the-end-of-a-word/432031/5 "2008-01-02T20:39:14Z")
> [@](#): > > “Now only in uneducated use.” Sure, this means there real were dialects of ear English that not on omit the “” from the ending of adverbs, but from words entire? ---
**Author:** ![Sprockets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/35a633/32.png) [@Sprockets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sprockets)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-ly-from-the-end-of-a-word/432031/6 "2008-01-02T20:40:06Z")
Sounds functionally illiterate to me. Advertisers spend a lot of money on their commercials, and the language is free. You’d think they could get it right. ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-ly-from-the-end-of-a-word/432031/7 "2008-01-02T20:59:45Z")
[QUOTE=Ludovic] Sure, this means there **real** were dialects of **ear** English that not **on** omit the “” from the ending of adverbs, but from words **entire**? [/QUOTE] None of the examples in the posts above sound wrong to me and, in this post, “from words entire” just sounds a little old-fashioned to me. Maybe this is more common in the South? Your other attempts don’t work because they’re not words with “ly”. Changing “really” to “real” doesn’t work in this example but I can really (heh) say why. It does work in the following: That was a really good movie. That was a real good movie. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-ly-from-the-end-of-a-word/432031/8 "2008-01-02T21:05:02Z")
Whoooshly! ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-ly-from-the-end-of-a-word/432031/9 "2008-01-02T21:07:43Z")
[QUOTE=Ludovic] Whoooshly! [/QUOTE] Well, yeah, I knew you meant it as a joke but I thought it was interesting to figure out _why_ your other mondifications don’t sound right at all. Maybe some wordy Doper will step in and explain the function of “really” in your sentence and how it differs from the other examples. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-ly-from-the-end-of-a-word/432031/10 "2008-01-02T21:08:07Z")
[QUOTE=Ludovic] but from words entire? [/QUOTE] That sounds positively Shakespearean! ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-ly-from-the-end-of-a-word/432031/11 "2008-01-02T21:15:07Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] As **An Arky** illustrates, there have long been dialects that omit the “ly.” [/QUOTE] Quite right. Some of us just talk different. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-ly-from-the-end-of-a-word/432031/12 "2008-01-02T21:15:56Z")
[QUOTE=Ludovic] Sure, this means there real were dialects of ear English that not on omit the “” from the ending of adverbs, but from words entire? [/QUOTE] Yes. > [@](#): > > C. as adv. = DIFFERENTLY. Now only in uneducated use. > 1744 S. FIELDING David Simple I. 253, I spent my Infancy..very different from what most Children do. 1775 F. BURNEY Early Diary (1889) II. 131 He pronounces English quite different from other foreigners. 1803 tr. Lebrun’s Mons. Botte III. 9 They had..acted perfectly different from those parties who [etc.]. 1863 KINGSLEY Water Bab. viii. 374 ‘Oh dear, if I was but a little chap in Vendale again..how different I would go on!’ But it’s been a long time, as the dates indicate. > [@](#): > > That was a really good movie. > > That was a real good movie. The OED says that “real” can be used as an adverb, though it’s colloquial and generally not used in the UK (but is close to standard in the US). In those contexts, it’s interchangeable with “really.” Technically, in some uses, it’s an adjective modifying a phrase: “real (good movie),” but the difference splits hairs so that the meaning “(real good) movie” modifies the adjective. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-ly-from-the-end-of-a-word/432031/13 "2008-01-02T21:19:19Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] That sounds positively Shakespearean! [/QUOTE] I liked that one myself! The two real adverbs didn’t seem entirely wrong, although the entire in “from words entire” could be confused with an adjective modifying the word “words” rather than the verb “omit”. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-ly-from-the-end-of-a-word/432031/14 "2008-01-02T21:20:12Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] But it’s been a long time, as the dates indicate. [/QUOTE] And as my earlier post indicates, come to Suffolk! (Of course we’d never say ‘real good movie’, though. It’s a film, of course.) ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-ly-from-the-end-of-a-word/432031/15 "2008-01-03T02:28:27Z")
Blame it on Apple and that stupid “Think different” campaign. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-ly-from-the-end-of-a-word/432031/16 "2008-01-03T02:40:09Z")
Don’t forget the triple error, “He done real good.” Excruciating. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-ly-from-the-end-of-a-word/432031/17 "2008-01-03T04:48:00Z")
I noticed this years ago when Americans began using “real” as an adverb. Unfortunately it’s now starting to catch on here; but that doesn’t make it right. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-ly-from-the-end-of-a-word/432031/18 "2008-01-03T04:57:05Z")
[QUOTE=commasense] Blame it on Apple and that stupid “Think different” campaign. [/QUOTE] I knew this was going to come up. It was meant to be: Think “Different” -not- “Think Different” ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-ly-from-the-end-of-a-word/432031/19 "2008-01-03T06:27:38Z")
The adjective-as-an-adverb usage seems to be particularly prevalent with American sports announcers. I’ve explained to my children (who have started watching football with me) that while it’s acceptable in U.S. English, it isn’t in the Canadian dialect. Of course, they’re also Americans, so I guess they can always use that as an excuse… ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-ly-from-the-end-of-a-word/432031/20 "2008-01-03T12:40:23Z")
U.S. road sign: “slow” U.K. road sign: “slowly” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-ly-from-the-end-of-a-word/432031.md?page=2)