I probably should clear this one up once and for all. Say I did something on purpose. Umm, like, I drove slowly on purpose, say.
I never know whether I should say 'I purposely drove slow' or 'I purposefully drove slow'. Which is it?
Please help me out. In a non-condescending tone preferably.
Huldra Forsvant (Theodor Kittelsen)
Huldra Forsvant (Theodor Kittelsen)
17 comments:
I'd use purposefully. Or I'd say "I drove slowly on purpose."
I wouldn't say either of them....I think they both sound a little bit awkward. I would just say "I drove slowly on purpose."
Not sure, but I have a similar question about "orientated" vs "oriented".
Purposefully.
And oriented. I think.
No idea.
On this website (http://grammarwench.wordpress.com/2009/09/19/purposely-vs-purposefully/) I found this:
If you do something purposely it means you are doing it intentionally (on purpose).
"I meant to do that. It was done purposely."
If you do something purposefully it means you are doing it with a specific purpose in mind.
"I am purposefully adding pictures of flowers to the card; I want it to look like Spring."
Wendy's website is correct. But I agree that both are ugly. I'd go with 'on purpose'.
If you said, "I purposefully drove slow," I'd say, "'Purposely'. And 'slowly'."
Then I'd wonder if you really did mean 'purposefully' — that you were driving slowly with the grim intent of killing a particularly irritating pedant.
Is anybody else noticing that the more you say 'purpose' the sillier it sounds? Purpose purpose purpose. I'm imagining a burping porpoise.
well thanks for the advice everyone. I think I'm just relieved that they are both words to start with , and that I'm not just making one up. Wendy, that stuff was helpful, but I must say it's still not super obvious..
Perhaps it might help to remember that 'purposefully' is the adverb of 'purposeful' — that is, it means 'in a purposeful way', which is different from 'on purpose'.
Or not.
Most words sound silly if you say them often enough.
I would probably say on purpose, but I think purposely fits better in that situation.
Okay, I have a new, succinct way of explaining it:
*purposely = on purpose;
*purposefully = with purpose.
This is why I teach non-native speakers: they don't ask this sort of question :)
Stuart, thanks that's perfect. Sums it up succintly. I always mean the first one.
Another one is adaption/adaptation. It's all a bit too hard, really.
Unless there's some industry-specific specialty meaning of the words, there's no difference between adaption and adaptation. (Having said this, I'd never heard the word 'adaption', but this is what the OED tells me :)
Flogging a dead horse here I know...sorry...but can Stuart or anyone else clear up predominately/predominantly for me while we're on this subject?? Or are they really the same thing too?
Not that I'm an expert…
'predominantly' and 'predominately' are apparently both acceptable forms, according to the OED, though once again I'd never heard 'predominately'. (OED suggests that 'predominate' as an adjective is apparently a mistaken form of 'predominant'. So if you don't want snide people looking down their noses, I'd always go with 'predominantly'.)
Oh, good. I always thought that predominantly was the correct use and that someone just made up predominately because they'd misheard "predominant." Thanks for clearing that up for me!
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