Why is it incorrect to say “I lonely walked around the park.”? [on hold]
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And how do I say it right?
This should be an explanation:
but I still don't understand that why does the sentence "I lonely walked around the park" does not make any sense
grammar adjectives adverbs
edited Nov 17 at 16:39
1006a
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asked Nov 17 at 16:18
Olgierd
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put on hold as off-topic by Jason Bassford, Janus Bahs Jacquet, Scott, J. Taylor, David 2 days ago
This question appears to be off-topic. The users who voted to close gave this specific reason:
- "Please include the research you’ve done, or consider if your question suits our English Language Learners site better. Questions that can be answered using commonly-available references are off-topic." – J. Taylor, David
If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
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up vote
3
down vote
favorite
And how do I say it right?
This should be an explanation:
but I still don't understand that why does the sentence "I lonely walked around the park" does not make any sense
grammar adjectives adverbs
edited Nov 17 at 16:39
1006a
19.7k33584
asked Nov 17 at 16:18
Olgierd
162
New contributor
Olgierd is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
put on hold as off-topic by Jason Bassford, Janus Bahs Jacquet, Scott, J. Taylor, David 2 days ago
This question appears to be off-topic. The users who voted to close gave this specific reason:
- "Please include the research you’ve done, or consider if your question suits our English Language Learners site better. Questions that can be answered using commonly-available references are off-topic." – J. Taylor, David
If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
1
What you quoted makes it clear. Lonely is an adjective, not an adverb. An adjective can modify a noun but it can't modify a verb.
– Jason Bassford
Nov 17 at 16:28
2
What exactly do you not understand? Would you say “I happy walked around the park” or “I young walked around the park”, substituting different adjectives for lonely?
– Janus Bahs Jacquet
Nov 17 at 16:39
That helped me actually. Well then "I walked around the park alone" should be right? I was just thinking why does that not make no sense but I think I get it now It's fine.
– Olgierd
Nov 17 at 16:46
@Olgierd: As a footnote, lonely and alone aren't synonyms. You can be alone, yet not lonely.
– Wordster
Nov 17 at 16:56
"I walked lonely around the park" is acceptable though it would raise the question in what context so if you said "We went for a stroll and had a lovers tiff. She ran away, so I walked lonely around the park" makes perfect sense even if its not perfect grammar. Also if your dog was named Lonely it would also make perfect sense to say "I walked Lonely around the park" :-)
– KJO
Nov 17 at 17:13
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up vote
3
down vote
favorite
up vote
3
down vote
favorite
And how do I say it right?
This should be an explanation:
but I still don't understand that why does the sentence "I lonely walked around the park" does not make any sense
grammar adjectives adverbs
edited Nov 17 at 16:39
1006a
19.7k33584
asked Nov 17 at 16:18
Olgierd
162
New contributor
Olgierd is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
And how do I say it right?
This should be an explanation:
but I still don't understand that why does the sentence "I lonely walked around the park" does not make any sense
grammar adjectives adverbs
grammar adjectives adverbs
edited Nov 17 at 16:39
1006a
19.7k33584
asked Nov 17 at 16:18
Olgierd
162
New contributor
Olgierd is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited Nov 17 at 16:39
1006a
19.7k33584
asked Nov 17 at 16:18
Olgierd
162
New contributor
Olgierd is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited Nov 17 at 16:39
1006a
19.7k33584
edited Nov 17 at 16:39
1006a
19.7k33584
edited Nov 17 at 16:39
1006a
19.7k33584
19.7k33584
asked Nov 17 at 16:18
Olgierd
162
New contributor
Olgierd is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked Nov 17 at 16:18
Olgierd
162
asked Nov 17 at 16:18
Olgierd
162
162
New contributor
Olgierd is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
Olgierd is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Olgierd is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
put on hold as off-topic by Jason Bassford, Janus Bahs Jacquet, Scott, J. Taylor, David 2 days ago
This question appears to be off-topic. The users who voted to close gave this specific reason:
- "Please include the research you’ve done, or consider if your question suits our English Language Learners site better. Questions that can be answered using commonly-available references are off-topic." – J. Taylor, David
If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
put on hold as off-topic by Jason Bassford, Janus Bahs Jacquet, Scott, J. Taylor, David 2 days ago
This question appears to be off-topic. The users who voted to close gave this specific reason:
- "Please include the research you’ve done, or consider if your question suits our English Language Learners site better. Questions that can be answered using commonly-available references are off-topic." – J. Taylor, David
If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
1
What you quoted makes it clear. Lonely is an adjective, not an adverb. An adjective can modify a noun but it can't modify a verb.
– Jason Bassford
Nov 17 at 16:28
2
What exactly do you not understand? Would you say “I happy walked around the park” or “I young walked around the park”, substituting different adjectives for lonely?
– Janus Bahs Jacquet
Nov 17 at 16:39
That helped me actually. Well then "I walked around the park alone" should be right? I was just thinking why does that not make no sense but I think I get it now It's fine.
– Olgierd
Nov 17 at 16:46
@Olgierd: As a footnote, lonely and alone aren't synonyms. You can be alone, yet not lonely.
– Wordster
Nov 17 at 16:56
"I walked lonely around the park" is acceptable though it would raise the question in what context so if you said "We went for a stroll and had a lovers tiff. She ran away, so I walked lonely around the park" makes perfect sense even if its not perfect grammar. Also if your dog was named Lonely it would also make perfect sense to say "I walked Lonely around the park" :-)
– KJO
Nov 17 at 17:13
|
show 2 more comments
1
What you quoted makes it clear. Lonely is an adjective, not an adverb. An adjective can modify a noun but it can't modify a verb.
– Jason Bassford
Nov 17 at 16:28
2
What exactly do you not understand? Would you say “I happy walked around the park” or “I young walked around the park”, substituting different adjectives for lonely?
– Janus Bahs Jacquet
Nov 17 at 16:39
That helped me actually. Well then "I walked around the park alone" should be right? I was just thinking why does that not make no sense but I think I get it now It's fine.
– Olgierd
Nov 17 at 16:46
@Olgierd: As a footnote, lonely and alone aren't synonyms. You can be alone, yet not lonely.
– Wordster
Nov 17 at 16:56
"I walked lonely around the park" is acceptable though it would raise the question in what context so if you said "We went for a stroll and had a lovers tiff. She ran away, so I walked lonely around the park" makes perfect sense even if its not perfect grammar. Also if your dog was named Lonely it would also make perfect sense to say "I walked Lonely around the park" :-)
– KJO
Nov 17 at 17:13
1
1
What you quoted makes it clear. Lonely is an adjective, not an adverb. An adjective can modify a noun but it can't modify a verb.
– Jason Bassford
Nov 17 at 16:28
What you quoted makes it clear. Lonely is an adjective, not an adverb. An adjective can modify a noun but it can't modify a verb.
– Jason Bassford
Nov 17 at 16:28
2
2
What exactly do you not understand? Would you say “I happy walked around the park” or “I young walked around the park”, substituting different adjectives for lonely?
– Janus Bahs Jacquet
Nov 17 at 16:39
What exactly do you not understand? Would you say “I happy walked around the park” or “I young walked around the park”, substituting different adjectives for lonely?
– Janus Bahs Jacquet
Nov 17 at 16:39
That helped me actually. Well then "I walked around the park alone" should be right? I was just thinking why does that not make no sense but I think I get it now It's fine.
– Olgierd
Nov 17 at 16:46
That helped me actually. Well then "I walked around the park alone" should be right? I was just thinking why does that not make no sense but I think I get it now It's fine.
– Olgierd
Nov 17 at 16:46
@Olgierd: As a footnote, lonely and alone aren't synonyms. You can be alone, yet not lonely.
– Wordster
Nov 17 at 16:56
@Olgierd: As a footnote, lonely and alone aren't synonyms. You can be alone, yet not lonely.
– Wordster
Nov 17 at 16:56
"I walked lonely around the park" is acceptable though it would raise the question in what context so if you said "We went for a stroll and had a lovers tiff. She ran away, so I walked lonely around the park" makes perfect sense even if its not perfect grammar. Also if your dog was named Lonely it would also make perfect sense to say "I walked Lonely around the park" :-)
– KJO
Nov 17 at 17:13
"I walked lonely around the park" is acceptable though it would raise the question in what context so if you said "We went for a stroll and had a lovers tiff. She ran away, so I walked lonely around the park" makes perfect sense even if its not perfect grammar. Also if your dog was named Lonely it would also make perfect sense to say "I walked Lonely around the park" :-)
– KJO
Nov 17 at 17:13
|
show 2 more comments
1 Answer
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You actually can say that, but it sounds very poetic/old fashioned rather than like natural, everyday speech and you probably need some extra punctuation to clarify for modern speakers.
As the passage that you quoted explains, lonely is an adjective, not an adverb, so it can only describe a noun, not a verb (that is, it can describe a person, place, or thing, but can't describe an action). This means lonely cannot describe the way the person in your sentence is walking, but it could describe the person.
The problem with the sentence as-written is the placement of the word lonely. English usually puts adjectives in front of the noun they modify (red rose, beautiful dreamer, happy children, etc.), so without any other clues we are going to want to connect lonely with the word the word that follows it. In this case, that word is walked, but this doesn't work because it's not a noun.
We can "fix" this by interpreting lonely as an attributive clause. Attributive clauses modify the noun that immediately precedes them. Usually they're more than one word, but they don't have to be.
As I mentioned, this will sound poetical, and actually parallels some existing poetry:
When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
—William Shakespeare, Sonnet 29
Soon as the portals ope; I lonely tread
The sacred paths conductive thro' the choir
—Rev. Alsop, A Description of the Choir at St. Peter's Church, 1738
Thus wrapped in gloom I lonely walk
Life's dark and dreary way
—Joshua Ross, "My Ruling Star", 1855
As you can tell from the dates, it's also a very old-fashioned construction (there are other examples, but all that I've found are at least a hundred years old), so this won't be the first interpretation that most modern speakers will guess. We can make it a bit clearer by enclosing lonely in commas:
I, lonely, walked around the park.
However, if you want to have a more straightforward sentence that everyone will understand, you probably need to reword to something like
[Feeling] Lonely, I walked around the park.
or
I walked around the park, all alone.
answered Nov 17 at 17:54
1006a
19.7k33584
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
3
down vote
You actually can say that, but it sounds very poetic/old fashioned rather than like natural, everyday speech and you probably need some extra punctuation to clarify for modern speakers.
As the passage that you quoted explains, lonely is an adjective, not an adverb, so it can only describe a noun, not a verb (that is, it can describe a person, place, or thing, but can't describe an action). This means lonely cannot describe the way the person in your sentence is walking, but it could describe the person.
The problem with the sentence as-written is the placement of the word lonely. English usually puts adjectives in front of the noun they modify (red rose, beautiful dreamer, happy children, etc.), so without any other clues we are going to want to connect lonely with the word the word that follows it. In this case, that word is walked, but this doesn't work because it's not a noun.
We can "fix" this by interpreting lonely as an attributive clause. Attributive clauses modify the noun that immediately precedes them. Usually they're more than one word, but they don't have to be.
As I mentioned, this will sound poetical, and actually parallels some existing poetry:
When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
—William Shakespeare, Sonnet 29
Soon as the portals ope; I lonely tread
The sacred paths conductive thro' the choir
—Rev. Alsop, A Description of the Choir at St. Peter's Church, 1738
Thus wrapped in gloom I lonely walk
Life's dark and dreary way
—Joshua Ross, "My Ruling Star", 1855
As you can tell from the dates, it's also a very old-fashioned construction (there are other examples, but all that I've found are at least a hundred years old), so this won't be the first interpretation that most modern speakers will guess. We can make it a bit clearer by enclosing lonely in commas:
I, lonely, walked around the park.
However, if you want to have a more straightforward sentence that everyone will understand, you probably need to reword to something like
[Feeling] Lonely, I walked around the park.
or
I walked around the park, all alone.
answered Nov 17 at 17:54
1006a
19.7k33584
add a comment |
up vote
3
down vote
You actually can say that, but it sounds very poetic/old fashioned rather than like natural, everyday speech and you probably need some extra punctuation to clarify for modern speakers.
As the passage that you quoted explains, lonely is an adjective, not an adverb, so it can only describe a noun, not a verb (that is, it can describe a person, place, or thing, but can't describe an action). This means lonely cannot describe the way the person in your sentence is walking, but it could describe the person.
The problem with the sentence as-written is the placement of the word lonely. English usually puts adjectives in front of the noun they modify (red rose, beautiful dreamer, happy children, etc.), so without any other clues we are going to want to connect lonely with the word the word that follows it. In this case, that word is walked, but this doesn't work because it's not a noun.
We can "fix" this by interpreting lonely as an attributive clause. Attributive clauses modify the noun that immediately precedes them. Usually they're more than one word, but they don't have to be.
As I mentioned, this will sound poetical, and actually parallels some existing poetry:
When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
—William Shakespeare, Sonnet 29
Soon as the portals ope; I lonely tread
The sacred paths conductive thro' the choir
—Rev. Alsop, A Description of the Choir at St. Peter's Church, 1738
Thus wrapped in gloom I lonely walk
Life's dark and dreary way
—Joshua Ross, "My Ruling Star", 1855
As you can tell from the dates, it's also a very old-fashioned construction (there are other examples, but all that I've found are at least a hundred years old), so this won't be the first interpretation that most modern speakers will guess. We can make it a bit clearer by enclosing lonely in commas:
I, lonely, walked around the park.
However, if you want to have a more straightforward sentence that everyone will understand, you probably need to reword to something like
[Feeling] Lonely, I walked around the park.
or
I walked around the park, all alone.
answered Nov 17 at 17:54
1006a
19.7k33584
add a comment |
up vote
3
down vote
up vote
3
down vote
You actually can say that, but it sounds very poetic/old fashioned rather than like natural, everyday speech and you probably need some extra punctuation to clarify for modern speakers.
As the passage that you quoted explains, lonely is an adjective, not an adverb, so it can only describe a noun, not a verb (that is, it can describe a person, place, or thing, but can't describe an action). This means lonely cannot describe the way the person in your sentence is walking, but it could describe the person.
The problem with the sentence as-written is the placement of the word lonely. English usually puts adjectives in front of the noun they modify (red rose, beautiful dreamer, happy children, etc.), so without any other clues we are going to want to connect lonely with the word the word that follows it. In this case, that word is walked, but this doesn't work because it's not a noun.
We can "fix" this by interpreting lonely as an attributive clause. Attributive clauses modify the noun that immediately precedes them. Usually they're more than one word, but they don't have to be.
As I mentioned, this will sound poetical, and actually parallels some existing poetry:
When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
—William Shakespeare, Sonnet 29
Soon as the portals ope; I lonely tread
The sacred paths conductive thro' the choir
—Rev. Alsop, A Description of the Choir at St. Peter's Church, 1738
Thus wrapped in gloom I lonely walk
Life's dark and dreary way
—Joshua Ross, "My Ruling Star", 1855
As you can tell from the dates, it's also a very old-fashioned construction (there are other examples, but all that I've found are at least a hundred years old), so this won't be the first interpretation that most modern speakers will guess. We can make it a bit clearer by enclosing lonely in commas:
I, lonely, walked around the park.
However, if you want to have a more straightforward sentence that everyone will understand, you probably need to reword to something like
[Feeling] Lonely, I walked around the park.
or
I walked around the park, all alone.
answered Nov 17 at 17:54
1006a
19.7k33584
You actually can say that, but it sounds very poetic/old fashioned rather than like natural, everyday speech and you probably need some extra punctuation to clarify for modern speakers.
As the passage that you quoted explains, lonely is an adjective, not an adverb, so it can only describe a noun, not a verb (that is, it can describe a person, place, or thing, but can't describe an action). This means lonely cannot describe the way the person in your sentence is walking, but it could describe the person.
The problem with the sentence as-written is the placement of the word lonely. English usually puts adjectives in front of the noun they modify (red rose, beautiful dreamer, happy children, etc.), so without any other clues we are going to want to connect lonely with the word the word that follows it. In this case, that word is walked, but this doesn't work because it's not a noun.
We can "fix" this by interpreting lonely as an attributive clause. Attributive clauses modify the noun that immediately precedes them. Usually they're more than one word, but they don't have to be.
As I mentioned, this will sound poetical, and actually parallels some existing poetry:
When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
—William Shakespeare, Sonnet 29
Soon as the portals ope; I lonely tread
The sacred paths conductive thro' the choir
—Rev. Alsop, A Description of the Choir at St. Peter's Church, 1738
Thus wrapped in gloom I lonely walk
Life's dark and dreary way
—Joshua Ross, "My Ruling Star", 1855
As you can tell from the dates, it's also a very old-fashioned construction (there are other examples, but all that I've found are at least a hundred years old), so this won't be the first interpretation that most modern speakers will guess. We can make it a bit clearer by enclosing lonely in commas:
I, lonely, walked around the park.
However, if you want to have a more straightforward sentence that everyone will understand, you probably need to reword to something like
[Feeling] Lonely, I walked around the park.
or
I walked around the park, all alone.
answered Nov 17 at 17:54
1006a
19.7k33584
answered Nov 17 at 17:54
1006a
19.7k33584
answered Nov 17 at 17:54
1006a
19.7k33584
answered Nov 17 at 17:54
1006a
19.7k33584
19.7k33584
add a comment |
add a comment |
1
What you quoted makes it clear. Lonely is an adjective, not an adverb. An adjective can modify a noun but it can't modify a verb.
– Jason Bassford
Nov 17 at 16:28
2
What exactly do you not understand? Would you say “I happy walked around the park” or “I young walked around the park”, substituting different adjectives for lonely?
– Janus Bahs Jacquet
Nov 17 at 16:39
That helped me actually. Well then "I walked around the park alone" should be right? I was just thinking why does that not make no sense but I think I get it now It's fine.
– Olgierd
Nov 17 at 16:46
@Olgierd: As a footnote, lonely and alone aren't synonyms. You can be alone, yet not lonely.
– Wordster
Nov 17 at 16:56
"I walked lonely around the park" is acceptable though it would raise the question in what context so if you said "We went for a stroll and had a lovers tiff. She ran away, so I walked lonely around the park" makes perfect sense even if its not perfect grammar. Also if your dog was named Lonely it would also make perfect sense to say "I walked Lonely around the park" :-)
– KJO
Nov 17 at 17:13