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I said something -- I don't remember what exactly -- in the hearing of my granddaughter, five, using real as a flat adverb. Let's say it was "That looks real hard." At this point, she looked at me and said "really hard." I do believe she was correcting my grammar.
I didn't have the time to follow up with her, and I'm real sorry about that.
Some references list real as an adverb, but informal. Is this just because it has been painted with a broad stroke in an attempt to obliterate all flat adverbs?
It's a shame you didn't get a chance to follow up, or you could have asked her what she thought of "mighty hard". Sure, it should probably be "mightily", but nobody's said it that way in fifty years without meaning it as a joke. Then you go on to explain that people in different places use language in slightly different ways, and explain that in Boston there's nothing wrong with "wicked hard".
Ron's lessons are no doubt worth passing on to a five-year-old—if a five-year-old can retain them—but for what it's worth my father, too, taught me that "real" is an adjective and "really" is an adverb. It didn't take in my spoken language, but I still remember it when I'm writing. I'm just surprised that a five-year-old is learning that; I'd have thought that knowledge died out with my generation.
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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