Additives "add" two or more
items together, emphasizing that they are all to be considered equal:
[1] Lynn's prewar success
had been as a light historical novelist; he employed similar fanciful ideas
in his war novels [...] Joseph Hocking's war novels are also dominated
by romance and adventure [W2A-009-40ff]
[2] German firms have an
existing advantage as a greater number of their managers have technical
or engineering degrees. Japanese managers, too, have technical qualifications
of a high order. [W2A-011-51ff]
In [1], the adverb also points to the similarities
between the war novels of Lynn and those of Hocking. In [2], the adverb
too functions in a similar way, emphasizing the fact that the qualifications
of Japanese managers are similar to those of German managers.
In contrast with additives,
EXCLUSIVE adverbs focus attention on what follows them, to the exclusion
of all other possibilities:
[3] It's just a question
of how we organise it [S1B-075-68]
[4] The federal convention
[...] comes together solely for the purpose of electing the president
[S2B-021-99]
In [3], just excludes all other potential
questions from consideration, while in [4], solely points out the
fact that the federal convention has no other function apart from electing
the president. Other exclusives include alone, exactly, merely, and
simply.
PARTICULARIZERS also
focus attention on what follows them, but they do not exclude other possibilities:
[5] The pastoralists are
particularly found in Africa [S2A-047-3]
[6] Now this book is mostly
about what they call modulation [S1A-045-167]
In [5], it is implied that Africa is not the only
place where pastoralists live. While most of them live there, some of them
live elsewhere. Sentence [6] implies that most of the book is about modulation,
though it deals with other, unspecified topics as well.
Other particularizers include largely,
mainly, primarily, and predominantly.
An adverb has been highlighted in each
of the following sentences. Indicate whether it is additive, exclusive,
or a particularizer.
More on
Adverbs...
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