2

Is it more correct to say 'The picture hung crooked on the wall' or 'The picture hung crookedly on the wall'? My instinct is that the first one sounds better to me as a native speaker, but someone else I was talking to was convinced that only the second is correct. What's better here?

Improve this question
5
  • 1
    The problem is "crooked" isn't an adverb, it's an adjective. "Crookedly" is and adverb and is therefore correct. Some verb → adverb forms don't take the -ly, but in this case, it does. That being said, in this case saying crooked for crookedly doesn't change the meaning of what you said.
    – VampDuc
    Commented Aug 24, 2015 at 21:36
  • 2
    It's one of those ugly cases where it's easier to just straighten the picture than work out which word for "askew" applies.
    – Hot Licks
    Commented Aug 24, 2015 at 21:48
  • 3
    @VampDuc In The rose blushed pink, pink isn't an adverb either. Some verbs 'take' adjectives, in depictive or resultative constructions. Collins Cobuild includes stand (she stood totally still) and hang (the clouds of smoke hung motionless over the valley).
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Aug 24, 2015 at 22:03
  • @Edwin: I don't know what the "adverbial" form of still might be (perhaps I should say I still don't know! :) but a more clear-cut illustration might be to contrast She stood naked with ?She stood nakedly.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Aug 24, 2015 at 22:38
  • @EdwinAshworth I meant that that was what his friend's problem was.
    – VampDuc
    Commented Aug 24, 2015 at 22:39

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
3

If you imagine a pair of commas added:

The picture hung, crooked, on the wall"

you can see that crooked is an adjective.

It's not too harmful perhaps to then take the commas away.

Crooked describes the picture; crookedly, how it hangs.

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    Not quite. Both crooked and crookedly describe how the picture is hanging (a crooked picture needs to be reframed, repainted or exhibited as a Picasso and sold for millions). But the adverb does emphasise 'the way it is hanging', the adjective 'the way it is hanging'. In some cases, the difference in emphasis might be more useful, but here there's little to choose between.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Aug 25, 2015 at 15:50

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.