This is an All Ears English Podcast, Episode 2450, Grammar That Breaks the Rules, Part 2, Noun Nonsense.
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Do you always assume that if a word ends in L -Y, it's an adverb and and should be used in that way?
Today, get four examples of adjectives that end in L -Y and how to use them in English.
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Hey there, Aubrey. How are you today?
How's it going? I'm great, Lindsey.
how are you yes Aubrey oh my gosh here's a question can you think of a time in your life when you were cowardly that is a very strong word that is a strong word I think the best example is um at haunted houses I get really scared at a haunted house I don't want people jumping out at me so there are times where we like go to enter and I'm like just kidding I'll be out here you You guys go ahead.
Right. You don't like it.
Really cowardly. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
We used to like run during Halloween.
We used to run past this guy's house because there was a guy on our road that our parents told us he was a hermit.
I don't know if he was a hermit or not.
It was the 90s. It was the 80s.
And we would just sprint past his house because we were so afraid of him.
I'm sure it was. Well, it's funny because hermit just means they like to stay inside, right?
But you had some kind of idea that this meant like scary.
Exactly. Exactly. So Boo Radley.
It's like a Boo Radley situation.
Right, that kind of situation.
So this is an episode which is a part two of a series, Aubrey.
Tell us about that.
Exactly. Michelle and I recorded part one of this series, adjectives that you expect to be an adverb.
You're adding L -Y. So stay till the end.
We'll share the number because you can definitely listen to these out of order.
Today is part two, nouns that you would expect to add L -Y and it would become an adverb, but it's still an adjective.
Very tricky. Yeah, Yeah, very tricky.
So English doesn't always follow the formula that we're looking for.
And we need to have the flexible mind to be ready for that.
Right. Exactly. If you learn this rule or guideline that words that end in L -Y are adverbs, you could really be thrown off because that's just not always the case.
Right. I love that.
Interesting. Guys, before we get deeper into this today, this high level English, go ahead and hit the follow button.
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Yeah, exactly. We believe there's something more important than being perfect or being correct.
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All right, good. Aubrey, let's get into the first example here.
All right. Our first one is a friend and friendly.
So we have the noun friend, which is of course a person you know well and like.
You might say she has been my best friend since kindergarten.
But then when you add L -Y, this is not an adverb.
We do not use this to describe actions or verbs it is an adjective yeah so for example our new neighbors are very friendly and brought us cookies yeah that's just literally describing their nature how they are are your neighbors friendly aubrey i do have extremely friendly neighbors in fact last week was my birthday yeah and i have two neighbor friends who both brought super nice gifts they're very they're i think their love language both of these amazing ladies is giving gifts yes and And I made a note.
I'm like, I need to do better at remembering their birthdays and taking them a gift because that's not usually my love language.
But I think that's also how they receive love.
So I need to be more cognizant about getting them a gift on their birthday because it is so meaningful.
I was very touched.
It was so kind. That's really kind.
Happy belated birthday, by the way, Aubrey.
Yeah, I hope you had a great day.
It's true. Love languages are tricky because because people do usually show love in their language but if it's not your language you may not think to reciprocate in that same way right exactly especially gift giving i think is the trickiest one because if that isn't your love language you don't think to do it for others who might really feel loved if you do so i need to like step out of my comfort zone maybe and and find a gift for for friends for sure all right good stuff well the next one is coward Coward and cowardly.
This is interesting.
This is what I asked you at the top of the show, right?
What is a coward as a noun?
Yeah. This is a person who is not brave, is afraid often even to do what is right or expected.
This is the difference between just being scared and not brave. Often, a coward will collocate with if someone really should be be standing up for injustice someone is being treated badly and you still don't dare to step in and do the right thing that is when we would potentially call someone a coward or call ourselves a coward if we do that yeah i mean we can see a lot of examples of this right now in uh in government i won't go into it but that's another story for another day and always that's a really good point though that often we don't really talk about individuals as cowards but we will use this in a bigger
way, to talk about countries, governments, that if one person or group feels like they should step in, they have a duty to step in, and they don't, then we might refer to them as a coward. Sure, absolutely.
It also makes me think of the cowardly lion on The Wizard of Oz, a famous character.
I just saw the preview for Wicked 2.
I loved part one, and I'm very excited for the last installment, part two.
It looks like like they've done a fantastic job with it.
It's going to be so good.
Oh, I'm sure it's going to be really good.
And here's an example.
So when we use the word cowardly as it's not an adverb, right?
It's still an adjective describing that person.
It was a cowardly act to run away and leave his friends behind or describing the act, the thing he did, right?
Exactly. So we either, you know, it's always going to describe a noun because it's an adjective, either a cowardly person, a cowardly act, a cowardly government, a cowardly country, absolutely.
We can describe any often for bigger things like this as well.
We would say the act is cowardly.
Yes, and it can be so confusing sometimes when you see this from the outside.
I'm sure there's more nuance on the inside, but it can be very frustrating when you see this from the outside.
If you maybe are the kind of person who would take action, this is not in your nature, you're not cowardly.
Then if you see someone else doing it, yeah, I can see potentially a lot of frustration you would just want to jump in and do it for them right exactly all right what's number three aubry okay the next one is cost so of course we have the noun you know the amount of money required to buy or do something or we also use it to talk about like the loss or sacrifice involved in an action the cost of something for example cost of living in that city is very high yes and when it comes to costly again still still an adjective.
Something that, again, like you said, Aubrey, causes loss or damage.
Their mistakes proved costly in the final minutes of the game.
So here we're talking about their mistakes cost them the game.
Okay? Yes, exactly.
And we will use this word bigger as well.
If we talk about famine, war, things like this, we would say it's costly if it's causing loss of life, right?
We'll use this for bigger things as well.
Absolutely. And now order and orderly.
So what about this one?
So order, of course, is a noun that means a state of organization or tidiness.
So you might say she likes for things to be in order.
I feel like this is true about you, Lindsay, right?
You like for things to be in order when possible.
For the most part, sometimes, you know, at the end of the week, things get a little messy.
But yeah, I do feel like I need a bit bit of that zen in my head to be able to work and focus.
Things need to be somewhat in order.
I can't have chaos in here.
Right. Understandable.
I think a lot of people are in that same boat for sure.
But interestingly, if you add LY, this does not become an adverb, right?
It stays an adjective, orderly, meaning neat and well organized.
You like for your desk to be orderly so you can focus.
Yep. The files were arranged in an orderly manner on the shelf.
What about you, Aubrey?
Are you someone that can't work or focus if there's a lot of mess in your space?
Are you okay? I thrive in clutter, I feel like.
It's interesting because my partner is like that.
Everything must be orderly and neat.
So I really try to keep things orderly, but clutter doesn't bother me at all.
I like for things to be clean.
So I like clean, but when there's...
I don't know. I think as a mom of four children, There are always toys and clothes and things everywhere.
So if I couldn't handle a little clutter, I would have gone crazy long ago.
Yeah, do you think that you've grown more tolerance with clutter over the years?
Yes, I think I always was very tolerant of clutter.
I remember my room being such a mess.
My mom called me a clutter bug because there were clothes and books and everything everywhere.
Not like dirty. I wouldn't have food in the room.
It's not dirt. It's just clutter.
Just like books, stacks of books from the library, I remember.
And it would drive my mom crazy.
She just couldn't go in my room.
Interesting. Because she was like, it was such a mess.
Yeah, yeah, that makes sense.
We're all so different in that sense, right?
Totally. As long as you know what you can handle and what you need, then that's the key, I think.
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Okay, Aubrey, let's roll this out in a roleplay and we'll see how it all comes out.
Perfect. You and I are classmates in this roleplay.
We have been assigned to work together on a school project.
All right, here we go.
Let's divide up the work.
I made a checklist list to keep things orderly.
Oh, thank you. I can't afford to get a bad grade on this.
My GPA is almost high enough for a scholarship I'm trying for, and the cost of failing this class would be painful.
Only one of us needs to present.
Would you be up for that?
I'm a bit cowardly when it comes to public speaking.
You could totally do it.
The class is such a friendly group.
Nobody's going to judge you.
I can definitely do it, though, if you want.
I'm a good friend like that.
Aw, thanks. We can create the slides together, and then I'll proofread them and make sure everything is in the right order.
Okay. Remember, it needs to be at least five minutes.
The professor said, if it's under that, it'll be really costly for the final grade.
Oh, you can tell I'm really stressed about my grade.
I need this scholarship.
Yeah, you need the scholarship.
Yeah. Remember in school when teachers would kind of hint at what really mattered in your grade or in the syllabi, you'd get your syllabus in college and it would show how you're graded, right?
What is costly in terms of mistakes if you don't turn something in or if you're late or right which exams were going to be cumulative which was weighted more for your grade yeah we always paid attention to that what do i really need to study for oh my gosh i'm so glad that college is done hey that was really nerve -wracking it was stressful stressful for sure all right let's go through this so here i said i made a checklist to keep things orderly and we might also say keep keep things, I don't know, clear.
Organized. Organized, yeah.
Absolutely, right? Any of those would work.
And then I was saying how important the grade is to me, the cost of failing this class would be painful.
So another word of saying the result of failing this class.
Exactly. And then I asked you to speak, to do the actual speech. I said, would you be up for that?
I'm a bit cowardly when it comes to public speaking.
I think this This is an interesting use.
I could have said I'm not very brave or I'm nervous.
I get nervous, but cowardly is unique and different.
It might be good for IELTS too, right, Aubrey?
Yes. It would be more impressive for IELTS because students don't use it nearly as often.
It's interesting to point out here too, I think this is much more common that you'll hear someone refer to themselves as a coward or cowardly rather than calling someone else this because Because it is very harsh to call someone else a coward or cowardly.
Yeah, that's a really good point.
I'm glad you said that.
You'd have to be in a real altercation with them and you'd have to know them well.
And it would be a big thing to drop and to say, you're a cowardly person.
That's a real strong thing to say to someone, right?
Yeah, yes. It would have to be something very extreme that really merits something that heavy, right?
Or maybe sometimes when you're in altercations, fights, you want to use heavy language because because you want to really get their attention.
You want to upset them.
Sometimes you find yourself doing that, right?
You make it bigger in order to have the effect of your words be stronger.
Right. For sure. All right.
Great. So, let's see.
Then you said, Aubrey, the class is such a friendly group and I know our listeners know that word friendly, but it is interesting to think that this is an adjective, right?
It's not an adverb.
Exactly. Yeah. It's interesting just to point this out, right?
If you've always thought, okay, every word that ends in L -O -I is as an adverb.
It's interesting to take a step back and be like, actually quite often they're adjectives.
Yeah, that is really interesting.
What's the next one, Aubrey?
And then friend, of course, I'm a good friend.
This is something I say sometimes, right?
If someone thanks me for something, I will usually kind of make like a funny comment to like, maybe remove awkwardness or I'm not very good at taking compliments.
So I'll make a joke.
I'm a good friend like that.
I would say this. It is funny how when we feel a little awkward, we say something.
We, you know, we kind of lighten things a bit and and respond in some way or other mm -hmm and this chunk we use a lot and you could add anything there you could say I know I'm amazing like that right a good one like that yeah you're being a little physicious a little sarcastic having fun doubling down aren't I amazing yeah exactly and that and that kind of like makes it less awkward which is really interesting so exactly and then you said making sure everything is in the right order and here you're talking about the order of slides that one comes after another in the correct order Exactly and then
finally you said the professor said if it's under that it'll be really costly for the final grade meaning it will cost you a big chunk of your grade okay exactly right and again an adjective so the big main mistake we want to help you avoid here is using all of these words that end in L Y to describe verbs actions because you're you're assuming they're an adverb, right?
I know this happens.
So, very excited for you guys to just have this tidbit, right?
Even native speakers will make that mistake sometimes because we are taught, right?
Adverbs end in L -Y.
Oh, interesting. And what was the first part of this series, Aubrey?
Where can we go if we missed the first episode?
What episode should we go to?
Scroll up to episode 2444 right here on Allers English, Grammar That Breaks the Rules, part one, adjectives that end in ly.
So these were interestingly adjectives and then you add ly to it and it becomes another adjective but with a different meaning.
So don't miss that one.
Love it. And what's our takeaway today?
Where should we leave our listeners in terms of connection?
Yeah, it's interesting how something like this can actually help you avoid letting grammar stress you out because the more you know, right?
The more you know, the more you feel confident that you're not making minor errors.
And also just that there aren't all these things that you're just not aware of.
This is something that until today, probably just kind of weren't aware that this is a possibility.
Adjectives also end in L -Y.
I love it. The more we know, the more we can use that freedom of mind to focus on something ultimately more important, which is the connection.
Right, Aubrey? Absolutely.
So that's why we do recommend studying grammar so that you can move on to what really matters.
And I think our listeners get that.
They understand that on on a deep level.
Good stuff. Absolutely.
So fun. Glad we were able to chat about this, Lindsay.
Thank you for joining me.
Great, Aubrey. We'll see you next time.
Have a good day. Awesome.
See you next time. Bye.
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