Note 3.—The adverbs whence, thence, hence, are equivalent to, “from which place,” “from that place,” “from this place;” from whence, from thence, from hence, are therefore chargeable with redundancy.
Note 4.—Never is sometimes erroneously used for ever, as, “they might be extirpated, were they never so many.” It should be, “ever so many,” i.e. “how many soever.” “Who will not hearken to the voice of the charmer, charm he never so sweetly.” It should be, “ever so sweetly;” i.e. “however sweetly,” or “how sweetly soever.”
Note 5.—Ever is likewise sometimes improperly used for never, as, “I seldom or ever see him now.” It should be, “seldom or never,” the speaker intending to say, “that rarely, or rather at no time, does he see him now;” not “rarely,” or “at any time.”
Note 6.—Priestley remarks, that the French always place their adverbs immediately after their verbs, which order, he observes, by no means suits the English idiom. “His government gave courage to the English barons to carry farther their opposition.”—Hume. It would be better, “to carry their opposition farther.” “Edward obtained a dispensation from his oath, which the barons had compelled Gaveston to take, that he would abjure for ever the realm;” better “the realm for ever.”
Note 7.—The adverb is generally placed between the auxiliary verb and the participle, as, “this is perfectly understood.” When there are more auxiliaries than one, the same author observes, that the adverb should be placed after the first. This rule, however, is by no means universally followed; for many of our best writers employ a different arrangement, and, I think, with great propriety; as, “this will be perfectly understood,” where the adverb follows both auxiliaries. The place of the adverb may, in general, be ascertained, by considering what word it is intended to qualify: and, in the last example, it should be closely connected with understood. But more on this subject in the following note.
Note 8.—The adverb, as its name imports, is generally placed close to the word, which it modifies or affects: its force, therefore, very much depends upon its position. Inattention to the proper collocation of adverbs is frequently the cause of much obscurity and misconception. To this inattention we may ascribe the ambiguity in the following sentence: “He was not honoured with this reward, but with the approbation of the people.” This sentence may imply, either that he was honoured with this reward, not without the approbation of the people; or that he was not honoured with this reward, but was honoured with the approbation of the people. The latter is the meaning intended. It should therefore be, “he was honoured, not with this reward, but with the approbation of the people.” By this arrangement the sentiment is correctly exhibited—the two subjects, reward and approbation, are perspicuously contrasted, and while the former is negatived, the latter is affirmed[127].
Note 9.—Lowth observes that “the adverb should be for the most part placed before adjectives, and after verbs;” thus, “he was excessively modest,” “he fought bravely.” This is, indeed, the general arrangement; but it admits many exceptions. In no case are writers so apt to err as in the position of the word only. Its place, in my opinion, is after the substantive to which it refers, or which it exclusively implies, and before the attributive. In the following sentence of Steele’s, the collocation is faulty: “ The bridegroom sits with an aspect which intimates his thoughts were not only entertained with the joys with which he was surrounded, but also with a noble gratitude, and divine pleasure.” This collocation of the two adverbs implies that his thoughts were something more than entertained: whereas it is the author’s intention to say, that his thoughts were entertained with something more than joys. The sentence, therefore, should proceed thus: “The bridegroom sits with an aspect, which intimates, that his thoughts were entertained not with the joys only, with which he was surrounded, but also with a noble gratitude and divine pleasure.”[128]
When Addison says (Spec. No. 412), “By greatness I do not only mean the bulk of any single object, but the largeness of a whole view,” the question naturally occurs, what does he more than mean? It is evident that, agreeably to this arrangement, the adverb refers to mean, exclusively of all other attributes or actions, and being prefaced by a negative, implies “that he does something more than mean.” In this criticism I concur with Blair, who has expressed his disapprobation of this arrangement.
Had he, as the same author observes, placed the adverb after bulk, it would have still been wrong. For if he had said, “I do not mean the bulk only,” then the adverb, following a noun substantive, must refer to it exclusively of every other, and the clause being negative, the question would be, what does he mean more than the bulk? Is it the colour, the beauty, or what else?