However is what type of word

For those interested in a little info about this site: it's a side project that I developed while working on Describing Words and Related Words. Both of those projects are based around words, but have much grander goals. I had an idea for a website that simply explains the word types of the words that you search for - just like a dictionary, but focussed on the part of speech of the words. And since I already had a lot of the infrastructure in place from the other two sites, I figured it wouldn't be too much more work to get this up and running.

The dictionary is based on the amazing Wiktionary project by wikimedia. This caused me to investigate the edition of Websters Dictionary - which is now in the public domain. Hello Tanya! Is the following sentence grammatically correct? Is it okay to go with the above sentence? Thanking you! June 29, at am. That sentence is correct i. An adverb in that position is quite formal, so it's often seen in academic writing. Best of luck to you! Narges Javadpour Guest.

February 15, at pm. Dear Tanya, I was teaching the position of 'however' as a conjunctive adverb in a sentence yesterday, when I suddenly wondered whether I was using it in the right position in this sentence: The lesson was confusing and the students did not listen very carefully; the exam, however, was not as difficult as they assumed it to be.

What I need to know is could we separate the verb 'to be' from the negating element and put it before 'however' along with the subject? As: The lesson was confusing and the students did not listen very carefully; the exam was, however, not as difficult as they assumed it to be.

Or since it is the main verb, we are not allowed to, and it is only when 'to be' is an auxiliary, as in present or past progressive, just like modal auxiliaries as in: The research relies heavily on literary embellishments of the text in question; the stylistic features cannot, however, be studied in a completely literary critical approach.

February 16, at am. Hi Narges, great question! In mid-sentence position, 'however' can almost always be placed next to what you'd like to emphasize. Your first example 'The exam, however, was not as difficult Another natural example would be 'The exam was not, however, as difficult To answer your question about your second example 'The exam was, however, not as difficult Keeping 'was not' together is more natural.

You're right when you guessed that it's also natural for 'however' to come after the Be verb when it's acting as an auxiliary ' Fuclam Guest. June 21, at am. June 21, at pm. Rehan Law Guest. May 29, at am. Can all of the conductive adverbs be placed at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of a sentence? May 29, at pm. Hi Rehan, great question! Most of them can take these three positions. There are a few exceptions, however! For those who aren't subscribers, I'll copy the exceptions here: - Such as almost always appears after a noun not at the beginning or end of a sentence.

At the end, it is not preceded by a comma. Yoshino A. August 15, at am. I find your article really useful! Thanks a lot. I saw this sentence while reading a grammar book: "It is important to emphasize, however, that a present or past time remote conditional does not entail that P is false". August 18, at am. Thanks for your kind words, Yoshino! Yes, you certainly could put "however" between the Be verb and the adjective, and both sentences have essentially the same meaning.

Mark Sherman Guest. October 1, at pm. Interesting example from Tanya about separating the words as a discretionary move, i. Thanks for your comment, Mark! That's a great test, and I agree that "ever" before the main verb sounds much more natural. Mike Frank Guest. May 8, at am. Hi Tanya, Your explanation is great and easy to understand, but I'm still confused about the example: However you look at it, the situation is unfair. You said that however in the above example is an adverb, but can an adverb connect two clauses?

May 11, at pm. Hi Mike, That's a great question. I did a bit of research and found that not everyone agrees on when to call it a conjunction and when to call it an adverb. Some references would call "however" in your example a conjunction, some an adverb, and some a conjunctive adverb. My post was mostly based on the examples in Merriam-Webster and their entries for "however" as a conjunction and an adverb, but note that Lexico Oxford dictionary doesn't even have an entry for "however" as a conjunction!

My personal test is to call it a conjunction when you can't move the clauses e. Log In to Comment Reply. Submit Comment Submit Reply. Although politicians have promised to improve road safety, little has been achieved so far. Some politicians claim that the new transport policy has been a success.

In fact , it has been a total disaster. Government campaigns have had a measure of success, but the fact remains that large numbers of accidents are still caused by careless drivers. Questions about grammar and vocabulary? Join us Join our community to access the latest language learning and assessment tips from Oxford University Press!