Articulate Athletes, More Adjective/Adverb Confusion

Lindsay Soto, a normally well-spoken sports journalist in Los Angeles, introduced an addition to her broadcasting team, Brandon Hancock, a brainy, former fullback on a University of Southern California football team that won a national championship. Soto introduced her new colleague as an academic All-American, graduating with a grade point average of 3.91. At that point Soto made her gaffe:

"He'll (Hancock) be able to articulate his thoughts perfect for us."

Soto meant to say perfectly. The word being modified is the verb articulate. "How will Hancock convey his thoughts?" Perfectly. The adverb is required.

However, because Hancock is so smart, he might be able to utter perfect thoughts. That would be demanding a lot, even of an academic All-American.

Lily Singer, Good Gardener, Good Grammarian

Lily Singer is known in California by many gardeners for her book: CARE AND MAINTENANCE OF THE CALIFORNIA GARDEN. Recently, while encouraging gardeners to envision a variety of end results in the look of a garden by choosing a variety of plants in order to achieve water conservation, she said to her television audience:

"You can do something different."

Singer correctly used the adjective, different, instead of the adverb, differently. Had she used differently, she would have been suggesting to the audience that some given garden task or ambition could be achieved in a variety of ways by taking different actions.

By using different, the adjective, instead of differently, the adverb, Singer suggested a variety of things that could be done, not a variety of actions that could be taken on any one thing. Brava, Lily! Cultivating good speaking as well as intelligent garden design.

Nicole Richie Gets Fraction of Sentence While Her Lawyer Fractures A Sentence

While it appears that celebrity Nicole Richie's reduced jail sentence was in keeping with a federal order to reduce overcrowding in Los Angeles' jails, her lawyer, Shawn Chapman Holley, clearly ignored the necessary use of an adverb and instead used a noun to modify a verb.

Ms. Holley said her client was "treated like any other inmate in her situation would be treated. I was pleased because she is a celebrity. She wasn't treated any different."

How was Richie treated? She was not treated any differently. The verb "treated" needs to be modified. In what manner, to what degree was, or was not, Ms. Richie treated?

Truly, Richie is different from most ordinary citizens, yet there should be no difference between her and any other malefactor in the eyes of the law. Why is it then, that the media and some politicians are making such a big deal out of this case? Perhaps they don't know differently.

difference, n.,--the fact of being different, disagreement; different, adj.--unlike, not the same; differently, adv

Note: The word "like" is in bold in Ms. Holley's sentence above because strictly, she should have used "as" because a clause follows. "Like" is generally a preposition and should not be burdened with connecting clauses but words instead. Whereas, "as" is a conjunction that may connect clauses. In fairness, this usage is controversial. Notables such as Shakespeare and Darwin preferred "like" to "as" in some instances.

You decide, Should Ms. Holley have said "(Richie) was treated as any other inmate in her situation would be treated."?