Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2010

Such stilted sentences are sometimes used, even today, when an author
is striving for elegance of expression.

The scarcity of constructive rules in English (viz. lack of
rules that prescribe how we must say something) means
we can use word order for emphasis.  In cases 2 and 3
above MUCH and LONG are thus placed for emphasis.
They are valid sentences.   Case 1 might well be used
as the first or last phrase in a longer compound sentence.

The "adverb" being, as one scholar has put, the dustbin of grammar, there
are in fact three distinct parts of speech wrapped up in that one term.  
Let's look at them.

A "true" adverb (that is non-standard terminology), is one that acts to
directly modulate the sense of the associated verb; it follows the verb
immediately (or as closely as possible, meaning after any intervening
direct object):

  He ran fast.
  She threw the ball hard.

In older English, the negating adverb "not" followed that rule and
appeared after the verb (or direct object):

  I think not so.
  I like it not.

Besides the "true" adverb there is what is usually called a "sentence
adverb",  That term is standard terminology but misleading, in that it
modifies a clause: though a clause can be an entire sentence, it can also
be just a part of a sentence, and I prefer the non-standard term
"adclausal".  An adclausal modulates not the sense of the verb but of the
entire associated clause (which is to say an entire thought).  Adclausals
are marked by being placed anywhere *except* where a "true" adverb would
go--typically just before the verb, but also often at the start or end of
the clause.  Consider:

  1. Quickly, he spoke to his audience.
  2. He quickly spoke to his audience.
  3. He spoke quickly to his audience.
  4. He spoke to his audience quickly.

In #1 and #2--where, by its placement, "quickly" is an adclausal--it is
clear that the quickness refers to with what delay (or, in fact, lack of
delay) the subject began his speaking.

In #3--where, by its placement, "quickly" is a true adverb--it is fairly
clear that it refers to the manner of his speech, suggesting he was
rushing his words.

In #4, it may not be immediately clear which is meant, because the adverb
comes at sentence's end; but it is separated from the verb only by "to
his audience", which is in fact a dative clause (with "to" as an
inflectional particle) acting as a noun, so the effect is the same as an
intervening direct object ("He threw the ball quickly"), meaning the word
is a true adverb.  Thus, in #4 the adverb is also a true adverb, even
though by coincidence it ends the sentence (Just as in "He threw the ball
quickly").

The reason those placement habits evolved is the way stress in speech
normally falls: a true adverb naturally tends to receive stress from its
placement, whereas a sentence adverb naturally tends to be lightly
stressed.

It is owing to those factors that the so-called "do-form" of verbs
evolved, allowing greater flexibility of emphasis in speech:

  I *do* care about you.  [positive emphasis]
  I *do not* think so.    [negative emphasis]

With "do" carrying verbal force, the adverbs can follow it and receive
the intended emphasis.

The third sort of modifier called "adverb" is a word that modulates the
sense of an adjective or other adverb; adverbs of that sort always
precede the modifier they are further modulating:

  He was an *impressively* _tall_ man.
  She ran *very* _fast_.

Now let's look at the subject sentences:

 We'll be long gone at that time.

"Long" is a modulating adverb modifying "gone" and so precedes it.  (In
reality, the form is elliptical for "long since gone".)

 I don't much care for his tone.

"Much" is here an adclausal; it is modulating the effect or force of the
whole thought in the bare clause "I don't care for his tone".  While a
sentence adverb can usually be put in one of several places--just before
the verb, at the beginning of the sentence, or at the end of the
sentence--idiomatically not always are all three slots available for a
given adverb.

 I don't much care for his tone.  [normal]
 I don't care for his tone much.  [unusual but acceptable]
 Much, I don't care for his tone. [not idiomatically possible]

On the other hand, all of these pass muster:

 He anxiously awaited the committee's decision.
 Anxiously he awaited the committee's decision.
 He awaited the committee's decision anxiously.

Note that whether an adverb is modifying the sense of a particular verb
or of the entire thought/clause containing that verb--especially when the
clause is quite simple in form--is often a subtle distinction, which the
position helps us interpret.

 1. He went quickly to the door.
 2. He quickly went to the door.

In #1, the quickness very definitely applies to his going, implying that
he was walking rapidly or even running.  In #2, there is a slight shift
of emphasis such that the quickness applies entire act: the quickness is
in his deciding to go to the door and the initiation of the process of
going there.  Indeed, while it would be a bizarre form indeed, in the
right context it would not be grammatically or even logically impossible
to say "He quickly walked slowly to the door."  (When the buzzer sounded,
he anxiously hopped up out of his chair and began moving, but, being
reluctant to face his visitor, put off the moment by walking slowly.)

 An unprotected human would not long survive in the clutches of outer
  space.

As with "do-forms", the adverb is a true adverb modifying the preceding
verb form.

 He has long left.

With the fuller form used, acceptable: "He has long since left."  As
originally given it is unacceptable owing to its possible confusion with
the sense "he has a lot of time yet to go" (and is in any event
infelicitous even for that sense).

(If one considers the alternative true-adjective form, "He has left long
since", the question arises--as it often does when we consider using an
adverb as a clausal adverb or as a true adverb--of what exact *method* of
"long since" departing might distinguish it from any other form of
departing.  A good many adverbs carelessly used as true adverbs have more
logic when used as sentence (clausal) adverbs.)

 I much like the book.

Quite acceptable.  "Much" as a sentence adverb does not take well to
positions other than immediately preceding the verb (as a true adverb,
it usually--or always??--needs to be qualified by "very": I like swimming
very much.")

 He will long survive.

Same case as the unprotected human in space.  It's a somewhat unusual
form, but nothing wrong with it.