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Discussion Groups / ESL Teaching / December 2003Similar vs. Similarly
I'm writing a paper and I can't seem to determine the correct form of the word 'similar' to use in the following sentance: "Similarly to the stone cameo of his wife Livia (fig. 2), this glass cameo features an image of the head of Augustus in total profile." I think it is correct as-is. My fiance insists that I should be using the adjective 'similar'. She's usually much better than I am with grammar, but I'm fairly certain that in this sentance 'similarly' needs to be an adverb modifying 'features'. Can anyone help me? Thanks, Adam > I'm writing a paper and I can't seem to determine the correct form of > the word 'similar' to use in the following sentance: [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > I'm fairly certain that in this sentance 'similarly' needs to be an adverb > modifying 'features'. Can anyone help me? Yup. Unless she's a guy, your fiance is your fiancée! >> "Similarly to the stone cameo of his wife Livia (fig. 2), this glass cameo >> features an image of the head of Augustus in total profile." >> >> I think it is correct as-is. My fiance insists that I should be using the >> adjective 'similar'. Your fiancee is correct. Similar is qualifying "this glass cameo". If you rearrange the order of the phrases, you get: "This glass cameo, similar to the stone cameo of his wife Livia, features an image of the head of Augustus..." which should make the meaning and grammar clearer. >>> "Similarly to the stone cameo of his wife Livia (fig. 2), >>> this glass cameo features an image of the head of Augustus [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > >which should make the meaning and grammar clearer. That was my first thought, but on reflection I have doubts--not about the correct word or the recasting, both of which are right as given above--but about whether the sentence says what is intended. Both the original and recasting note that the glass cameo is like the stone cameo, but it looks to me as if what was wanted was a statement emphasizing that the point of similarity is their both featuring an image of Augustus's head. A better casting might be something like: This glass cameo, like the stone cameo of his wife Livia (fig. 2), features an image of the head of Augustus in total profile. Or perhaps better yet: This glass cameo features an image of the head of Augustus in total profile, [just] as does the stone cameo of his wife Livia (fig. 2).  SignatureCordially, Eric Walker My opinions on English are available at http://owlcroft.com/english/ >>>"Similarly to the stone cameo of his wife Livia (fig. 2), this glass cameo >>>features an image of the head of Augustus in total profile." [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > which should make the meaning and grammar clearer. If that's what it means. I took it mean it feature the head of Augustus in a similar way, which is why I would have chosen 'similarly'. However, I don't like the sentence as it stands. SignatureRob Bannister > "Similarly to the stone cameo of his wife Livia (fig. 2), this glass > cameo features an image of the head of Augustus in total profile." Are you trying to say that one cameo is similar to the other or that the two cameos portray the image similarly? The order of your words leads us to believe that you are comparing the cameos themselves, and so "similar" would be right -- but you seem to be in some confusion. If you are really talking about the way way the image is depicted (in profile) you might consider rewording the whole as: The stone cameo of Augustus's wife Livia (fig. 2) features the image of her head in total profile. This glass cameo similarly features the head of the Emperor himself. I'm not sure that "total profile" is an improvement on "profile", or why you want to say "features" rather than, say, "depicts" ... but that's another matter entirely. Cheers, Daniel. > > "Similarly to the stone cameo of his wife Livia (fig. 2), this glass > > cameo features an image of the head of Augustus in total profile." [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > Cheers, > Daniel. What I am actually trying to say is that the cameos both depict a head in the same manner. In the case of the stone cameo, the head is that of Livia, and the glass cameo depicts Augustus' head. The point I am trying to make is that both heads are depicted, or featured, in the same manner, and I used the adverb to mean "featured similarly". However, it is obvious now that my structure does not convey my meaning clearly, so I will try to find a way to rephrase it. Thanks, Adam > I'm writing a paper and I can't seem to determine the correct form of > the word 'similar' to use in the following sentance: [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > I'm fairly certain that in this sentance 'similarly' needs to be an adverb > modifying 'features'. Can anyone help me? She already has. She's right. Restructure the sentence to get that correct form. This glass cameo is similar(ly) to the stone cameo ... Clearly there is no "ly" in this restructured sentence. And, you need a comma between wife and Livia, unless he has several wives and "Livia" is necessary to identify which wife you are referring to. The problem of using the male form "fiance" has already been covered. Get used to it and follow her suggestions, as you will have to in the future. GFH > I'm writing a paper and I can't seem to determine the correct form of > the word 'similar' to use in the following sentance: [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > I'm fairly certain that in this sentance 'similarly' needs to be an adverb > modifying 'features'. Can anyone help me? I agree with everyone else that "similar" is better. You would want "similarly", modifying "features", if your point were that two cameos feature Augustus' head in the same way, for instance by using the same artistic techniques to give it prominence. But that doesn't seem to be what you're saying here. As you might have gathered from Eric Walker's response, you can just use "Like". "Like the stone cameo of his wife..." In my opinion, for what it's worth to you, "Like" is better. SignatureJerry Friedman > I'm writing a paper and I can't seem to determine the correct form of > the word 'similar' to use in the following sentance: [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > Thanks, > Adam Here is my second try, but to me this sounds less clear than the first version: "This glass cameo features an image of the head of Augustus in profile, in a similar manner as the stone cameo portrays his wife, Livia (fig. 2)." To clear up my meaning a bit more, there are two cameos, a glass one of Augustus, and a stone one of Livia. They each portray one person, Augustus on the one hand and Livia on the other. What the cameos have in common is the manner in which they portray their subject; as a head in profile. -Adam >"This glass cameo features an image of the head of Augustus in profile, in a >similar manner as the stone cameo portrays his wife, Livia (fig. 2)." Keep it simple, and forget about "similar/similarly". Perhaps: "Both cameos feature a head in profile. The stone cameo (fig. 2) shows Augustus' wife, Livia, whilst this glass cameo shows Augustus himself." [attribution missing -- "Adam Schwartz" <swordams@NOSPAMmchsi.com> wrote:] > >"This glass cameo features an image of the head of Augustus in profile, in a > >similar manner as the stone cameo portrays his wife, Livia (fig. 2)." [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > shows Augustus' wife, Livia, whilst this glass cameo shows Augustus > himself." Oh, I see now that a level of attribution was missing when I responded elsewhere. I thought Mike987 was the name of the original poster, but that was Adam Schwartz. Mike, that "himself" up above makes it sounds like we should only are about Augustus, and Livia is a nobody. I do not see that Adam was trying to convey any comparative worth. SignatureBest -- Donna Richoux [ . . . ] > Mike, that "himself" up above makes it sounds like we > should only are about Augustus, and Livia is a nobody. The student is asked to think carefully about that sentence and see if they can suggest any ways to improve it. To me, it makes it sounds like we should only are look for ways to rephrase it. Let me hasten to add that I greatly admire Donna's postings, both for their style and for their content. I suspect she was in a hurry to get on to something else when she edited the quoted sentence. > [ . . . ] > [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > Let me hasten to add that I greatly admire Donna's postings, > both for their style and for their content. Well, I will happily put the "c" back on "care" that got dropped somehow, and I guess I'd better take the "s" off of "sounds." But anything else would just be fiddling. > I suspect she > was in a hurry to get on to something else when she edited > the quoted sentence. Let's see, was that the time the kitchen timer rang or the time my daughter needed me for something? -- est ishes -- Donna Richoux >> "Both cameos feature a head in profile. The stone cameo (fig. 2) >> shows Augustus' wife, Livia, whilst this glass cameo shows Augustus >> himself." >Mike, that "himself" up above makes it sounds like we should only are >about Augustus, and Livia is a nobody. I do not see that Adam was trying >to convey any comparative worth. The "himself" emphasises the contrast between "Augustus' wife" and "Augustus". It's interesting that you see this as implying some difference in comparative worth. Perhaps you could explain? (I'm genuinely curious.) Mike, this is the third time a post of yours has shown up without an attribution line saying who wrote the quoted material. Would you please make the effort to include such lines? It saves confusion. Thanks. > >> "Both cameos feature a head in profile. The stone cameo (fig. 2) > >> shows Augustus' wife, Livia, whilst this glass cameo shows Augustus > >> himself." [I had said] > >Mike, that "himself" up above makes it sounds like we should only are > >about Augustus, and Livia is a nobody. I do not see that Adam was trying [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > difference in comparative worth. Perhaps you could explain? (I'm > genuinely curious.) Except for the typos I made, I don't know what I can say differently. 'Himself" puts an unwarranted emphasis on Augustus. That's what "himself" does in a construction like that. They took it to the king himself. (Wow! All the way to the king!) I'll believe you didn't mean the sentence to have that emphasis, but I see it, and it was not present in the original we were trying to improve, which was (at one point): "This glass cameo features an image of the head of Augustus in profile, in a similar manner as the stone cameo portrays his wife, Livia (fig. 2)." SignatureBest -- Donna Richoux > The stone cameo (fig. 2) > > The stone cameo (fig. 2) shows Augustus' wife, Livia, whilst this > > glass cameo shows Augustus himself." [snip] > Mike, that "himself" up above makes it sounds like we should only are > about Augustus, and Livia is a nobody. I don't read it that way at all. "Himself" just emphasises that the Augustus we're talking about is the same Augustus referred to earlier as being married to Livia. It also makes the sentence better balanced, after Livia's name we are given the fact that she was Augustus's wife, if after Augustus's name we were given nothing the sentence would seem truncated: The stone cameo (fig. 2) shows Augustus' wife, Livia, whilst this glass cameo shows Augustus. We could say: The stone cameo (fig. 2) shows Augustus' wife, Livia, whilst this glass cameo shows Augustus, the emperor. but that looks just as bad, and almost leaves me wondering whether this second Augustus is the same one (husband of Livia) that was mentioned earlier in the sentence -- and if so why we weren't told he was the emperor then. If we try to fix that by moving the "emperor" bit we might get The stone cameo (fig. 2) shows the Roman emperor Augustus' wife, Livia, whilst this glass cameo shows the emperor. which again has the problems of ending over-abruptly and of leaving us wondering whether the second emperor is the same as the first. We can fix it, of course, by adding "himself"; which balances the end of the sentence and provided the reference needed to show that the two mentions of "emperor" do, indeed, refer to the same guy. Of course, in this case, Augustus is the head of a patriarchal empire that rules all the known civilized world, and Livia -- while far from being a nobody -- is 'only' his wife ... the language we use doesn't reflect this, though. It says nothing about worth. Cheers, Daniel. [...] >Here is my second try, but to me this sounds less clear than >the first version: [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] >other. What the cameos have in common is the manner in which >they portray their subject; as a head in profile. Try: This glass cameo of the head of Augustus, like the stone cameo of the head of his wife Livia (fig. 2), portrays its subject in profile. That establishes the similarity of views as crucial while keeping the focus on the glass cameo. Some notes: . As has been pointed out, if Livia was the only wife he ever had, her name should be made appositive to "wife" with a comma pair ("his wife, Livia, &c."), one member of which is necessarily present anyway in the casting above. . "Full profile" is redundant, unlike "full face"; a three- quarter face view is logically possible, but not a partial profile view. . "Similar" the adjective can rightly make the adverb "similarly", but I at least reckon it a brutish, ungainly thing, best avoided. . Likewise (not similarly!), "feature" as a verb[1] is poor company for formal prose, and dubious company anywhere, still bearing a faint but, I think, detectible aroma of slang. [1] "Feature" as a verb is usually transitive and active, less commonly intransitive. But what is the sense of the house on a usage like this: "The meal was featured by one of the cook's most famous dishes." That gravels me, but what do others think? SignatureCordially, Eric Walker My opinions on English are available at http://owlcroft.com/english/ > [1] "Feature" as a verb is usually transitive and active, less > commonly intransitive. But what is the sense of the house on a usage > like this: "The meal was featured by one of the cook's most famous > dishes." That gravels me, but what do others think? I have to agree with you. It would put me off eating. (BTW, I've never seen 'gravel' used that way before.) SignatureRob Bannister > I'm writing a paper and I can't seem to determine the correct form of >the word 'similar' to use in the following sentance: > >"Similarly to the stone cameo of his wife Livia (fig. 2), this glass cameo >features an image of the head of Augustus in total profile." Like, why not just say "like"? SignatureSteve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/stevesig.htm E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk >> I'm writing a paper and I can't seem to determine the correct form of >>the word 'similar' to use in the following sentance: [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > >Like, why not just say "like"? That is the obvious answer, but "like" is out of favor because people are too afraid of using it where "as" would be correct. Few people even notice the opposite mistake, which is at least as common. SignatureDon Aitken Mail to the addresses given in the headers is no longer being read. To mail me, substitute "clara.co.uk" for "freeuk.com". >>>"Similarly to the stone cameo of his wife Livia (fig. 2), this glass cameo >>>features an image of the head of Augustus in total profile." [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >are too afraid of using it where "as" would be correct. Few people >even notice the opposite mistake, which is at least as common. Nevertheless, it is right in this instance, and far better than trying to do verbal contortions with "similarly". SignatureSteve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/stevesig.htm E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk >>>>"Similarly to the stone cameo of his wife Livia (fig. 2), this glass cameo >>>>features an image of the head of Augustus in total profile." [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >Nevertheless, it is right in this instance, and far better than trying to do >verbal contortions with "similarly". I wasn't disagreeing, just pointing out a possible reason why people don't follow your good advice. SignatureDon Aitken Mail to the addresses given in the headers is no longer being read. To mail me, substitute "clara.co.uk" for "freeuk.com". |
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