AEE 2382: Drive Safe or Drive Safely? When to Use Flat Adverbs in English

Summary

All Ears English Podcast - Episode 2382: Drive Safe or Drive Safely? When to Use Flat Adverbs in English

Released on March 31, 2025

Hosts: Lindsey McMahon and Aubrey Carter

In Episode 2382 of the All Ears English Podcast, hosts Lindsey McMahon and Aubrey Carter explore the intriguing topic of flat adverbs in American English, focusing specifically on the commonly debated phrases "drive safe" versus "drive safely." This episode offers a comprehensive examination of grammatical nuances, regional dialects, and their implications for English learners aiming to achieve fluency and native-like proficiency.

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Introduction to Flat Adverbs

The episode begins with a straightforward yet insightful question posed by Aubrey:

"When you say goodbye to someone who's driving, do you say drive safe or drive safely?"
[01:46] Aubrey Carter

Both hosts confess to frequently using "drive safe" in everyday conversations. Lindsey shares her honest perspective:

"Honestly, I usually say drive safe."
[01:54] Lindsey McMahon

Aubrey concurs, highlighting the idiomatic nature of the phrase:

"It's almost more idiomatic. It's a chunk very accepted."
[02:11] Aubrey Carter

Despite "drive safely" being grammatically correct, the hosts emphasize that "drive safe" is widely accepted in informal speech, illustrating how colloquial usage often trumps strict grammatical rules.

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Understanding Flat Adverbs

Aubrey introduces the concept of flat adverbs, defining them as adverbs that share the same form as their corresponding adjectives, thereby eliminating the need for the typical "-ly" ending:

"Flat adverbs are any adverbs that have the same form as their corresponding adjective."
[04:41] Aubrey Carter

He provides the example of the word "fast," which remains unchanged whether used as an adjective or an adverb:

• Adjective: "This car is fast."
• Adverb: "The car is going fast."

Lindsey adds clarity by pointing out the potential confusion for English learners:

"Same. Yeah, that's confusing because some of these flat adverbs, you would have kind of a choice like what we said at the top of the show."
[05:28] Lindsey McMahon

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Common Flat Adverbs and Regional Variations

The hosts delve deeper into common flat adverbs, listing examples such as "late," "hard," "fast," "long," "high," "low," "deep," "near," and "safe." Aubrey explains the importance of understanding these forms to avoid unintentional changes in meaning:

"Sometimes, you add an ly for many of them, it actually changes the meaning."
[06:44] Aubrey Carter

They discuss how regional dialects significantly influence the usage of flat adverbs. For instance, "drive safely" might be more prevalent in certain regions, while "drive safe" remains dominant in others. Lindsey highlights the personal and regional choices involved:

"So both are okay, but regional per it's a personal choice."
[02:31] Lindsey McMahon

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Practical Implications for ESL Learners

Aubrey emphasizes that while flat adverbs are grammatically correct in their flat form, ESL learners should be mindful of regional preferences and the context in which they're communicating:

"If you do want to be grammatical, you want to make sure you're speaking correctly, then you will use the correct version of these adverbs."
[23:03] Aubrey Carter

Lindsey adds that flexibility in language use can aid in better connections and adaptability across different social settings:

"We have a chance to kind of reinvent ourselves with the words we use, which is so cool."
[23:29] Lindsey McMahon

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Role Play: Illustrating Flat Adverbs in Conversation

To provide practical insight, Lindsey and Aubrey engage in a role-play scenario discussing their softball team's batting skills. This segment effectively demonstrates how flat adverbs naturally fit into everyday conversations without hesitation or awkwardness.

Example Exchange:

Aubrey Carter [16:22]: "I am running to the batting cages real quick."

Lindsey McMahon [16:28]: "Nah. I've given up on improving that. I hit awful, and I just have to accept it."

Aubrey Carter [16:33]: "That's me with both hitting and fielding. I play terrible. That's why I need practice."

This role-play underscores the hosts' points about the fluidity and acceptance of flat adverbs in informal dialogue.

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Key Takeaways and Conclusion

As the episode wraps up, the hosts summarize the critical points discussed:

• Acceptance of Flat Adverbs: Even native speakers frequently use flat adverbs like "drive safe," and such usage is widely accepted in casual conversations.

• Regional Influence: The prevalence of certain flat adverbs can vary significantly based on regional dialects, making it essential for learners to be aware of these variations.

• Context Matters: In formal writing or professional settings, adhering to standard grammatical rules by using the "-ly" form (e.g., "drive safely") is advisable to maintain clarity and professionalism.

Aubrey encourages listeners not to stress over these nuances, especially in conversational settings:

"Don't stress about these in conversations."
[23:03] Aubrey Carter

Lindsey echoes this sentiment, highlighting the balance between grammatical correctness and effective communication:

"We have a chance to kind of reinvent ourselves with the words we use, which is so cool."
[23:29] Lindsey McMahon

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• [02:11] Aubrey Carter: "It's almost more idiomatic. It's a chunk very accepted."

• [04:41] Aubrey Carter: "Flat adverbs are any adverbs that have the same form as their corresponding adjective."

• [05:28] Lindsey McMahon: "Same. Yeah, that's confusing because some of these flat adverbs, you would have kind of a choice like what we said at the top of the show."

• [06:44] Aubrey Carter: "Sometimes, you add an ly for many of them, it actually changes the meaning."

• [23:03] Aubrey Carter: "Don't stress about these in conversations."

• [23:29] Lindsey McMahon: "We have a chance to kind of reinvent ourselves with the words we use, which is so cool."

---

Final Thoughts

Episode 2382 serves as a valuable resource for intermediate to advanced English learners seeking to deepen their understanding of subtle grammatical structures and regional language variations. By dissecting the use of flat adverbs, Lindsey and Aubrey provide listeners with the tools to navigate everyday conversations confidently, balancing grammatical accuracy with the natural flow of language.

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Join the All Ears English community to continue enhancing your American English proficiency and embrace the connection over perfection philosophy.

Transcript

[Aubrey Carter]

This is an Allers English podcast. Episode 2382 Drive safe or Drive Safely. When to use Flat Adverbs in English.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Welcome to the All Ears English Podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English? We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection, with your American host, Aubrey Carter, the IELTS whiz, and Lindsey McMahon, the English adventurer, coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, usa. And to get your transcripts delivered by email every week, go to allearsenglish.com subscribe have you heard native English speakers say drive safe? Or write this down real quick. Find out today why these grammar errors are so common and why it's okay for you to make them too.

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[Lindsey McMahon]

What's shaking?

[Aubrey Carter]

I'm great. How are you? Lindsay?

[Lindsey McMahon]

I'm feeling really good today. Lots of energy. What are we getting into today?

[Aubrey Carter]

Well, I have a question to start us out. When you say goodbye to someone who's driving, do you say drive safe or drive safely?

[Lindsey McMahon]

Honestly, I usually say drive safe.

[Aubrey Carter]

Me too.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yeah. Yeah. But is that a problem grammatical sometimes when I say it? Actually, no. To be honest, I don't even think about the fact that it's not technically grammatically correct. I just say it because it's what native speakers say.

[Aubrey Carter]

Yeah. It's almost more idiomatic. It's a chunk very accepted. But grammatically it should be drive safely. But I actually would feel strange saying drive safely. And the person might be. They might think it's a grammar mistake because all they've ever heard is drive safe.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yeah, I mean, I would say I do hear native speakers also saying drive safely. I think this is one of. In my opinion, we could.

[Aubrey Carter]

It depends on the region here. It would be weird. And where I grew up, I think people would be like, what? But in a lot of places in the United States, they probably do say drive safely. Or depending on a person's love of grammar or just what their parents said growing up. Like, there are all kinds of factors that might affect this.

[Lindsey McMahon]

I love that. Yeah. So both are okay, but regional per it's a personal choice. So this is what we're going to get into today. Aubry, what exactly are we talking. Talking about today?

[Aubrey Carter]

Right. Flat adverbs. So this came up recently where I said real quick instead of really quickly. This is very common in my regional dialect. Yes, accepted. No one sees it as a mistake. But it is a mistake, right? Grammatically, the correct way to say this would be really quickly. I need to do this really quickly and add those lys for the adverbs.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yeah. That is so interesting. Right. I. This is the most real English episode that we've had in a while. Although they're all real English episodes, but this one especially. Guys, we want to remind you to subscribe to our app. But above all, if you're listening to the podcast anywhere, whether it's in the app or whether it's in Spotify or Apple podcasts, we read all of your reviews. So what I want to do is call out a couple of people that reviewed us this week in the Google Play Store. So for our our Android app. So special thank you to Kajra who left us a 5 star review. Amazing. Beal Estevom, another 5 star review int Intisar Kasar and Muhammad Infi. These are all incredible five star reviews. Guys, we want to know what you think about the show. So go over, tell us what you love about the show, tell us how we can even improve the show or ask your episode question in your review. Right, Aubrey?

[Aubrey Carter]

Yes. We love these reviews. We read them. It is meaningful, us meaningful to us to see those five stars, to hear your kind words. It is validating and it helps give us that motivation to keep going, to keep making these amazing episodes for you. So definite. Leave us a review wherever you listen.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yes, 100%. Leave us that review. We'll try our best to call your name out loud on the show. So Aubrey, let's get deeper into it. What exactly is a flat adverb?

[Aubrey Carter]

Okay, so this is any adverb that has the same form as its corresponding adjective. It does not require adding that ly to function as an adverb that we see at the end of a lot of adverbs. So they are also known as simple adverbs or bare adverbs. A really good example is fast. Right. How would we use fast fast as an adjective in a sentence, Lindsay?

[Lindsey McMahon]

We would just say this car is fast. Right?

[Aubrey Carter]

Right. We're describing the car. It's an adjective there. But it doesn't change at all when we use it as an adverb. That car is going really fast. And in this Case we don't add an ly. Fastly is not a word.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Right.

[Aubrey Carter]

This is, you know, it's a flat adverb. Ly is not added. And so this can be a little confusing because the adjective and the adverb look exactly the same.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Same. Yeah, that's confusing because some of these flat adverbs, you would have kind of a choice like what we said at the top of the show. Right. Drive safe, drive safely. Depends on where you come from in the U.S. but with fast, you can't say fastly. It doesn't exist at all.

[Aubrey Carter]

Doesn't exist. Right. This is not ungrammatical. This is correct grammar to say the car is going fast, the car is fast. Adjective, adverb, same form. Because of that, there is a native English speaker grammar mistake that is very accepted in many regional dialects. Where some adverbs that do need that ly, we leave it off, we turn it into a flat adverb, and this is just accepted speech.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Okay, I'm excited to learn more. So where do we go from here?

[Aubrey Carter]

Yeah, well, let's share some common flat adverbs where we don't add an ly, like late, hard, fast, long, high, low, deep, near, and safe. And what's really tricky with a lot of these is if you add an ly for many of them, it actually changes the meaning. And that word does exist in English, like lately. Hardly. Right. Lowly. These have a totally different meaning. So if you make that mistake of adding the ly when using it as an adverb, then we're actually going to create communication problems because it has a different meaning.

[Lindsey McMahon]

That's kind of a pro tip today for all listeners. Right. And that's fascinating that if we do accidentally try to try to be grammatically correct.

[Aubrey Carter]

Right.

[Lindsey McMahon]

We think we're being grammatically correct. It could be a totally different word.

[Aubrey Carter]

Oh, my gosh, this is so tricky. I'm really glad you guys are getting details about this. And as an FYI, if you ask the average native English speaker about flat adverbs, they will have no idea what you're talking about. This is more like deep grammar. Often they don't know the names of things, but they would be able to tell you which one sounds right to them. Right?

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yeah. Unless you go to like a grammar conference or something. Right?

[Aubrey Carter]

Yep. And then you're getting grammarians who know what flat adverbs are and they have.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Opinions you all day in the bar about word nerds. Right. Love it. What are some characteristics then of flat adverbs?

[Aubrey Carter]

Yeah, so they don't usually end in ly. They're often used in colloquial expressions, either grammatically or ungrammatically. They're. They're used to describe when and where something happened, just like any adverb. But they are also adjectives, so that can be tricky the most. Let's share a couple of them that are correct grammar. Right. We said fast. She walks really fast, used as an adverb here. What's another one?

[Lindsey McMahon]

Or he got home late. Or he got home really late.

[Aubrey Carter]

Right.

[Lindsey McMahon]

We can add intensifier there. Yes.

[Aubrey Carter]

And you would not say lately. He got home lately. No, that is very confusing because lately is a word that means recently.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yeah. We'd have to change the sentence. We. We're saying something completely different if we say lately.

[Aubrey Carter]

Yeah. So sometimes native English speakers use flat adverbs ungrammatically in colloquial speech and informal speech and writing. This is fine. This is very much accepted to use it without the ly. So some examples are drive safe, very common. You're going to hear it on TV shows, podcasts, and no one's batting an eye.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Absolutely not. Or write this down real quick. Or, you know, you can add a please there, too. Please write this down real quick. Supernatural and native chunk. We say this always drives slow.

[Aubrey Carter]

Oh, he always drives slow. It should be slowly. Right. Grammatically. But this. Because there are flat adverbs. We'll just drop the ly sometimes. Very colloquial speech. Or how about, be careful, those books will fall easy. And when I just heard yesterday was terrible, someone said like, oh, I play terrible. I play tennis terrible. You know, there's. There. That one makes me cringe a little bit more.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Pencil.

[Aubrey Carter]

Strange to you? Like, very accepted in many regional dialects. I hear these often. Horrible, terrible. They'll just drop the ly.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yeah, the terrible makes me cringe a little bit. For in. In my mind, I have a line with the even. Easy is a little. It makes me feel a little uneasy when I hear that one.

[Aubrey Carter]

It's so interesting how it depends on where you grew up, how your parents speak, what has been pointed out to you. Because even native English speakers like myself who grew up somewhere where that's very common, maybe someone points it out to me, or I start hearing it used correctly, and then we start feeling like, oh, that sounds wrong to me. So this very much depends on the region someone is in and how much they pay attention to language.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yeah. I mean, zooming in on this one, you know, be careful. Those books will fall easy. I I would. I would usually say, be careful, those books will fall easily. I do think it is. It's a regional thing. It's what you're. You were used to hearing as a child growing up. But the expression, you know, nice and easy. Right. Yo, just take it nice and easy there.

[Aubrey Carter]

Right. There are chunks where this will be an exception for everyone. Also. Just take it easy. Take it easy. Really? It should be take it easily. We would never say that because it's an idiomatic chunk. Nice and easy. Take it easy. Even though it's incorrect grammar, it's an idiom. So it works.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yeah, so. So it's kind of a personal choice. We have our lines. Like for me, I wouldn't say I. What the terrible one. What was the example? That one.

[Aubrey Carter]

Oh, I play tennis. Terrible.

[Lindsey McMahon]

No, no, no. That's a line for me.

[Aubrey Carter]

Terribly.

[Lindsey McMahon]

I have to say. Terribly.

[Aubrey Carter]

Yes. And for some, terribly would sound like you're putting on airs, like you're trying to sound so.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Okay.

[Aubrey Carter]

Polished and educated.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Right.

[Aubrey Carter]

So it's very interesting. There's a lot that goes into this when regional dialects are so different. But there are times when we should add this Ly. Right. Well, that's exactly normal or academic writing. Native English speakers would not write easy. Those books fall easy. It would be easily because you are up leveling your grammar when you're writing, you're sending it to a proofreader, and if you have those mistakes, the proofreader would change it.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yeah. And I would even say this can be really strategic for our listeners. It depends on not just if you're writing formal, academic. Let's take the easy example. Be careful. Those books will fall easy. You could even say if you're on the East Coast. I would. If you're in the Northeast, if you're in New York city, Boston, Washington, D.C. on the eastern seaboard most of the time, there are certain regions.

[Aubrey Carter]

Right.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Aubry. Like there.

[Aubrey Carter]

Absolutely. Where you're going to sing around you and use easily. Terribly. Horribly. You won't hear this. It's not part of the colloquial language there.

[Lindsey McMahon]

No, no. It's just maybe a little bit more formal or a little more by the book. But again, I. I just want to make sure to our listeners, like, I would never say be careful. Those books will fall easy. So you guys can decide what you want to say, depending on who you're hearing.

[Aubrey Carter]

Right. Listen to what you're hearing. People say to get an idea for what is part of their regional dialect. Easy is. We want to point out the Spelling here. When a word ends in Y, it is often dropped and it becomes ily, which is even trickier. You can't just add.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yeah.

[Aubrey Carter]

So be. You know, pay attention to the spelling there. And there are some that when in doubt with easy, horrible, terrible. When in doubt, you could go with the correct grammar version because you may be around someone with like Lindsay who's isn't as familiar with that mistake, especially if you're in the northeast. I think that's a good gauge of like, which regions do this more often.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yeah, for sure. For sure. That's so interesting. You could also, let's say that you don't want to take something easily and turn it into easy. It just doesn't feel right for you. You could just reword the sentence entirely. Right. Be careful, those books will fall easily. Maybe for some reason you feel self conscious saying that because it is grammatically correct and it's. Maybe no one else is saying it grammatically correctly. You might say something else. Aubry. How would you reword that?

[Aubrey Carter]

Yeah, usually like, oh, careful, those books might fall. Yeah. You could even use a really impressive word. I like to use the word precarious. Be careful. That's precarious. Those books are precarious. That means might fall easily but is an impressive word. Use this if you're studying for ielts. Band nine word.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Definitely band nine. But that brings a question to my mind. Right. So if we're in that scenario where we're hanging out with people who do make these mistakes and it's part of the culture, it's a more easygoing, laid back, backyard barbecue type of culture, would you be okay instead of say, like you're avoiding saying it correctly, but you're throwing in a really high level vocabulary word.

[Aubrey Carter]

It does very much depends on who I'm around. Right. I have a group of friends that are wordsmiths. They love fun, vocabular. And I absolutely would throw it in with a lot of other friends who would think, maybe think I sound condescending or pretentious. Then I would just say, oh, those books might fall. Careful, those books might fall. And I would not use that more impressive vocabulary because I don't hear them using it. I know they don't appreciate it as much.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Interesting. And then there's always the thinking for our listeners if this grabs on of be yourself, you know what I mean? And maybe you're destined to live somewhere else. Like, it makes me think of sweet home Alabama, you know, in the end, she ended up coming back to Alabama, but she felt she Had a place in New York with a different crowd, you know, and maybe that's a journey that you'll go on at some point. So there's a lot there, Aubrey, to unpack.

[Aubrey Carter]

Absolutely. A lot of culture in. In this grammar.

[Lindsey McMahon]

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[Aubrey Carter]

Yes, let's do it. So you and I are on a softball team together, and we are discussing our batting skills, our batting averages.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Interesting. All right. Okay.

[Aubrey Carter]

I am running to the batting cages real quick. Want to come?

[Lindsey McMahon]

Nah. I've given up on improving that. I hit awful, and I just have to accept it.

[Aubrey Carter]

That's me with both hitting and fielding. I play terrible. That's why I need practice.

[Lindsey McMahon]

I've tried the batting cages, and I'll hit pitches. They're easy, but then can't hit it in a game.

[Aubrey Carter]

Well, I should go. I got there late last time and they were closed.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yeah, I hope you guys are watching on YouTube.

[Aubrey Carter]

When I said I play terrible, Lindsay made a face like it was cringed on a chalkboard. Oh, gosh.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Cringing. I almost feel like we have to use a different accent and slow down if we're gonna change these words a little bit in a sen.

[Aubrey Carter]

I need. You need to come visit my hometown in Idaho, Lindsay, because it's I. I have the same accent as where I Grew up. But all of words absolutely would hear in this conversation just like this. Oh, wow.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Okay. Interesting. So natural to me, the US Is so huge, right? It's so huge.

[Aubrey Carter]

Giant regions. Yeah.

[Lindsey McMahon]

That's why we built our course, the Connected Communicator, and we interviewed people in all different regions of the U.S. you can hear those accent differences, vocabulary differences, grammar differences. Let's go through it real quick, Aubrey.

[Aubrey Carter]

There we go. So the first one I said was, I'm running to the B batting cages real quick. And grammatically, this should be really quickly. Part of the reason we're dropping those lys is we're speaking quickly. We're saving time. We do this a lot. We drop words, we drop syllables. And this, you know, would be very accepted in many regions.

[Lindsey McMahon]

If you're going to ask people to do something real quick, you can't be speaking slowly. Right?

[Aubrey Carter]

Exactly Right. But I would never write this if I were writing a book, if I were writing an essay, a how to write that really quickly or even extremely rapidly. Right. I would try to uplevel my.

[Lindsey McMahon]

My language or even, I would venture to guess, even in the same region. If you're in the capital city, if you're in a big city within that region, versus going out into the countryside for, like I said, a backyard barbecue on a Sunday. And people.

[Aubrey Carter]

Depends on who you're around, how informal you're being, everything about the situation.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Nice. Okay, I'm struggling with this, but I'll say it. I said, nah, I've given up on improving that I hit hit awful, and I just have to accept it. I would. I wouldn't be able to say it.

[Aubrey Carter]

You would not say I hit awful. I hear this all the time. And it's often used intentionally to really emphasize how bad you are at something. Like, it would sound sort of overly formal to say, I hit terribly. I'm terrible at hitting, or I'm. And instead they'll say the verb and then awful, right? Yeah, awful. I hit awful. And they're. Because it would feel strange to take that word and then add another syllable because it' almost easier to emphasize it when it's only two syllables off.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yeah, yeah. I do agree that awfully just sounds a little awkward to say. So I would probably entirely reword the sentence I'm terrible at. I. I am just awful. Well, let's see. I might say I'm just awful at hitting. I would use it in a different.

[Aubrey Carter]

Part of the sentence, and that is grammatical because there you're using it as an adjective. Right. I am Awful at hitting. I am awful at playing tennis. That is correct grammar, because that is the adjective. Adjective form, which is the same as a flat.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Wow. We're coming up with some good stuff today. Okay, Aubry. What else? Oh, gosh, this one's cringey for me.

[Aubrey Carter]

I play terrible. This is one I heard a friend just say yesterday. And she is well educated. She is. Right. But it was informal speech just to chat between friends. Very common, at least in the West. Wow.

[Lindsey McMahon]

In. In. I would say the countryside West. Right.

[Aubrey Carter]

So, I mean, we're in Phoenix. It's not countryside.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Okay.

[Aubrey Carter]

And she's from Phoenix. You know, she's. I'm not. I'm not positive. But it's interesting. It really. I know having grown up in the Northeast, you're sort of feeling like, oh, in cities you wouldn't speak like that. But that's not the case. If someone grew up where this was common in their regional dialect, in an informal conversation among friends, they would still.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Say this if the others were saying it.

[Aubrey Carter]

Right.

[Lindsey McMahon]

If the key is, where is everyone else around you from?

[Aubrey Carter]

It reminds me a lot of good versus well. We talk about this sometimes times. A lot of people are going to say I'm good, when really grammatically you should say I'm well. But you would feel comfortable with that because in your region, even though it's a, you know, grammar error, it's so common, it's so accepted. You. You would maybe say, I'm good and feel okay with it.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yeah.

[Aubrey Carter]

That is the same for people with terrible and awful. You know, it's very.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yeah.

[Aubrey Carter]

Equivalent.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Okay. Interesting.

[Aubrey Carter]

Yeah.

[Lindsey McMahon]

I think in places like New York or, let's say Los Angeles or San Francisco or D.C. i think regional dialects get watered down because you're not really going be around people from where you come from. Right. You're going to be around people from all over the world and the country.

[Aubrey Carter]

Yes. And I, having grown up where this was common, but now recognizing it as ungrammatical, I often won't do it, even if I'm around someone who might. Right. Because I am a little more like you. Where it. Like I hear, I'm like, oh, you know, I'm not as used to it. So it is interesting how that does evolve as you aren't hearing it as often.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Often. Interesting. Okay, so did we do the terrible one? Yes, we did the terrible.

[Aubrey Carter]

And then easy, Right. I'll hit pitches there. Easy. And this is similar to awful, where you're going to be hitting it. It would be strange to say I'll hit pitches. They're easy. If so, maybe you would say easily when you are emphasizing that I'll hit pitches there. Easy. That's when we would use that flat adverb.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Interesting. This one's a little more palatable. Still not perfect, like super palatable, but it's a little more palatable for me. Next one. Well, I should go. I got late last time, and they were closed. Now, obviously, this one is 100% palatable, right?

[Aubrey Carter]

Yeah. Because this is a flat adverb that is grammatical, the word late. We don't add an ly when we're using it as an adverb. When we mean that we got there, not early. The opposite of early. I got there late last time. Right. If you say lately, that has a totally different meaning. So in this case, correct grammar is a flat adverb. I got there late.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Love that. Now, I am actually really interested to see what we've got on the business English podcast for our part two of this episode.

[Aubrey Carter]

So what is going to be great? There are expressions that have flat adverbs, like, for example, take it easy. We talked about aim high, dress smart, that are used often at work and in daily conversations. So be sure you're following the business English podcast. We're going to do part two over there.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yep. Sometime in the next couple of weeks. All right, good. Okay, Aubry, what's the takeaway? We had a lot of thoughts today. A lot. A lot of thoughts.

[Aubrey Carter]

This is really interesting. Right. Even native speakers make mistakes with flat adverbs, either intentionally or unintentionally. So definitely generally don't stress about these in conversations. Right. If you do want to be grammatical, you want to make sure you're speaking correctly, then you will use the correct version of these adverbs. But definitely something to not stress about, because even native speakers do this.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yeah. And a chance for a reflection. I mean, how do you want to be. Do you want to be flexible with your language, depending on who you're around? Is that a key tool for connection? Sometimes it actually is, and that's what you're getting at, Aubrey. Or do you want to be adhering to a style of your own speaking that you've developed that's maybe a hybrid of all the places you've lived? We have a chance to kind of reinvent ourselves with the words we use, which is so cool.

[Aubrey Carter]

Absolutely. But of course, for formal writing in an interview, you would not make because that person giving that interview might care about grammar. They might be like Lindsay Cringing if they hear some of these. So you would definitely want to uplevel your grammar up, level your vocabulary in those situations. Patience.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yeah. Because I think when people hear grammar mistakes, they make assumptions about intelligence, about competence.

[Aubrey Carter]

Right. And you want to avoid that in those types of situations.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yes. So, guys, if you want to see me cringing, come on over to YouTube. All right, Aubrey, I'll see you back here very soon. Have a good one.

[Aubrey Carter]

See you next time.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Bye. Thanks for listening. To all ears. English. Would you like to know your your English level? Take our 2 minute quiz, go to allearsenglish.com fluencyscore and if you believe in connection, not perfection, then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything. See you next time.

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