[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Okay, I will accept that you are making a distinction of usage rather than
grammar, and I'll bow to that since context certainly does determine the
suitability of given words.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

"Tony Jollans" My forename at my surname dot com wrote in message
...
I never suggested it wasn't - or couldn't be - an adverb; I merely think
it's the wrong adverb in context.

I do not like, and would not normally use, "he ran fast", whatever the OED
says. I might use "... need to drive so fast". The difference is so subtle
that it seems only I can see it g.

I must, of course, bow to the OED, and accept it as being correct.

--
Enjoy,
Tony

www.WordArticles.com

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message
...
Will you accept the authority of the Oxford Dictionary?
http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexper...uster/a/adverb

Interestingly,
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&f...as+adverb&aqi=
turns up quite a few sites that use "fast" as an *example* of an adverb.
The fact that it doesn't end in -ly doesn't make it only an adjective any
more than ending in -ly makes "leisurely," "friendly," or "lonely" an
adverb. Many adverbs don't end in -ly, and some have the same form as an
adjective. See "Adjective and adverb with the same form" at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/le...rnitv217.shtml
(note: a BBC Web site, not U.S.). More at
http://www.fortunecity.com/bally/dur.../gramch25.html

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

"Tony Jollans" My forename at my surname dot com wrote in message
...
There's nothing wrong with "fast" as an adverb

That doesn't mean that it is correct here. Perhaps it's a difference
between English and American, and I will concede that such usage of
"fast" is not uncommon, but it jars horribly with me.

I suspect the issue is of not recognizing "download" as a possible noun
(only as a verb), which means it is making the verb agree with "movie"
or "file" (or "movie file").

I agree, and I was only guessing at how a machine might think; it's
probably given up the fight by the time it's got as far as "happens",
but if it is recognising (or treating) "downloads" as a verb, what can
it think "happens" might be, that wouldn't give rise to a grammar error
of some sort?

--
Enjoy,
Tony

www.WordArticles.com

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message
...
There's nothing wrong with "fast" as an adverb, but I don't see how any
grammar checker could parse "happens" as a noun since there is no way
it could be used as such. I suspect the issue is of not recognizing
"download" as a possible noun (only as a verb), which means it is
making the verb agree with "movie" or "file" (or "movie file").

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

"Tony Jollans" My forename at my surname dot com wrote in message
...
it should be "happen very fast"

Actually it should be "happen very quickly" ;-)

The grammar checker is far from perfect and, whilst it will probably
improve over time, is likely to remain so. In general, it struggles
with constructs of the sort you are using as examples, which can't
easily be parsed.

Not knowing quite how to interpret the sentence, Word has to make some
guesses. Given that the sentence has several possible nouns, several
possible verbs, no obvious adjectives, and appears somewhat odd on the
surface, my *guess* is that it assumes "movie" to be an adjective,
downloads" to be the verb, and "happens" to be a noun, which
assumptions allow it to consider the sentence to be valid.

Yes, it happens to be wrong, but we all make mistakes, one of which
would be relying on machine interpretations of language.

--
Enjoy,
Tony

www.WordArticles.com

"L. Mohan Arun" wrote in message
...
I am sick and tired of the irritable and provoking replies in this
thread so my grammar has slipped up. This thread is not about my
grammar, it is about Word 2003 grammar.

More issues with Word 2003 grammar
These downloads is super-fast and free.

- Grammar error not recognized even though "download" is not a mass
noun.

The movie file downloads happens very fast

- No grammar issue recognized but it should be "happen very fast"