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Below is a sentence I found in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Could you please explain why the adjective "incredulous" is used as if it's an adverb?

'You sold the car?' she asked, incredulous.

Should it be amended to include "incredulously" and exclude the comma:

'You sold the car?' she asked incredulously.

P.S. I appreciate the possibility that this is a common structure, as opposed to being unique to "incredulous", yet I'm just not familiar with such a structure.

Nate
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    This question appears to be off-topic because it looks like a peeve. There's nothing wrong with constructions like "He looked around the room, dazed". – FumbleFingers Jul 27 '14 at 15:12
  • Shouldn't off-topic questions even get deleted?! – Nate Jul 29 '14 at 06:30
  • Not necessarily, no. I'm guessing you can't delete your own question, because it's now got answers. Note that the answer you recently posted is simply wrong. Your first example features *incredulous* as an adjective (modifying the noun *she), as explained by Mitch's earlier answer. Which suggest that even you might have something to gain by considering this page more carefully, and perhaps asking for clarification. Anyway, so far only one other user has closevoted alongside me, so presumably others don't* think it's Off Topic, and it may never get closed. – FumbleFingers Jul 29 '14 at 12:28
  • @FumbleFingers Thank you for your elucidation. I don't get why the majority of moderators do not agree with you, because your objection sounds perfectly legitimate to me. :) I edited my answer. – Nate Jul 29 '14 at 14:46
  • @ Nate: I'm not a mod, and I doubt any of those closevoters are either. I think anyone with at least 3K rep can closevote, and ordinarily unless they explicitly explain their votes with comments, no-one (including mods) knows who they are. You only get to see the names of the closevoters if and when the question actually gets closed (which requires five votes unless a mod steps in). Btw - I really think you should reconsider the "answer" you've posted - it's still wrong, and you don't seem to have grasped the crucial adjective/adverb difference in these two sentences. – FumbleFingers Jul 29 '14 at 21:14
  • @FumbleFingers Thank you. It's really worrying that not just a few mods but all those people with >3K reputation failed to get our point. I guess that's what happens in a system that is based on favoritism. You just have to gain "rep" instead of "knowledge" or "competence". I wouldn't wonder if one winds up with zillions reps and yet a negative IQ and «wonderful» attitude! Anyways, I fixed the ambiguous piece of the answer that was bothering you. :) Just a quick side note: technically anyone who has access to the database of this website can see who has closevoted (if that's even a word!) ;) – Nate Jul 30 '14 at 05:45
  • @ Nate: Hmm. Initially, your final "side note" bothered me a bit (issues of privacy). But on reflection I suppose I must accept that once you closevote, the fact of your having done so will become public anyway if the question does in fact get closed (which you've no further control over), so it was never really "private" to start with. Nevertheless, making that info prematurely available to people with more technical skills does seem a bit "dubious", so I think I'll raise it on meta (if only in hopes that someone will post a sample script enabling all of us to have this "sneak peek"! :) – FumbleFingers Jul 30 '14 at 15:42
  • @FumbleFingers Good luck with Meta! :) But for the sake of clarification I should add I didn't mean to imply that anyone with "more technical skills" would be able to extend the reach of their access to prohibited areas of the website. But rather, I meant the dignitary ("super admins", "godfathers", or whatever they call themselves) can legitimately review all the contents of the website. Incidentally, apropos of nothing, is there any way for me to contact you privately? – Nate Jul 30 '14 at 19:43
  • @ Nate: I did ask, and I'm quite happy with the answer I got – FumbleFingers Jul 30 '14 at 19:53
  • @FumbleFingers I'm happy for you. Take care buddy. – Nate Jul 30 '14 at 20:12

3 Answers3

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Both instances are OK grammatically.

In

'You sold the car?' she asked incredulously.

'incredulously' is an adverb, the asking is modified in being unbelievable.

In

'You sold the car?' she asked, incredulous.

'incredulous' is an adjective, modifying the person. She is what is incredulous.

Mitch
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  • My feeling is that your first version might be slightly "ambiguous", or prone to different interpretation. In the sense that, in the first case (or in similar cases) "incredulously", might also be referred to the fact that she asked. Correct me if wrong. – Pam Jul 27 '14 at 16:00
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    @Pam: I think you are wrong, possibly as a result of conflating *incredulously* with *incredibly. A fact or statement (such as "she asked") could be incredible, but only sentient beings can be incredulous*. – FumbleFingers Jul 27 '14 at 17:29
  • @Pam I don'r understand your alternate interpretation. Are you thinking that the sentence could mean that it is incredulous that she asked at all? – Mitch Jul 27 '14 at 17:33
  • @ Mitch That's right. In that particular sentence this interpretation may be remote. But I can imagine cases where the ambiguity can be more marked. – Pam Jul 27 '14 at 19:47
  • @FumbleFingers Yes probably you are right. With "incredibly" it definitely works like you say. Yeah, probably with incredulously there can be no such ambiguity (as non native, at this point I am a bit confused :-). Good catch! – Pam Jul 27 '14 at 19:50
  • btw, I appreciated your use of "conflating" instead of "confusing" ;-) and thank you for teaching me a new word! – Pam Jul 27 '14 at 20:04
  • @Pam: A word a day keeps the dictionary at bay! :) – FumbleFingers Jul 27 '14 at 20:56
  • Pam - If that is truly your interpretation, I find it very difficult to make sense of. So yes, I think it is wrong. – Mitch Jul 28 '14 at 00:36
  • As FumbleFingers mentioned this was just a misunderstanding! :) I stand corrected! Such a usage is not aberrant. – Nate Jul 27 '14 at 15:20
  • Thank you Mitch. I had already answered my question but someone decided to delete it. I apologize for the inconvenience! :) – Nate Jul 29 '14 at 06:42
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There are in general four positions where an adjective appears in a sentence:

(1) the attributive position: The old car wouldn't start.

(2) the postpositive position (rare): He was driving on the hard shoulder, not the motorway proper.

(3) the predicative position: He was getting old.

(4) in an absolute construction (as here):

'You sold the car?' she asked, incredulous.

Half asleep, he was in danger of falling over the edge.

Cold and wet, we trudged back to the hut.

[note that a single short adjective here wouldn't sound right:

??'You sold the car?' she asked, sad.]

More general absolute clauses are used similarly to add information about the nearest noun phrase:

Her hair flying in the wind, she raced back to the hut.

Edwin Ashworth
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I found my answer. This sentence is grammatically correct:

'You sold the car?' she asked, incredulous.

So, too is the other sentence:

'You sold the car?' she asked incredulously.

Thus the first usage is not "aberrant" despite what the title suggests. In fact, this question is based on a false premise.

Nate
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