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My liberal friend wrote that he's gonna do some research soon.
I asked, "Into what?" "[Redacted.] Typically liberal bullshit," he replied self-depricatingly.
Then he corrects himself: "*typical"

But which is correct? "Typical liberal bullshit" or "typically liberal bullshit"?

Is typical an adjective or an adverb in that sentence?

the_scheining
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3 Answers3

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You can see what is going on by changing the sentence slightly, but using a more polite noun.

  1. That nonsense is typically liberal.

Here the adverb ‘typically’ modifies the adjective ‘liberal’.

  1. That liberal nonsense is typical.

Here the adjective ‘liberal’ qualifies the noun ‘nonsense’, while ‘typical’ plays the role performed by ‘liberal’ in 1.

Using a hyphen, the difference is between calling whatever had been said typically-liberal nonsense and calling it typical liberal-nonsense: not very much. Both are correct grammar.

But are you sure the one word “typical” was a correction? It could have been an exclamatory use of the adjective to apply to the whole thing, in effect repeating himself.

Typically liberal nonsense. Typical!!

Tuffy
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  • You've persuaded me that @carly is dead on. – the_scheining Oct 18 '18 at 20:50
  • I think that making "typical" a predicate like this changes the meaning. "Typical liberal nonsense" refers to something that is a typical example of liberal nonsense, not to liberal nonsense that "is typical" in general. – herisson Oct 19 '18 at 03:19
  • @sumelic Yes, exactly. I wish I had thought of that way of putting it. And I suppose you could say that, using The adverb, he is saying it is a ‘typically liberal piece of it. However, I am not sure that when we speak with this type of rage against all things liberal (or conservative) we are thing very hard about precise distinctions of meaning. – Tuffy Oct 19 '18 at 07:14
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Is the intent to say that bullshit in general is typically liberal or that this is the usual sort of liberal bullshit (but not of conservative bullshit)? I suspect your friend meant the latter as liberals certainly do not have a monopoly on bullshit.

Roger Sinasohn
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    The latter. Which is another way of proving @carly right, I think - typical is a liberally used adjective modifying a typical noun phrase. – the_scheining Oct 18 '18 at 20:52
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"Typical liberal bullshit." liberal bullshit is the noun phrase, modified by the adjective typical.

The other phrase, typically liberal bullshit, would not convey the sense you are describing.

Carly
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  • is "typically" not modifying the adjective "liberal"? – the_scheining Oct 18 '18 at 19:45
  • it would be an adverbial modifier but the noun changes from "liberal bullshit" to just "bullshit" – Carly Oct 18 '18 at 19:56
  • So both are grammatical? – the_scheining Oct 18 '18 at 20:03
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    both are grammatical, but grammaticality =/= correctness. the sentence "the commensurate dog ate the heavy sky" is grammatical, but nonsense. – Carly Oct 18 '18 at 20:24
  • I'm unclear what you mean. Is "typically liberal bullshit" nonsensical? – the_scheining Oct 18 '18 at 20:34
  • it's not nonsense, but it is not the correct written form of what you are trying to express. "liberal bullshit" is the noun phrase du jour, and the crux of the humor at which your friend was getting; as a noun, it should be modified by a sole adjective. the difference is subtle and lost on most, so don't worry about misunderstood. – Carly Oct 18 '18 at 20:41
  • If you're right, what's fantastic about this is that my intuition was to say "typical liberal bullshit" but then I doubted my correct intuition and overcorrected. – the_scheining Oct 18 '18 at 20:46
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    your intuition was correct. you win this round ;) – Carly Oct 18 '18 at 20:49