1

Five sentences with slight adjustment in the position of the adverb:

  1. Gladly I would've come.
  2. I would have come gladly.
  3. I would gladly have come.
  4. I gladly would have come.
  5. I would have gladly come.

Do these sentences convey the exact same meaning or is there a subtle distinction?

Further Edit

Background: I read a claim in a Duolingo discussion forum that (2) is a response to a hypothetical question about a situation in the past with the current mindset of the speaker, while (4) is a response with the mindset the speaker actually had at that point in the past. But I am not completely convinced. So, I'd like to specifically ask if it is just a matter of emphasis, or there are indeed these subtle distinctions that can get overlooked in everyday speech.

p.s. I understand the question might be trivial from a native speaker's point of view. I am a bit confounded, though, and I do not think the other posts on the website address my doubt. Therefore, if you must downvote, kindly do so after reading the entire question. Thank you.

Vivek
  • 119

1 Answers1

0

For me the distinction is between

[I will come], gladly

and

I will [come gladly]

The former means I will be happy to come. The latter means I will come, singing and dancing as I go.

EDIT Please note the following comments:

“Gladly” does not mean singing and dancing. It means willingly and happily according to Cambridge Dictionary. Singing and dancing may be symptoms of gladness but do not define it, nor vice versa... – Anton

@Anton - My intention was humorous. I wanted to make the difference clear without simply repeating the word in question. You are of course correct that singing and dancing do not define gladness, nor the reverse...

Thus the placement of gladly does make a difference, but so does the punctuation.

In order to avoid complications of verb tense, I'll use present indicative.

Gladly, I will come. (thanks for inviting me)

I will come gladly. (dancing and singing)

I will come - gladly (it will be my pleasure to attend)

I gladly will come. (dancing and singing)

I will gladly come... ( but there is a catch. E.g. I will gladly come, provided Kevin isn't there)

chasly - supports Monica
  • 37,215
  • Thanks, that's helpful indeed. And if I may ask, what additional complexities will the past tense introduce? In particular, would all the sentences still be based on the current mindset of the speaker, or would some of them be indicative of the then mindset (possibly different) of the speaker? – Vivek Dec 14 '20 at 22:48
  • The thing that one has to bear in mind with English is that (a) it is very dependent on context and (b) the meaning can be drastically changed by tone of voice. This is one reason of course for emojis. Before smileys and other emojis were invented, people often got upset with each other because the reader imagined a different meaning/tone than was intended by the writer. So there are all sorts of complexities. This is why we insist on one question at a time. Can you formulate a new question that focuses on one specific sentence or one specific aspect? I know it is difficult. – chasly - supports Monica Dec 14 '20 at 23:07
  • I'm afraid that will, in all probability, invite the wrath of the moderators who already assume I'm spamming the website. :-p So, if you don't mind, I'd say I'd frame the question I intended to ask in exactly the same way, except that this time I'd retain only examples (2) and (4). Would that work? If not, I'll post a fresh one. – Vivek Dec 14 '20 at 23:18
  • Have you actually been approached by the moderators? If you submit a series of well-formed questions that show evidence that you have absorbed the guidelines, I see no reason why they should complain. Have a look at these pages. 1. https://english.stackexchange.com/tour 2. https://english.stackexchange.com/help - They will show what are good and bad questions. – chasly - supports Monica Dec 14 '20 at 23:22
  • Sorry, I should have not said 'moderators', but rather 'users'. I guess the downvotes had me worried. – Vivek Dec 14 '20 at 23:26
  • @Vivek - Try clicking on the close button on yours or someone else's question (you can cancel out of it without actually voting). You will see the reasons that people have voted to close and this may also be why they downvoted. I didn't down-vote, partly because you are new here. However I might have for a more experienced user. You could, if you like, look at lots of negatively voted questions and try to work out from the comments (and the VTCs), what the problems were. In my experience "good" questions are always welcomed. However the people here have their own views and these differ! – chasly - supports Monica Dec 14 '20 at 23:49
  • Umm, I actually thought I elaborated quite a bit in the further edit. While my main motivation was to understand the difference between (2) and (4), I included the other examples as well in order to be exhaustive (for my own education). p.s. I couldn't find the close button. Where is it? – Vivek Dec 15 '20 at 00:03
  • “Gladly” does not mean singing and dancing. It means willingly and happily according to Cambridge Dictionary. Singing and dancing may be symptoms of gladness but do not define it, nor vice versa. This is one of the rare occasions that I will be negative and down vote. – Anton Dec 15 '20 at 08:10
  • @Anton - My intention was humorous. I wanted to make the difference clear without simply repeating the word in question. You are of course correct that singing and dancing do not define gladness, nor the reverse. I have revised my answer. – chasly - supports Monica Dec 15 '20 at 10:57
  • 1
    @chasly-supportsMonica Sorry about that. I could not see the smile on your face as you wrote it. Happy Christmas to you anyway! – Anton Dec 15 '20 at 11:06
  • @Anton - And may our new year be better than the old one! We can hope. :-) – chasly - supports Monica Dec 15 '20 at 11:10