eslHQ

eslHQ (http://www.eslhq.com/forums/)
-   English Questions (http://www.eslhq.com/forums/esl-forums/english-questions/)
-   -   particularly vs. especially (http://www.eslhq.com/forums/esl-forums/english-questions/particularly-vs-especially-12931/)

majid72 Jun 19th, 2009 08:52 pm

particularly vs. especially
 
Hello

Could someone tell me the difference between particularly and especially ?I looked them up in some dictionaries and found no nuances while I think there are some slight differences between them.

Thanks in advance.

susan53 Jun 20th, 2009 01:20 am

Re: particularly vs. especially
 
My initial reaction was They're the same, but looking at 40 examples of each from the Cobuild corpus, there does seem to be a difference in frquency of occurrence.

Both of them are used to modify noun phrases and clauses - here, I can't see much difference :

... the number of women in technology especially Asian women ...
try using powder alone-especially as new powder formulations are light
... of the cloud to the large-scale variable, particularly temperature and motion ...
Particularly as you'd done your four years



It's with adjectives and adverbs that there seems to be a difference. Although both can be used, out of the 80 total examples there were 16/40 examples of particularly + adj/adverb and only 3/40 of especially used in this way:

A lot of fun to keep 8 to 12 year-olds especially happy this Christmas.
home improvements will go especially well.
radical ideas are particularly welcome.
He is likely to do particularly well ...


In particular, when a noun phrase was composed of adj+noun, it was noticeable that pre-modification with especially modified the whole noun phrase:
especially high-rise flats

susan53 Jun 20th, 2009 01:28 am

Re: particularly vs. especially
 
My initial reaction was they're the same, but looking at 40 examples of each from the Cobuild corpus, there does seem to be a difference in frquency of occurrence.

Both of them are used to modify noun phrases and clauses - here, I can't see much difference :

... the number of women in technology especially Asian women ...
try using powder alone-especially as new powder formulations are light
... of the cloud to the large-scale variable, particularly temperature and motion ...
Particularly as you'd done your four years



It's with adjectives and adverbs that there seems to be a difference. Although both can be used, out of the 80 total examples there were 16/40 examples of particularly + adj/adverb and only 3/40 of especially used in this way:

A lot of fun to keep 8 to 12 year-olds especially happy this Christmas.
home improvements will go especially well.
radical ideas are particularly welcome.
He is likely to do particularly well ...


In particular, when a noun phrase was composed of adj+noun, it was noticeable that pre-modification with especially modified the whole noun phrase:

But flats, especially high-rise flats
... the number of women in technology especially Asian women ...


whereas particularly often just intensified the adjective :

I thought he ran a particularly promising race
... his action constituted a particularly severe form of defeatism


I think in this use especially is probably less likely - though I wouldn't want to say that it can't be used. I suspect it's probably the most important difference though.

Hope that helps.

majid72 Jun 20th, 2009 08:50 pm

Re: particularly vs. especially
 
Hello Dear Susan

I would like to thank you so much for your great help.you have always replied the best and most enlightening and helpful answers and I really don't know how to thank you for your great helps.I wish the best for you.

Regards.

susan53 Jun 21st, 2009 01:48 am

Re: particularly vs. especially
 
Thank you Majid - always pleased to help. But I'd like to thank you and everyone else for your questions - especially (or particularly!) those about "little" areas which don't get covered in the grammar books, like this one. They make me think and research and I really enjoy it. I learn as much as everyone else.


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 10:23 am.

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.8
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Content Relevant URLs by vBSEO 3.6.0 PL2