to spell a word wrong / wrongly

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leechan

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Chinese
Topic: to spell a word wrong / wrongly
Copied from title. Cagey, moderator

Is it wrong or wrongly?

Thanks in advance.
 
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    • For me, "was spelled wrong" is the only correct possibility:

    ...was spelled wrong :tick:
    ...was spelled wrongly :cross:
    ...was wrong spelled :cross:
    ...was wrongly spelled :cross:

    "incorrectly" can go in either position:

    ...was spelled incorrect :cross:
    ...was spelled incorrectly :tick:
    ...was incorrect spelled :cross:
    ...was incorrectly spelled :tick:
     
    bearded said:
    Can the position of the adverb vary according to the number of its syllables?
    Click to expand...
    Don't try to make a rule. "Wrong" is one of a few words which are usually considered an adjective but have also a long history of being used as an adverb. Elroy and I disagree strongly about the adverb "wrongly". I don't know why. It's been used this way for at least 700 years.
     
    bearded said:
    Should one say ''that word was wrong spelt'' or ''that word was wrongly spelt''? The latter sounds more natural to my ear.
    Click to expand...
    In this case, "That word was wrongly spelt" is correct.
    Please have a look at this:
    1655632323521.png
     
    Here's my take:

    This word was spelled wrongly. "Wrongly" is an adverb modifying "spelled", making it equivalent to "mis-spelled".
    This word was spelled wrong. "Spelled" has become a linking verb. "Wrong" is an adjective complementing "word". The word is now wrong, as a result of the way it has been spelled.

    The first is about the process, the second about the outcome.
     
    Andygc said:
    Elroy and I disagree strongly about the adverb "wrongly". I don't know why. It's been used this way for at least 700 years.
    Click to expand...
    I'm not sure that we disagree "strongly." I'm not saying "wrongly" can't ever be used as an adverb; indeed, there are many perfectly valid and idiomatic uses of "wrongly" as an adverb: "wrongly treated," "wrongly accused," etc. I just wouldn't say that someone spelled something "wrongly," just as I wouldn't say that they spelled it "rightly." They spelled it right or wrong, or correctly or incorrectly. Maybe this is a US/UK difference. I'm pretty sure this has come up before, and I wasn't the only one to reject "wrongly" in this context/meaning.
     
    Edinburgher said:
    "Spelled" has become a linking verb. "Wrong" is an adjective complementing "word"
    Click to expand...
    I disagree. I can't see any reason to recategorise the verb. In that sentence "wrong" is an adverb, used in the way that it, too, has been used for about 700 years.
    elroy said:
    I'm pretty sure this has come up before, and I wasn't the only one to reject "wrongly" in this context/meaning.
    Click to expand...
    I think that you are right, or possibly that you have rightly remembered. :) But we do disagree strongly about "spelled wrongly". (But I would, like you, never say "it was spelled rightly".)
     
    At least in American English, "He spelled it wrong" is entirely idiomatic and common. I say and hear that all the time.
     
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