albertino
Senior Member
- Joined
- May 27, 2007
- Member Type
- Other
- Native Language
- Chinese
- Home Country
- Hong Kong
- Current Location
- Hong Kong
Nowadays, we usually say, Firstly, ... Secondly, ... Thirdly,... when listing of points. However, Michael Dummett in his "Grammar & Style" said the otherwise as follows:
"First can be either an adjective, as in 'The first man on the moon', or an adverb, as in 'He first filled the kettle and then put it on the stove'.
The form firstly is therefore as redundant as fastly would be, and should never be used. Hence an enumeration of points hould proceed: First, ...Secondly, ... Thirdly, .... The (fairly rare) exception occurs when there is a definite noun for the ordinal numberals to qualify, in which case we need first, ... , second, ... , third...: an example is 'He made three objections: first, that...; second, that...; and, third, that....'"
Any comments on that, dear teachers.
"First can be either an adjective, as in 'The first man on the moon', or an adverb, as in 'He first filled the kettle and then put it on the stove'.
The form firstly is therefore as redundant as fastly would be, and should never be used. Hence an enumeration of points hould proceed: First, ...Secondly, ... Thirdly, .... The (fairly rare) exception occurs when there is a definite noun for the ordinal numberals to qualify, in which case we need first, ... , second, ... , third...: an example is 'He made three objections: first, that...; second, that...; and, third, that....'"
Any comments on that, dear teachers.