"He knowingly misled my sister."
Does that mean he knew the woman was my sister?
Does that mean he knew the woman was my sister?
knowingly
"He knowingly misled my sister."
Does that mean he knew the woman was my sister?
How about this one?
"The biker deliberately ran down a mother of four." What did or didn't the biker know prior to the accident?
<<"He knowingly misled my sister."
Does that mean he knew the woman was my sister? >> <<Too little context. >> With such little context, the default interpretation would be that "He knew that he was misleading my sister" i.e. He intentionally misled her.
<With such little context, the default interpretation would be that "He knew that he was misleading my sister" i.e. He intentionally misled her.
> But your reply still doesn't state that he knew she was my sister, does it?
That sentence by itself doesn't imply anything about whether he knew she was your sister.
I agree with Rapp: the sentence implies that the misleading was a deliberate action, but it doesn't tell us whether or not he knew she was your sister.
<<<With such little context, the default interpretation would be that "He knew that he was misleading my sister" i.e. He intentionally misled her.
> But your reply still doesn't state that he knew she was my sister, does it? >> The "knowingly" goes with "misled"; not "my sister" For him to have known that she was your sister, the sentence would have to something like this: "Knowing she was my sister, he misled her" OR "He misled her, knowing that she was my sister"
<The "knowingly" goes with "misled"; not "my sister" >
And here? "She knowingly misled a policewoman."
<<And here?
"She knowingly misled a policewoman." >> Yes, there as well. Adverbs always modify verbs, not nouns. :-)
<Yes, there as well. Adverbs always modify verbs, not nouns. :-) >
They modify more than just verbs.
Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs, right? "Sister" and "policewoman" are none of those.
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