grammaticality - Is it proper to have consecutive adverbs?


Is it proper grammar to have consecutive adverbs in a sentence?


e.g. "It was not exactly accidentally....


My thought is that is probably is not proper, especially in this case. The above could have been rewritten, "It was not exactly accidental...".



Answer



There are plenty of circumstances in which consecutive adverbs occur.


Using the adverb combination of OP's example, one could form a sentence like Though Sarah's pregnancy came as a surprise to many, it was not exactly accidentally achieved.


Other more common double-adverb constructions include phrases in which an adverb like very or rather precedes another adverb.


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