Part of my point is that the difference between "fast" and "quickly"
in the initial sentence doesn't turn on part of speech, but on lexical
choice; part of my point is to show how a tiny linguistics experiment
can help clear up the question about the initial sentence by looking
at the data from a different angle.

On Feb 15, 5:57*pm, "Tony Jollans" My forename at my surname dot com
wrote:
As Suzanne says, these are adjectives, but there is still a difference; in
isolation, I prefer the first, although either could be acceptable,
dependent upon the wider context.

I might need to sleep on it before expressing a cogent defence, though :-)

--
Enjoy,
Tony

*www.WordArticles.com

"grammatim" wrote in message

...
Which of these does either of you prefer:

"Who was faster, Bannister or Coe?"
"Who was quicker, Bannister or Coe?"

(You don't need to be able to say _why_ you prefer one or the other,
only that one of them "feels" better than the other -- or not.)

On Feb 15, 4:03 pm, "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:



Okay, I will accept that you are making a distinction of usage rather than
grammar, and I'll bow to that since context certainly does determine the
suitability of given words.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USAhttp://word.mvps.org

"Tony Jollans" My forename at my surname dot com wrote in
l...

I never suggested it wasn't - or couldn't be - an adverb; I merely think
it's the wrong adverb in context.

I do not like, and would not normally use, "he ran fast", whatever the
OED
says. I might use "... need to drive so fast". The difference is so
subtle
that it seems only I can see it g.

I must, of course, bow to the OED, and accept it as being correct.

--
Enjoy,
Tony-