Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

60%
+1 −0
Q&A Is there any difference between these two sentences? (Adverbs)

Another difference between the two forms is that the first makes it clear where the patronising smile is directed, i.e. whom it's patronising. In the second, the smile could have been there before...

posted 5y ago by gidds‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T12:53:39Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/47817
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar gidds‭ · 2019-12-08T12:53:39Z (almost 5 years ago)
Another difference between the two forms is that the first makes it clear where the patronising smile is _directed_, i.e. _whom_ it's patronising.

In the second, the smile could have been there before; it could be a reaction to someone or something else (present or remembered).

If you want to avoid an adverb (and other answers have shown why that's not necessarily a useful goal), you could mention the patronising smile _in relation to_ the people involved, e.g.:

> “Don't worry your pretty little heads about it,” he told them with a patronising smile.

(Though in that example, it's probably clear from the speech alone…)

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-09-04T12:19:08Z (about 5 years ago)
Original score: 3