words wreak havoc in a sentence, grammar
By CrimsonSpork
@Manasha (2933)
Pondicherry, India
August 13, 2020 12:00am CST
I got the meaning for the words to wreak havoc that is severe damage. However, when I want to use these words in a sentence I feel somewhat difficult
For example in the following sentence
Many unhealthy habits wreak havoc on men's health severely.
The above sentence the intensity of the sentence is already stated by using the words wreak havoc and why we should use again the last word severely. Does it not seem necessary?
Using these words in a sentence is somewhat delicate for me???
I do not know why
6 people like this
4 responses
@owlwings (43897)
• Cambridge, England
13 Aug 20
'To wreak havoc' may be a rather over-used expression at times , which is possibly why some people feel the need to enhance it. Also, the verb 'to wreak' is hardly ever found anywhere else except in this idiom and many people would not be able to tell you its meaning outside of this usage.
Putting the adverb 'severely' at the end of the sentence in this case is not good English, probably because it feels like an afterthought and makes the mind track back unnecessarily to the verb to which it is supposed to relate. Putting the adverb near to the verb to which it relates is better syntactically: "Many unhealthy habits severely wreak havoc on men's health." makes better sense but you really need to think about what was 'severe' - was it the action of wreaking or was it the havoc which it created which was really the thing which was severe?
If you feel you need to qualify the severity of the havoc wreaked, it would be better to use the adjective to qualify 'havoc' rather than the adverb to qualify the verb.
"Many unhealthy habits wreak severe havoc on men's health."
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@amitkokiladitya (171988)
• Agra, India
13 Aug 20
That is incorrect grammar. Only a single word was enough to explain it.
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@amitkokiladitya (171988)
• Agra, India
13 Aug 20
@owlwings can you explain how.
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@owlwings (43897)
• Cambridge, England
13 Aug 20
@amitkokiladitya The grammar is correct because all of the words are in correct number, tense and case form. The adverb ('severely') is in the wrong place but that is a syntactical error not a grammar error. As I pointed out in my response, though, it is not really the action which is severe but the result of the action (i. e. the havoc wreaked) which should be qualified, so, as far as the sense of the sentence is concerned, "wreaked severe havoc" is preferable to "severely wreaked havoc" (or "wreaked havoc severely") because both of the last two are correct in grammar and syntax but incorrect in meaning.
Whether it is necessary to specify the severity at all is a moot point. Taken by itself, the sentence probably doesn't need it but in context with the rest of whatever the author was saying, it might be required.
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@owlwings (43897)
• Cambridge, England
13 Aug 20
@MALUSE & @jstory07 German, Latin and French have the additional complication of gender and you have to make sure that adjectives and pronouns and articles comply with the thing you are talking about. In English, you don't have to worry about whether a tree or a table is masculine or feminine (or neuter, in the case of Latin and German) and 'a good tree', 'a good table', 'a good boy' and 'a good girl' are all exactly the same as far as the adjective and the article are concerned.
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