Page 235 - Basic English Usage

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310
237 308
308 slow(ly)

In an informal style, we sometimes use s/ow as an adverb instead of
slowly.
Drive slow — | think we're nearly there.
Can you go slow for a minute?
Slow is used in road signs.
SLOW — DANGEROUS BEND

309 small and little

Small is used just to talk about size. It is the opposite of big or large (see
65).
Could | have a small brandy, please?
You're too small to be a policeman.
The adjective /ittle is used to talk about | size + emotion |.
If we call something little, we usually have some sort of feeling about it
— we like it, or we dislike it, or it makes us laugh, or we think it is sweet,
for example.
Poor little thing — come here and let me look after you.
‘What's he like?’ ‘Oh, he’s a funny little man.’
What's that nasty little boy doing in our garden?
They've bought a pretty little house in the country.
Little is not usually used after a verb (see 10).
For the determiners little and few, see 129.

310 smell

There are three ways to use smell.

As a ‘copula verb’ (see 91), to say what sort of smell something has.
Progressive tenses are not used.

| subject + smell + adjective |

That smells funny. What's in NOT Prats mettre a)
Those roses smell beautiful. (NOT ... Beatitifity-)
subject + smell of + noun
The railway carriage smelt of beer and old socks.

To say what we perceive with our noses. Progressive tenses are not
used. We often use can smell (see 81).
Can you smell burning? | can smell supper.