The under-used locative adverbs
June 29th, 2014 at 11:20 pm (Language)
A locative adverb tells you where something took place. Examples we all know and use commonly are ‘where’, ‘here’, and ‘there.’ Other such words can be constructed, like ‘homeward.’
But there are other locative adverbs that are so handy that it’s amazing that they aren’t used more often. ‘Where,’ ‘here’, and ‘there’ indicate the location at which something happens. What about actions moving toward or away from a location, like ‘homeward,’ but more general? In fact, there’s an equivalent for each of those three in each of these directions of motion:
| At | To | From |
|---|---|---|
| Where | Whither | Whence |
| Here | Hither | Hence |
| There | Thither | Thence |
Now, using these words may make you sound like you just stepped out of Shakespeare or Chaucer, but in fact they are nice, compact ways to express motion. The words in the second and third columns already have a preposition built in!
“Whither do they wander?” sounds better and is technically more correct than “Where do they wander?” since “where” has no “to” sense to it. “Whence did you come?” is more compact than “From where did you come?” or “Where did you come from?”
From this table we can see that “from whence” makes no sense, despite its rather common use.
So, next time you need to talk about where, here, or there something went to or from, consider using these nicely compact, already invented ways to express that notion!
David said,
June 30, 2014 at 7:28 am
Whence did you come, whither did you go?
Whence did you come, Cotton-Eye Joe?