☆NihonJack⇔日本ジャック☆コミュのEnglish 101:英語の確率の副詞

英語の確率の副詞について、

強度は　％　で書きます。

団結ができますので、ちょっと精緻にあります。

? = sounds strange or uncommon
* = not used

definitely (100%)
certainly (100%)
very probably (90%)
probably (80%)
very likely (70%)
likely (70%)
very possibly (70%)
possibly (60%)
? very potentially (60%)
potentially (51%)
theoretically (51%)
* impossibly
* not very possibly
not very likely (40%)
not likely (30%)
probably not (20%)
? not very probably (10%)
almost certainly not (10%)
certainly not (0%)
definitely not (0%)

"It will 副詞句 rain tomorrow."

These are also useful for protecting claims from fault.
They are often used in "academic" writing for that reason, among other language devices, like this:

"Many computer simulations tend to suggest that seat belts ALMOST CERTAINLY reduce the risk of injury for some people in certain types of accidents, when worn properly, notwithstanding highly unusual circumstances."

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[1] mixiユーザー 12月17日 15:01

Corrections:

very likely (75%)

* impossibly
"He told me, impossibly, to become a fish."
That's the only way I can imagine to use "impossibly."

[3] mixiユーザー 12月18日 16:30

I agree.

But "maybe" is not an adverb (副詞). Adverbs end with -ly. (like "quickly").

So "maybe" works like this:

Maybe I will go to the party.

Maybe I can do it.

I'll go to the party, maybe.

[6] mixiユーザー 12月18日 22:10

I read the three versions:

very probably
very likely
very possibly

and know I use them and hear them all the time.

I agree with チャリーG-san that "impossibly tall" and "impossibly expensive" are fine. It is more of a modifier for the adjective implying that the state is beyond what is normally expected.

He was impossibly tall - far taller than 'normal' but shockingly so.
It was impossibly expensive - far more expensive than I expected - beyond belief.

There is a difference between use and position of 'hard' and 'hardly'.

Hard - He kicked the ball hard (with a lot of force)
Hardly - He hardly touched the ball (either he didn't get control of the ball in the game very much or he touched the ball but for a very short time or not very hard). The word 'barely' can also be used here.

[7] mixiユーザー 12月19日 02:33

As far as I know, "maybe" is a compound of may + be -- as in "That may be true." = "That might be true."

It's a good point that the terms are fuzzy.

Anyone want to try matching Japanese equivalents to those that exist in Japanese?

[9] mixiユーザー 12月19日 22:00

Two notes:

1) For me, maybe is usually about 50%. It's an all-purpose "yes or no" word that about half the time is yes, half the time no.

2) I'd say that "theoretically" doesn't fit well into that list. It doesn't really express the likelihood of something actually occurring in reality. It's used to highlight the possibility of something from a purely rational / thought-based / speculative point of view, which may or may not have any relation to practical reality.

The fact that "theoretically" it could rain today, tells you nothing at all about the likelihood that it will actually rain today. It could be 1% or 99%.

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