<p>Elsewhere, the Columbia Pictures comedy "Step Brothers," starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly as perpetual adolescents, opened surprisingly strongly at No. 2 with $30 million</p>
<p>Does it make sense the part that says "opened surprisingly strongly"</p>
<p>shouldnt it be "surprisingly strong"</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>Let me guess, Yahoo?
Good catch.</p>
<p>It's correct ... strongly is an adverb describing opened, strong would be an adjective, surprisingly is an adverb describing an adverb.</p>
<p>Are you serious? That sounds ridiculous</p>
<p>The word surprisingly is a stumbling block, but if it is removed, "opened strongly" is obviously correct. And surprisingly is also in correct form.</p>
<p>Wait, so is it correct so should it be "surprisingly strong?"</p>
<p>It is correct as it is.</p>
<p>Strongly is an adverb describing "opened."
Surprisingly is an adverb describing "strongly."</p>
<p>The sentence is fine.</p>
<p>I think that the sentence is grammatical but yes I do see the point that it doesn't sound quite right. But adverbs could modify other adverbs so I guess the rule also applies here.</p>
<p>And just one thing- I'm sorry for being so technical but you are actually being redundant by saying "grammatically correct". If something is "grammatical", then it is also implied that it is essentially "correct". </p>
<p>neways, good luck with your SAT studies!</p>
<p>See, in most sentences, if not all, you can take out a modifier at times and read the sentence. Read the sentence by taking out surprisingly, and read it as you put it (strong, not strongly). opened strong. Doesn't sound right, does it? IDK, but this is my method for looking at some sentences, and Diamondbacker and Amb3r are correct.</p>
<p>that may sound ridiculous, but it IS correct</p>
<p>btw,gatorfen,i use the same method</p>
<p>It does sound quite surprisingly strongly wrong, doesn't it? LOL</p>
<p>Maybe I didn't use it right.....oh well</p>
<p>^na a,you used it right</p>
<p>That sounds ridiculous as well.</p>
<p>I just encountered one of these today.</p>
<p>Because our casserole was smelling surprisingly badly as it baked, the food science teacher came over to ask us what we had put in it. No error</p>
<p>The answer key says "surprisingly badly" is wrong, but I thought it was perfectly ok and put No error.</p>
<p>It's from one of the collegeboard QAS.</p>
<p>@ liebenasuka</p>
<p>THAT one is incorrect, because it should say surprisingly bad. This is because "bad" is describing the casserole, not the verb smelling. In the first case:</p>
<p>Strongly is an adverb describing "opened."
Surprisingly is an adverb describing "strongly."</p>
<p>In this case:</p>
<p>Bad SHOULD be an adjective describing "casserole," not an adverb describing smelled.
Surprisingly is an adverb describing "bad."</p>
<p>Really? I thought badly was describing smelling...
So the everyday phrase "you smell bad" is actually gramarically correct?</p>
<p>you smell bad means you stink. you smell badly means you're not very good at smelling..</p>
<p>^ this makes sense. I get it now. Thanks to both of you.</p>
<p>Yes it is.
In the phase "You smell bad," bad is describing the pronoun, you. Therefore, it should be bad, not badly.</p>
<p>If you said, "You smell badly," then it would be a shot at the person's ability to smell things. You would be saying that they are unable to discern different scents or cannot smell certain things. It wouldn't say anything about their body odor.</p>
<p>EDIT - amb3r beat me to it, :)</p>