Sir, - We purists (or pedants?) of the English language rejoice whenever you publish a letter from one of our number desperately attempting to save some correct usage. Please let me take my turn in the breach, to defend the adverbial use of adjective forms, i.e. without the addition of "ly", in many everyday expressions:
You sleep easy when you have no cares.
You lay things on thick
You drive a high-powered car, but go slow when the roads are jammed tight.
You stand up straight, and sometimes win a battle single-
handed - though it may cost you dear.
And flowers smell sweet, unless they're over-watered.
I wince when "ly" is tacked on to words like these, and am bracing myself against coming across someone who works hardly. -Yours, etc.,
Clongowes Wood College,
Naas,
Co Kildare.