Question
Social Security will likely be cut back a lot.
Is "likely" used as "adverb" or as "adjective" in the above sentence?
If "likely" is used as "adjective",is it needed to put "to" in front of Be verb "be"?
If it is used as "adverb",what is the meaning of it? Same meaning of "almost"?
Thank you for your help in advance.
Search from various English teachers...
Corrections · 2
1
As far as I know, in UK/British English, "likely" as an adverb must be preceeded by an intensifier. For instance, "social Security will most likely be cut back a lot". I'm not sure if it's acceptable to just say "will likely be". "Most likely" or "very like", extremely likely" etc., I believe is required.
Since the word "likely" is referring to the verb "(to) be", I would say it's an adverb. It means "probably" or "presumably". "Social security will most likely/probably/presumably be cut back a lot".
As an adjective followed by an infinitive, "to" is indeed required. "Social security is likely to be cut back a lot" would be correct.
It doesn't mean the same as "almost". Two different adverbs :) Almost means "very nearly".
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