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18 Jul 2018
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Question about English (US)
What is the difference between on purpose and purposely and deliberately ?Feel free to just provide example sentences.
What is the difference between on purpose and purposely and deliberately ?Feel free to just provide example sentences.
These are all adverbs and synonyms. I would like to know whether there are any nuance differences or they are totally interchangeable.
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Deleted user
18 Jul 2018
Featured answer
They are practically identical in meaning, though I will say I don't normally use "purposely" ever.
I think that "deliberately" sounds best after the subject: "You deliberately disobeyed me." As opposed to "On purpose" which I think sounds best at the end of the sentence: "You disobeyed me on purpose."
It would sound unnatural to say, "You on purpose disobeyed me."
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Deleted user
They are practically identical in meaning, though I will say I don't normally use "purposely" ever.
I think that "deliberately" sounds best after the subject: "You deliberately disobeyed me." As opposed to "On purpose" which I think sounds best at the end of the sentence: "You disobeyed me on purpose."
It would sound unnatural to say, "You on purpose disobeyed me."
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@evanpaulmchristensen is purposely wrong? I've heard this being used though 😮
also does deliberately sound more formal than on purpose?
thank you for the answer :)
also does deliberately sound more formal than on purpose?
thank you for the answer :)
Deleted user
@sue90 purposely not incorrect. My instinct as a native English speaker is that it doesn't "feel" right when I say it. Even though it's longer, I actually like Purposefully better - although, the meaning there is slightly different.
Deliberately is more formal. If you did something bad at work that you had been told to not do, your boss wouldn't say, "You disobeyed me on purpose." That could just be my opinion, however.
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