David, john and others are looking outside through the window stunningly.

Here I put 'stunningly' at the end of a sentence to indicate that they look something stunned. Is this correct?


No, it's not semantically correct. Using "stunningly" makes the sentence incomprehensible. There are grammatical errors as well. "Stunningly" cannot be used to describe the way in which people look through a window. "Stunned", which is what you say you want to say, is the correct word:

David, John, and others are stunned and looking out the window.

David, John, and others are stunned as they look out the window.

These are merely grammatical sentences that say what you want your original sentence to say. I'm sure there's a better way of saying it, but to provide that, I'd need some context.

  • 2
    Or perhaps, "David, John and others are looking out the window, stunned." – Adam V May 16 '13 at 18:07
  • @Bill Franke, okay, stunningly is correct in the following sentence? The sky is stunningly beautiful with so many colors – T2E May 17 '13 at 7:25
  • 1
    @user43286: Yes, it's correct. It's modifying the adjective "beautiful", a normal type of modification, rather than trying but failing to modify the verb phrase "looking out the window", an abnormal type of modification. Instead of "stunningly looking out the window", you can say "furtively / patiently / longingly / (or some other appropriate adverb of manner)} looking out the window". – user264 May 17 '13 at 7:33

As Adam V wrote in a comment, a good construction is, "David, John and others are looking out the window, stunned." – Adam V

Stunned is how they felt (a reaction), to looking out the windo. "Stunningly" is a manner of looking out the window.

If they were women, they might be dressed in a "stunning" manner while looking out the window. Here, "stunningly" could apply. But the context suggests that the men were "stunned," and not "stunning."

  • Tsk. I'll grant that if someone is described as a stunner, it's practically certain we're talking about a female. But here are thousands of written instances of "he looked stunning". Arguably your "If they were women" could be seen as sexist! :) – FumbleFingers Reinstate Monica May 16 '13 at 23:03

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