Hello, dear readers, what’s up? Ready for some word class once-over? Today’s blog post is about a lexical category that I’ve been planning to analyse with you for months. Yes, it’s top contestant in our most valued category of common mistakes made by Brazilian students and extremely useful, I reckon. Please welcome a very famous trio:
As you guys can see, I made it a point that each item had their part of speech written below them, i.e., whether we’re talking about a noun, adverb or adjective. And the reason why I did it is only because your life can get much easier once you identify the function of each item into the speech – and it goes for any vocabulary item, not just for the 3 which we’re studying today. Let’s see them:
SAFETY (noun): the state of being safe
For more safety tips, visit our website.
Our safety codes are strict and must not be violated.
Flight safety courses are getting more popular among controllers and stewards.
SAFELY (adverb): without harm or risk
Despite the dreadful weather, the pilots managed to land the airplane safely.
It was a treacherous journey, but we got home safely.
There was some kind of failure just after take off, but they were able to return safely to the departure airport.
Please, don’t drink and drive safely.
SAFE (adjective): free from danger, protected, secure, in safety.
Are the windows safe for children?
Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.
Wild animals must be watched from a safe distance.
And mind the use of safe as comparative or superlative adjectives:
Toks Akpata has launched a campaign to make the rugby pitch a safer place.
It is often reported that air travel is the safest means of transportation.
Have a nice warm evening, it looks we’ll really have an early summer in Brazil this year.
E aí, caros leitores, tudo certo? Prontos para dar uma olhada em classe de palavras? Hoje vou escrever sobre um grupo léxico que há meses estava na minha lista para discutir com vocês. Sim, é algo que considero bastante útil e também presença certa na nossa inestimável categoria de erros comuns dos estudantes brasileiros. Deem as boas vindas a um trio muito famoso:
Como vocês podem ver, fiz questão de colocar a classe gramatical de cada item abaixo deles, ou seja, se o item em questão é um substantivo, advérbio ou adjetivo. E a única razão de eu ter feito isso é porque, uma vez identificada a função de cada item dentro do discurso, sua vida ficará muito mais fácil – e o mesmo vale para qualquer item de vocabulário, não apenas os 3 que estamos estudando hoje. Vejamos:
SAFETY (substantivo): segurança, estado daquilo que se encontra segur
For more safety tips, visit our website.
Our safety codes are strict and must not be violated.
Flight safety courses are getting more popular among controllers and stewards.
SAFELY (advérbio): realizar algo de maneira segura, cuidadosamente
Despite the dreadful weather, the pilots managed to land the airplane safely.
It was a treacherous journey, but we got home safely.
There was some kind of failure just after take off, but they were able to return safely to the departure airport.
Please, don’t drink and drive safely.
SAFE (adjetivo): livre de perigos, protegido, assegurado, em segurança
Are the windows safe for children?
Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.
Wild animals must be watched from a safe distance.
E observem também o uso de safe como adjetivo comparativo e superlativo:
Toks Akpata has launched a campaign to make the rugby pitch a safer place.
It is often reported that air travel is the safest means of transportation.
Tenham uma boa e vaporosa noite, parece que saímos na frente e o verão desse ano já chegou mesmo.
English as a Foreign Language 
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Hi Isabella. Just to bring up a fancy safety expression in aviation: safety drill. Kindly Regards. Renato.
That’s a great expression, Renato, I love it when you come up with the aviation-related and fancy ones 🙂
Best,
Isabella.