Learn English – Is using “similarly” in this sentence correct

adverbsword-requestword-usage

They all are dressed up similarly for the party.

Is this use of similarly correct/appropriate? I did not get many results when I looked this phrase up on Google. I also tried the phrase with "alike" and "same" in place of "similarly" with no better results.

Can anyone suggest an alternative for similarly here?

Best Answer

This is really a question about style rather than grammar or usage or even word choice.

A better sentence is:

They are all similarly dressed up for the party.

or

They're all similarly dressed up for the party.

A different word order changes the sound and rhythm of the sentence. The version with the contraction is more natural and idiomatic than the one without it.

I agree with WendiKidd that "similarly" and "alike" are not equivalent, so "dressed up alike" neither says what you mean nor means what you want to say.

Related Topic