What's the difference between an adjective's adverbial form and continuative form?


<http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/complete/adverbs>
<http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/complete/verb_sequences> <-also covers
adjectives

Following Tae Kim's guide, those two forms of 青黒い are

> (adverbial form): 青黒く  
>  (continuative/て-form): 青黒くて

In English, an adverb is used to modify a verb, an adjective, or another
adverb. But in my previous thread, [What conjugation of what word is
ぐろく?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/57066/what-conjugation-of-
what-word-is-%E3%81%90%E3%82%8D%E3%81%8F), 「青黒く」 is _also_ referred to as the
"continuative form" meaning "bluish-black **and** ".

So now I have to ask, what's the difference between these two forms? If both
the adverbial form and the て-form can be continuative... then how can I tell
if a word is meant to _modify_ an upcoming verb/adjective or just link to it?

_**Example:**_  

> 空は **青ぐろく** 、一面の星が **またたいていました** 。
>
> Adjective/Adverb: **青ぐろく**  
>  Upcoming Verb: **またたいていました**
>
> * * *
>
> I would've read that sentence as "As for the sky, the stars all around were
> **bluish-blackly** twinkling", with the adverb modifying the next verb.
>
> But it was translated by l'électeur as "The sky was **bluish-black and** the
> stars all around were twinkling", with the adverb **not** modifying the
> upcoming verb at all, just linking to it.

**Can someone clarify the difference between a "true adverb", an adjective's
adverbial form, and an adjective's て-form?**  
And why an adverbial form can be continuative?




## Joining two statements

Broadly speaking, the く ending allows the meaning of the first statement to
broadly modify the second, while くて puts an end on the first statement and
separates it more from the second statement.

Let's look at the specific sample sentence in [the linked
thread](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/57066/what-conjugation-
of-what-word-is-%E3%81%90%E3%82%8D%E3%81%8F).

> 「空{そら}は青{あお}ぐろく、一面{いちめん}の星{ほし}がまたたいていました。」

Here, we basically have two clauses. Simplifying drastically, we have:

> 「空{そら}は青{あお}ぐろい」

... and:

> 「一面{いちめん}の星{ほし}がまたたいていた」

### Joining with the ~くて conjunctive form

We could join these two using the conjunctive くて form of the adjective in the
first clause:

> 「空{そら}は青{あお}ぐろ​ **[く]{●}[て]{●}** ​、一面{いちめん}の星{ほし}がまたたいていました。」

The sense with this kind of joining is that the first statement finishes, and
then the second statement comes in. It works well for connecting two
statements that don't necessarily have a lot to do with each other. Part A,
_and then_ Part B. Kinda like:

> "Here at Channel 7 News, our cameras are new​ **, and** you'll get traffic
> info too!"

Looking again at our sample Japanese sentence and translating to try to give
the flavor of this kind of joining:

> 「空{そら}は青{あお}ぐろ​ **[く]{●}[て]{●}** ​、一面{いちめん}の星{ほし}がまたたいていました。」  
>  The sky was blue-black, **and [separately, unrelatedly]** the stars were
> twinkling all around.

Given the content of Part A and Part B, this kind of hard break doesn't seem
to work very well -- the two statements _are_ actually closely related. Which
brings us to the く style of joining statements.

### Joining with the ~く adverbial form

Without the て, as you noted, the adjective is technically in the く adverbial
form. This can apply conceptually in a way to the following clause,
essentially describing a quality of what comes next. Instead of Part A, _and
then_ Part B, it's more like Part A describes something more about Part B.
There is no natural grammatical analogue in English, but to make it more
explicit, we might break it down like this:

> 「空{そら}は青{あお}ぐろ​ **[く]{●}** ​、一面{いちめん}の星{ほし}がまたたいていました。」  
>  **With** the sky be​ **ing** blue-black​ **ly** ​, the stars were twinkling
> all around.

Here, the first part about the color of the sky more clearly leads into the
second part about the stars.

That's horrible English and not how any native speaker would write it, but I
hope that shows better how the Japanese fits together.




## Joining two statements

Broadly speaking, the く ending allows the meaning of the first statement to
broadly modify the second, while くて puts an end on the first statement and
separates it more from the second statement.

Let's look at the specific sample sentence in [the linked
thread](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/57066/what-conjugation-
of-what-word-is-%E3%81%90%E3%82%8D%E3%81%8F).

> 「空{そら}は青{あお}ぐろく、一面{いちめん}の星{ほし}がまたたいていました。」

Here, we basically have two clauses. Simplifying drastically, we have:

> 「空{そら}は青{あお}ぐろい」

... and:

> 「一面{いちめん}の星{ほし}がまたたいていた」

### Joining with the ~くて conjunctive form

We could join these two using the conjunctive くて form of the adjective in the
first clause:

> 「空{そら}は青{あお}ぐろ​ **[く]{●}[て]{●}** ​、一面{いちめん}の星{ほし}がまたたいていました。」

The sense with this kind of joining is that the first statement finishes, and
then the second statement comes in. It works well for connecting two
statements that don't necessarily have a lot to do with each other. Part A,
_and then_ Part B. Kinda like:

> "Here at Channel 7 News, our cameras are new​ **, and** you'll get traffic
> info too!"

Looking again at our sample Japanese sentence and translating to try to give
the flavor of this kind of joining:

> 「空{そら}は青{あお}ぐろ​ **[く]{●}[て]{●}** ​、一面{いちめん}の星{ほし}がまたたいていました。」  
>  The sky was blue-black, **and [separately, unrelatedly]** the stars were
> twinkling all around.

Given the content of Part A and Part B, this kind of hard break doesn't seem
to work very well -- the two statements _are_ actually closely related. Which
brings us to the く style of joining statements.

### Joining with the ~く adverbial form

Without the て, as you noted, the adjective is technically in the く adverbial
form. This can apply conceptually in a way to the following clause,
essentially describing a quality of what comes next. Instead of Part A, _and
then_ Part B, it's more like Part A describes something more about Part B.
There is no natural grammatical analogue in English, but to make it more
explicit, we might break it down like this:

> 「空{そら}は青{あお}ぐろ​ **[く]{●}** ​、一面{いちめん}の星{ほし}がまたたいていました。」  
>  **With** the sky be​ **ing** blue-black​ **ly** ​, the stars were twinkling
> all around.

Here, the first part about the color of the sky more clearly leads into the
second part about the stars.

That's horrible English and not how any native speaker would write it, but I
hope that shows better how the Japanese fits together.

