Seem, Seeming, Seemingly, Seemly

SEEM      SEEMING         SEEMINGLY      SEEMLY
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         You are reading an article, going through sentence by sentence and abruptly get trapped by words: seem, seeming, seemingly, seemly; so? what to do now ! You may be aware of the word, seem, but what about other threes. It is difficult to grasp the meaning of these three words in very first unexpected meeting. So let us know the meaning of these words.

   

                                                                                                                                              

Seem (Linking Verb)

Meaning:-

• to give the impression of being or doing something
• to appear to be something or to do something

 Seem is a linking verb; it is followed by adjectives, not adverbs

Seem is often followed by "to be". We must use "to be" when it follows noun, but seem to be may or may not be used when it follows adjective.

Usages:-

1. He seems to be doctor. 
2. He seems excited.
3. She seems older than he is.

Seemingly (Adv.)

Meaning:-

• appearing to be true but not being true or certain
• in a way that appears to be true but may in fact not be

"He is seemingly tired."

We use seemingly when we want to say that something looks true from appearance alone.

Here, "He is seemingly tired" means someone is guessing that his face and expression looks as if he is tired.

Seeming (Adj.) 

Meaning:-

• appearing to be something that may not be true

1.  He was disciplined almost to the point of seeming robotic. -New York Times
2. We discussed the seeming contradiction of his arguments. -Oxford

• seeming robotic- almost looks like a robot, if not a robot.
• seeming contradiction- looking like contradiction, but it may not be.

Seeming is an Adjective, and it qualifies a noun.

                                                                                                                                                                 

Seemly (Adj.)

Meaning:-

• proper or appropriate for a particular situation
• according with custom or propriety

1. It wasn't seemly for a boy still in school to be courting a young woman who worked. - Collins
2. If you are a student, you should follow seemly behaviour in front of you teachers. 

The word Seemly is used to mean a proper and suitable behaviour for a particular occasion.

"We go to the office in a seemly uniform." Here, Seemly uniform means a uniform according to the office custom.

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