Even though + Adverb usage
I'm not sure if these sample sentences below are grammatically incorrect, but they sound very odd to me.
- I couldn't see the man even though actually he was there.
- He still got hit even though quickly he jumped.
- I often see cats even though actually only dogs are allowed here.
Are these sentences grammatically correct? Is there a particular grammar rule for using even though? Normally I would hear those sentences phrased like this:
- I couldn't see the man even though he was actually there.
- He still got hit even though he jumped quickly.
- I often see more cats even though only dogs are actually allowed here.
Solution 1:
What is at issue, I take it, is whether "even though" can be in construction with a following root sentence, or whether, on the other hand, only an ordinary sentence can be in construction with "even though". The category of root sentence was introduced into modern grammar by Joseph Emonds -- this is a sentence which occurs only independently and not as part of another construction. (Well, that's not the whole story -- root sentences can occur as part of a few other constructions.) Fronting the adverb in your unacceptable examples is possible only in a root sentence, and this is why the sentence with the fronted adverb, since it is a root sentence, cannot occur as complement to "even though", because then it would be part of another grammatical construction.