Over versus overly [closed]
A few years ago, I read a grammar rule about the proper use of over versus overly. After searching, I can no longer find it. My husband says it is correct to add an LY anytime you want to describe a verb. He therefore says things, such as overly cook, overly eat, overly worked,etc. I am hearing other people use these words as well. I believe the compound words, overcook, overeat, etc. would be correct here. Not only does the added LY sound unnecessary, I believe there is a rule explaining the reason.
The use of overly in the prototypical adverbial function (modifying a verb) is often at best archaic, especially with base forms. The compound verbs are indeed a far better choice.
It is however often used to premodify adjectives;
overly: to an excessive degree : TOO
- But because of the many ways that the COVID-19 pandemic has upended life for people facing economic hardship, the earlier findings may be overly optimistic for the current moment. — Joya Misra, Quartz, 18 July 2021
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- The Fuel’s 3-1 win over the Toronto Defiant Saturday afternoon wasn’t shocking or overly impressive. — Sean Collins, Dallas News, 10 July 2021
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- Critics say some American CEOs have become hostages of the Chinese Communist Party, which may be overly harsh. — Andrew Stuttaford, National Review, 9 July 2021
Overly is, on the other hand, quite often used with past participle forms of verbs followed by prepositional phrases (/multi-word verbs? 'be fixated on ...'?):
- Even with those cash incentives on the line, the Sun weren’t overly fixated on the implications of Friday’s game. — Alexa Philippou, courant.com, 9 July 2021
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- The office became overly focused on intelligence originating from the federal intelligence community at the expense of its unique ability to capitalize on relationships with non-federal law enforcement entities. — Geneva Sands, CNN, 9 July 2021
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- White men from the financial sector and big businesses continue to be overly represented on the boards overseeing the 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks, despite some progress on improving the boards’ diversity, a new report said. — Michael S. Derby, WSJ, 9 July 2021
[all quoted material from Merriam-Webster]