あまり with positive question

[killerinsidee]

Short question about あまり vs. あまりに(も). I read somewhere that あまり needs to be in written as あまりに or あまりにも when used with a positive (predicate), but I saw these examples in DBJG which confused me - 「スコットがあまり失礼なことを言うのでサリーは怒って帰っってしまった。」and 「井上さんはあまりお酒を飲んだので病気になった。」あまり is used and not あまりに. Only difference that I can find in those 2 examples is that あまり is modifying 失礼な(こと) (very rude (things)) in the former and 飲んだ (too much drinking) in the latter. There's also no mention of it being used with に (adverbial thing).

Tae kim claims that 「日本語はあまり難しいよ。」is wrong and only 「日本語はあまりに難しい。」is correct.
Apparently 「私は、１０００ページもある本を、あまり面白かったので一晩で読みきった。」is correct as well.

More examples from alc and google - 「あまり失礼にならずに」、「のウエーターはあまりにも無礼なので、私は支配人に文句を言うつもりだ。」「多くの傾向はあまり難しい」「『あまり難しいことはわからないのですが』 のクチコミ掲示板。」. I'm just wondering if あまり is actually correct in all positive sentences or you need to write it with に in some cases. Also, is there some difference in using あまり (with or without に(も)) in「noun」は/が あまり難しい and あまり難しい「noun」?
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that it's considered to be an na-adjective and also an adverb, even without に.

 

[Toritoribe]

The key is that あまり modifies a verb/an adjective in an adverbial or attributive clause, not the main predicative of the sentence in all your examples.
e.g.
〇スコットがあまり失礼なことを言うので、
×スコットがあまり失礼なことを言う。
〇スコットがあまりに（も）失礼なことを言う。

〇井上さんはあまりお酒を飲んだので、
×井上さんはあまりお酒を飲んだ。
〇井上さんはあまりに（も）お酒を飲んだ。

多くの傾向はあまり難しい is wrong, as Tae Kim pointed out. I googled it and found the site this sentence is used in is ony one, and it's gibberish probably a machine automatically made. (The purpose of the site is advertising.) Also, あまり失礼にならない and あまり難しいことはわからない are correct, since these are negative.

 

[killerinsidee]

Ah I see. So let me get this straight, あまり can be only used to modify stuff in a positive adverbial/attributive clauses and あまりに(も) needs to be used for the main predicate (positive). The negative is fine with あまり only. Correct?

 

[Toritoribe]

It's more likely "あまり can't be used only for the main predicative in an affirmative sentence". Thus, あまり can be used for the main predicative in a negative sentence, or for the predicative in an adverbial/attributive clause whether it's affirmative or negative. あまりに(も) can be used for all the cases; for both the main predicative and the predicative in an adverbial/attributive clause whether affirmative or negative.

〇この本はあまり面白かったので、
✖この本はあまり面白かった。
〇この本はあまりに（も）面白かったので、
〇この本はあまりに（も）面白かった。

〇この本はあまり面白くなかったので、
〇この本はあまり面白くなかった。
〇この本はあまりに（も）面白くなかったので、
〇この本はあまりに（も）面白くなかった。
(あんまり would be more common for the first example, though.)

Note that あまり and あまりに(も) have different meaning in a negative sentence/clause. For instance, あまり面白くなかった means "not so interesting", whereas あまりに（も）面白くなかった is "too [not interesting]", i.e., "too boring".

 

[killerinsidee]

Thanks for clearing it up, I appreciate it.