Okay, so you might be wondering, just what exactly do I mean by the title of this post. I'm sure it sounds a little strange, but let me explain what I mean by the title.
Adverbs = excuses.To start off, what are adverbs? Well, here's the dictionary definition:
"A word or phrase that modifies or qualifies an adjective, verb, or other adverb or a word group, expressing a relation of place, time, circumstance, manner, cause, degree, etc. (e.g., gently, quite, then, there)."
And here it is used in several sentences:
I quickly picked up the stick.
She fell to the ground, faintly hearing his voice.
"Don't do it!" She said loudly.
Now, you might be thinking, "What's wrong with those sentences? They sound perfectly fine to me!" And they aren't necessarily wrong, but there is a better way to write them. Look at the same sentences now, rewritten:
I grabbed the stick.
She fell to the ground, hearing his voice in the distance.
"Don't do it!" She shouted.
Do you see what I mean? Which sentences sound more powerful? Yeah, the second ones. (At least, I hope you said the second set, otherwise you can just stop reading, because I'm probably not gonna be able to get through to you. JK) And in the second set of sentences, I removed the ly adverbs and replaced them with more powerful verbs.
In writing, ly adverbs usually are excuses, or "fluff" in your writing. They tend to keep the writer from really considering their diction, and serve as excuses to write emotion.
However, sometimes adverbs are necessary. And with practice, you will learn to decipher between the adverbs that should stay, and the ones that have a better alternative to them.
For example this sentence:
"I quickly picked up the stick" sounds much better when you rewrite it to this: "I grabbed the stick."
But this sentence: "She fell to the ground, faintly hearing his voice," could really be written both ways.
And that is something, like I said, that comes with practice. But for now, there's an easy way to look out for those pesky adverbs in your writing. When editing, use the search bar (if you have one) and search for LY words. Then, go through the sentences one by one, seeing if you can come up with a way to get rid of the adverb and keep the meaning the same.
Believe me, when I write, I use adverbs also. And it is so easy to use them a lot, almost like a figurative "writer's crutch." But just remember that keeping them to a minimum will improve the professional quality of your writing, and the readability.
So, that's all I have for you today! I'll see you guys next time :)
Yup! Adverbs drag sentences down. To say someone ran quickly is ridiculous because it actually takes LONGER to read and can break the illusion of reality. If you can pack it all into one strong word instead of a couple of lousy-lazy weak one (and you can) DO. Say that he sprinted, bolted, tore down the street, even say he legged it. Never say that he 'ran quickly'. It's gonna come across much slower than even the simple sentence "Barry ran."
ReplyDeleteHere's a quote that isn't directly about adverbs but is still good.
“Simple means getting rid of extra words. Don’t write, “He was very happy” when you can write “He was happy.” You think the word “very” adds something. It doesn’t” –Scott Adams
Yes, exactly! That's a great quote you added. It sums everything up perfectly.
DeleteBut "very" is an adverb.
DeleteThis is something I've been wanting to write about on my blog for a while as well, but there are some things I think you missed.
ReplyDeleteThe reason, I believe why people don't like adverbs as much is because English has only one fusional operator to turn a root into an adverb, namely the suffix –ly. People don't get mad at adjectives, but adjectives have many operators: -ic (realistic) -al (fusional) -ant (redundant) -able (relatable) etc. It's hearing that -ly suffix over and over that's the problem in my mind. Readers tend not to mind adverbs like "well," and "alright," and "sometimes," and also "also."
Also, (did you see, I just used also three times in a row and you weren't annoyed) there are times when you can use flat adverbs, that is, adverbs which are written the same as their adjective counterpart.
Then, finally, we get to the biggest group of adverbs of all: prepositional adverb phrases! (Boy that's a mouthful). I have a feeling that the slogan of the entire English language could be "just add prepositions!"
I just used one: "same as" is a prepositional adverb phrase, "same" is an adjective, but when you add the preposition "as" as a particle, it turns it into an adverb. There are a boatload of these.
In my opinion, when writing fiction it's a good idea to avoid -ly adverbs because they're distracting, but to attempt at removing adverbs altogether (another adverb) is a grave mistake. It's choosing the correct kind of adverb that makes all the difference.
I think my title mislead you. I did not mean all adverbs, but only LY adverbs. :) I use adverbs as much as anyone else and I wouldn't suggest removing them all from writing. My intent on this post was to limit your use of LY adverbs.
Delete