Treat Adverbs Fairly
By Denise Loock
Adverbs could file a lot of
harassment complaints against writing experts. How many workshops have you
attended where the facilitator said something like this: Get rid of adverbs. Only
amateurs use adverbs. Adverbs are tools of a lazy writer?
Many well-meaning instructors
quote Stephen King who said, “The adverb is not your friend.” A few sentences
later, he added, “I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs and I will shout
it from the rooftops.”[1]
So what’s the truth about
adverbs? Should we get rid of them all?
No.
Even King acknowledged, “I can
be a good sport about adverbs, though. Yes I can. With one exception: dialogue
attribution.”
Let’s take a closer look at the
adverb. Adverbs limit, broaden, or qualify the meaning of a word. For example:
I went to the store yesterday. John
lives next door. Sally never eats fish. Writers need to convey
time, place, frequency, and probability. That’s an adverb’s job. Adverbs also
indicate direction and degree. For example: Turn right onto Elm Street. She handles adversity better than most people. Allow the adverb do what it does well in
your sentences.
The problem arises when writers
ask adverbs to do the work of an adjective or verb. For example: John walked very slowly up the hill. You don’t need
adverbs in that sentence. Instead, choose a more precise verb: John trudged up the hill. Another example:
Sally picked up the extremely small
piece of glass and examined it. Why not use a better adjective? Sally picked up
the tiny piece of glass and examined
it. If Sally’s a scientist, choose microscopic;
if she’s British, choose wee.
In the “good sport” quote above,
King noted a second problem with adverbs: dialogue attribution. And he’s right.
Skilled writers don’t use phrases such as said
sarcastically, whispered sweetly,
or shouted angrily. Instead, use an
action, let the dialogue convey the emotion, or employ both tools: Jack slammed
the book on the table. “How dare you put my name in your tell-all trash.”
Like every other part of
speech, adverbs add value to our language. Use one when it’s the right word for
the job. Omit the adverb when it’s a poor substitute for a more precise or more
effective word.
I’ll close with one more
reference to Stephen King. He doesn’t omit all adverbs—not even ly ones. Consider this excerpt from On Writing: “Sondra had a[n] … uneven
voice, as if she were always speaking
through a throatful of tightly packed
phlegm.” You be the judge. Should he have omitted the adverbs, or were they the
right words for the job?
[1]Stephen King
quotes are taken from On Writing: A
Memoir of the Craft (New York: Scribner, 2000), pp. 124–125, 78.
(Photos courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net, Stuart Miles, and Sira Anamwong.)
TWEETABLE
Denise Loock is an editor, author, and inspirational speaker. She is a
general editor for LPCbooks, a division of Iron Stream Media. She also accepts
freelance editing projects from writers who want to submit clean, concise, and
compelling manuscripts to publishers (lightningeditingservices.com).
Denise is the author of two devotional books, Open Your Hymnal and Open
Your Hymnal Again, which
highlight the scriptural truths of classic hymns and gospel songs. She is the
founder of Dig Deeper Devotions, a website that encourages Christians of all
ages to dig deeper into the Word of God. Three collections of devotions from
the website are available on Amazon: Restore
the Joy: Daily Devotions for December, Restore the Conversation: Fifty
Devotions on Prayer, and Restore the
Hope: Devotions for Lent and Easter.
Denise teaches two online PEN Institute courses: Sentence Diagraming 101 and Editing Devotionals 101. She also writes “Mind Your MUGS,” a grammar and usage column for Christian Communicator.
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