by Marisa Wright

Created on: June 26, 2007   Last Updated: November 03, 2009

Adverbs - a dirty word in fiction writing circles! Working on your adverbs can really improve your writing - but it's not true that you have to banish every single one.

First, for those who aren't sure, let's define what an adverb is. Basically, it's a word that describes a verb or action word. So we can say, "he spoke softly", or "she walked quickly", or "I danced lightly". As you can see, most of them end in "-ly".

Adverbs have a bad reputation because it's so easy to use them in a lazy way. Instead of taking the time to think of words that really describes what's happening, it's too easy to grab a plain ordinary verb and add an adverb. That's why, when we are polishing our work, it's a good idea to do a search for words ending in "-ly" and examine each one carefully. In many cases, we'll be able to think of a better option than the adverb.

The most obvious solution is to choose a more descriptive verb that encapsulates the meaning of the plain verb and adverb combined - but be careful, it's not always the answer. If your new verb is old-fashioned, too obscure or too flowery, it may not fit your style. For instance, you could use "he enunciated" for "he spoke clearly", but how many people know what "enunciated" means these days? If your new verb is going to make your average reader stop and go "huh?", don't use it! To get around this one, you may have to change the sentence structure around completely, e.g. his words were clear. You may even have to write two or three sentences to replace the original one.

When you have found an alternative, stop and take a critical look at it. Don't assume that just because you've succeeded in removing that pesky adverb, your new sentence must be better. If you've had to torture your sentence to get rid of it, it's not good. Or if you feel that your new sentence doesn't convey what you mean as well as the original, that's not good either. Admit defeat, put the adverb back and don't fret about it.

The rule isn't "Never use adverbs": it's "Don't OVER-use adverbs". If you have a few sprinkled over a long piece of prose, it's nothing to worry about, provided you have satisfied yourself they are the best alternative in each case.

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