Adverbs
Wednesday Writing Weekly #64
Do you know what an adverb is? If you do, did you know there are many different categories to recognize how they may modify a verb? Learning about grammar and punctuation is a great way to improve your work as a writer. Very often I see the classic, “if my writing is good and the reader enjoys it, my grammar and punctuation doesn’t matter.” I understand the sentiment that a good story is a good story, but if you have errors all throughout the text, it will disrupt the reading experience. Also, if you can improve your writing in any way, why not try to do so?
Let’s learn about adverbs, the different kinds, and how they can both help and hurt your writing.
What are Adverbs?
Adverbs are adjectives modified by the suffix of -ly. This can make a regular adjective like “soft” modify a verb or action in the form of “softly.” See how “soft” can have a different meaning with the new ending. “I softly pet the soft cat.” The adverb shows how soft the action of petting is and the other “soft” is an adjective about the cat receiving the action.
Here are some examples:
Quick +ly = Quickly
Gentle +ly = Gently
Rough +ly =Roughly
Annual +ly =Annually
Happy +ly =Happily
Note: as you can see, most words that end in “e” will drop the “e” for the “ly” ending. “Y” endings get turned into, “-ily.”
Here are a few more!
Sweetly
Silently
Loudly
Greedily
Angrily
Slowly
Wordy Adverbs
Adverbs are something that are very easy to overuse. You want to aim for clear and concise writing. When you write the same word over and over in a sentence, it can stick out to your reader and can disrupt them from the content. For example, “The girl in the yellow dress picked the yellow flower and put it in her yellow hair.” That is a silly example but the more you use a detail, the more unimportant it becomes. Why not vary your writing and say this following example instead: “The girl in the yellow dress picked up the daffodil and put it in her blonde hair.” You get the same information, but it gives us a few different images instead!
The same thing happens if you read a story and there are a ton of adverbs everywhere. Those “-ly” endings can stick out like a sore thumb, and I recommend switching them out with something better, when you can.
Wordy Adverb Examples
Bad example:
“Jerry quickly ran to the store. He hurriedly opened up the door and loudly proclaimed he needed to find the brightly lit grocery section.”
The repetition of the “-ly” spellings can get annoying fast. Try this instead:
Better example:
“Jerry sprinted to the store and opened the door. He shouted how he needed to find the brightly lit grocery section.”
The “brightly lit grocery section” is a weird detail but do you see how the sentence is a little less repetitive with the variety outside of adverbs? This is important to do in dialogue too. Make sure you do not overuse adverbs in these situations.
Bad example:
“I am craving cereal,” Jerry said sadly.
“Why don’t you go to the store?” Mary suggested playfully.
“I don’t have any money,” Jerry said moodily.
“I’ll give you some, but you need to get a job,” Mary said sharply.
In this example, Jerry needs to get his life together. But do you know what’s even worse? All these adverbs! In order to use an adverb, you need the verb and the dialogue tag which results in three words instead of just two. Instead of saying, “Jerry said sadly,” say, “Jerry moped” or “Jerry complained.” That is more efficient and gets rid of the “-ly” repetition.
Here are some common dialogue tags with adverbs that can be simplified into only a single word:
Said sadly = muttered, moped, complained, murmured, sobbed.
Said loudly = shouted, exclaimed, proclaimed, yelled, screamed, bellowed, hollered.
Said quietly = whispered, muttered, murmured.
Said happily = exclaimed, giggled.
Said meanly = teased, spat, hissed, sneered, jeered, taunted, quipped, retorted.
Said nervously = stammered, blurted, stuttered, whispered.
To say someone “stammered” rather than “said nervously” is more efficient and gives us a more specific meaning and image here. Can you use the adverb? Absolutely! But it is up to you to decide what is doing the most work for your story.
Different Kinds of Adverbs
As mentioned above, adverbs modify the verb. While this seems simple, there are many ways to do this. Certain adverbs describe how something is done, when it is done, where, how often, and at what level or degree.
I’ve never personally needed to spell out this distinction in any of my work or as my time as a student but I think these are interesting to know. These are especially interesting because some adverbs do not have that tell-tale “-ly” ending, even though they are doing the same thing. That is important to know!
These are known as follows:
Adverbs of Manner: Describes how an action is done i.e. quickly or slowly.
Adverbs of Time: Describes when an action occurs i.e. recently, now, today, yesterday.
Adverbs of Place: Describes where an action happens i.e. inside, left, above, here.
Adverbs of frequency: Describes how often an action takes place i.e. annually, yearly, rarely.
Adverbs of Degree: Describes how intense an action is i.e. little, extremely, hardly.
Conjunction Adverbs
Conjunction adverbs need to be mentioned to make sure they are not forgotten. As the name suggests, these are used to connect two separate clauses.
Here is an example:
“I wanted to go to the store; incidentally I forgot my wallet on the way.” These are adverbs because they are announcing the change and modification of a prior action that is interrupted. It is a sort of indirect modification… if that makes sense!
Examples of conjunction adverbs:
However
On the other hand
In addition to
Meanwhile
Therefore
Subsequently
Instead
More Adverb Examples!
I rarely go to the park in the summer because it is too hot outside.
“Rarely” modifies how often you “go” to the park.
“My dress is so cute,” I happily say.
Optional: “My dress is so cute,” I exclaim.
The fisherman quickly pulls in his line.
“Quickly” modifies the verb “to pull.”
Slowly reading, I enjoy my book.
“Slowly” modifies “to read.”
The fire rapidly burned across the field.
“Rapidly” modifies “to burn.”
Conclusion
That’s all for today! I enjoy looking at a single grammar rule or topic and seeing how much it can influence my writing. Understanding these rules does not put you in a box of rules and constraints, but rather lets you see the purpose of those outlines and see how you can use them to increase the quality of your work. There is no one way to write anything so it is up to you to take these rules, apply them, and then in the end pick what works the best for you and your work. It’s all about your intent as a writer!