On Writing: The Lowly Adverb Gets No Love

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Where stand you on this divisive issue? Why are all the writing pundits so against adverbs:

“Close the door quickly,” he sneered venomously.

It’s lazy writing for sure. But why all the hate? Aren’t adverbs descriptive, don’t they give you a more “colorful” picture of how something was done, e.g. “he wrote the report accurately.”

One of the basic rules of creative writing is to “show, don’t tell.” I’m not supposed to just tell you Bob wrote his report accurately. It’s more elegant to let you know a bit about Bob, about how he’s an internet research maven, about how he cross-checks a source, about how he does his best work in the early morning when he’s fresh. Only then, when he’s sure he’s got the best information possible, only then does he write his report. And it’s accurate.

So we get more of an in-depth picture of Bob. Perhaps we even like him more, we like his industriousness, we might even agree to have coffee with him at 5:30 a.m., to see if some of that perseverance rubs off. Or maybe not, that’s a bit early.

In business writing there’s not usually a great deal of modifiers being thrown about, as we’re talking about facts and don’t want to be accused of editorializing something that shouldn’t be. However, we do find adverbs in the more creative prose we find in B2B writing, for instance, blog entries and case studies.

Another reason to consider not using adverbs is because their use calls into question whether or not the writer trusts his audience. Adding a modifier can be construed as saying, “get it?” the verbal equivalent of hitting someone over the head with a bat.

More: they’re extraneous. Literally, truly, they are. Actually. They can be eliminated and not missed. One fix option is to use a stronger verb: “Bob spilled blood over that report.”

Of course, adverbs are words, they’re in the dictionary, they do have their place. So I guess we need not be too strident, just vigilant, and not use these modifiers—needlessly!

Inspiration, and more inspiration. 

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