“The road to hell is paved with adverbs.” — Stephen King
Adverbs are some of the most hated words in the English language, especially for some writers. Though it’s hard to see how adverbs slow stories down. Popular adverbs include:
- particularly
- usually
- simply
- quite
- little
- finally
- accidentally
- fast
As a tip, duplicate your story and cut out almost every adverb. Read through it again afterwards. It’ll flow more now!
Rarely using specific adverbs can also help set the sentence’s tone. Using it at the right moment could make more of an impact. But it has to be rare.
Writing is a careful craft. Pick your adverbs wisely.
I expand on this post here.
So true. I attended a writing class years ago and this was one of the first things our professor warned us about…Adverbs.
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That’s cool! I haven’t had many professors talk about this. Some just mention it on the side and leave it alone.
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