usage - Why do many professional writers hate adverbs, and what should be used in their place?


In response to the death of Elmore Leonard the New York Times has posted a list of writing tips he composed back in 2001. Among them is the following:



To use an adverb this way (or almost any way) is a mortal sin.



This is not the first time I have read of professional writers discouraging the use of adverbs. While technically (adverb!) appropriate English, why are they treated with such disdain, and what makes a good adverb substitute?



Answer



A Grammar Girl post, How to Eliminate Adverbs, notes:



Adverbs find themselves much maligned because they're often redundant or awkwardly placed.



In the next sentence, it notes that writer Stephen King likens adverbs "to dandelions. When one unwanted weed sprouts up, more follow."


Rather than substitute, the Grammar Girl article recommends pruning adverbs, especially those that are repetitive ("She smiled happily"), used carelessly as intensifiers (such as "extremely" or "definitely"), or used alongside verbs of attribution ("she said angrily").


Read the article.


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