Friday, June 4, 2010

In defense of adverbs...

Nicola Morgan over at "Help! I Need a Publisher!" has a great post up about using adverbs lazily, and why we shouldn't do it - but why adverbs are so often unfairly maligned. You can find it here.

This fits in well with my general philosophy of grammar: know precisely what grammar does for you, so that you can use it to your advantage when you want, and not let it ambush you from behind.

5 comments:

  1. I liked that. Finally, a sensible approach to adverbs. Just like salt, a sprinkle is needed to season the writing, but too much makes it unpalatable.

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  2. "Unfairly." Heh. ;)

    I try to avoid adverbs at all costs. There's a need for them occasionally, but I'd much rather not use them if at all possible. The English language sounds the best when it's used the least.

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  3. JDsg,
    I'm guessing you try to avoid -ly adverbs at all costs. Adverbs take many forms, and serve a pretty important function in English. If you prefer simplicity of prose, that's a perfectly valid stylistic choice, but part of the reason I like Nicola Morgan's article is that I think people often waste time worrying about adverbs as if they were not legitimate elements of English grammar.

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  4. You're correct in that adverbs are perfectly legitimate and, to be honest, almost impossible to avoid in one form or another. I do prefer simplicity of prose as a stylistic choice, not only because I think it sounds the best, but because I think that style helps people to understand what I'm trying to say more easily. But that's just me and I wouldn't expect everyone to follow that style. Some people can write in a florid style, for example, and make that writing sound wonderful.

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