Not all parts of speech are equal. Nouns and verbs are noble, upstanding and good. Adjectives and adverbs can be bad. Writing that contains a lot of those two lower forms of speech can be very, very bad. Notice that even I lard on the adjectives from time to time.
Adverbs, often objects of scorn, are the words that modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs, the ones that usually end with the letters "ly." They usually answer the questions ''When?'' ''Where?'' ''How?'' How often?'' and ''How many?'' Adjectives are not quite as bad as adverbs; however, when adjectives appear in writing in great number, they cause it to resemble a lawn that is overrun with dandelions. Adjectives are words that tell ''How many?'' ''What kind?'' ''Which one?'' and ''What size, color or shape?'' Sure, we all use them from time to time. Better writers use them sparingly.
Mark Twain called the use of the adverb a ''plague.'' Graham Greene called adverbs ''beastly.'' Stephen King wrote, ''I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops.'' He wrote that writers use adverbs out of fear and timidity. In part he was referring to writers who use words like ''usually,'' ''nearly,'' and ''almost.'' He is correct. (I could have written, He is absolutely correct, but what good would using the adverb ''absolutely'' have served? None at all.) Strunk and White held nothing back when venting their vitriol about useless qualifiers, calling them ''the leeches that infest the pond of prose, sucking the blood of words.''
The trouble with Adjectives and Adverbs.
Here are four things that go wrong with writing when it is dependent on adjectives and adjectives.
1.They make the writing sound pushy. Example: ''The quick acting medicine quietly rushes to your bloodstream.'' It makes writing sound as though the reader is editorializing, pushing a point of view or spinning hyperbole.
2. They tell, thereby cheating the reader of imagining a scene for him or herself.
As John Barth writes in Lost in the Funhouse, ''to write that [a character] is pretty is to accomplish nothing; the reader may acknowledge the proposition, but his imagination is not engaged.''
By way of explanation, decide which of these two sentences you prefer?
Sentence #1: He whispered to her lovingly.
Sentence #2: He whispered words of love, my sweet, my lover, my angel.
The first sentence uses the adverb, ''lovingly'' to get across its meaning. The second uses only a single verb and a number of nouns.
The first sentence tells; the second one shows.
The first sentence sums up for you what was said. The narrator decides the tone behind the whispering. He calls it loving in nature.
The second sentence shows. It lets the reader hear the words whispered.
Another difference: In the first sentence, the reader gets the distinct impression the narrator is pre-sold on his love. The second sentence leaves room for interpretation because it focuses only on behavior, on the words actually said. Sure, he is saying those words, but could he be insincere? Could be saying one thing but feeling another? Of course he could. I find that in fiction writing adverbs diminish character development. They also take the fun out of reading.
3. They come from fear or timidity. Example: '''Drop that gun,' he said courageously.'' Does the writer of that sentence feel a need to use the adverb ''courageously'' because he or she is afraid the reader won't understand the courage it took the person to say that? Far better to write a scene that shows that the speaker had to be courageous when he said those words. Edit the sentence, '''Drop that gun,' he said."
4. They come from a lack of imagination, laziness, or an unwillingness to immerse oneself in a scene and describe what is said or imagined. Example: ''He whispered to her lovingly'' (discussed above.)
As Richard Noble wrote in an article, ''Don't use adjectives and adverbs to pretty up your prose:'' A few adjectives are okay when carefully chosen. He gives the example: ''The house had an empty feeling to it, the air stale with undefined kitchen odors.'' [He is saying that that sentence is okay, and I agree with him.]
As Noble writes: ''This is tight, dramatic description. But what happens when I add more adjectives to 'prettify' it?
''The dark, dreary house had an empty, suspicious feel to it, the thick air stale and sour with undefined, scary kitchen odors.''
Adding adjectives doesn't make it better. It makes it worse, unreadable, in fact. It gives it that same pushy feeling that adverbs give, a sense that a bill of goods is being foisted on the reader.
Four methods to fix them for good.
1.Turn an adjective into a verb. Instead of writing ''The carriage drove along the bumpy road,'' write, ''The carriage bumped along the road.''
2. Use a metaphor or simile instead of summing it up for the reader with an adverb or adjective. Instead of writing, ''The building began to shake horribly,'' write, ''The building began to shake like a washing machine on spin cycle with a off-balance load.''
3.Be more specific in your use of words. Instead of writing a ''big house,'' use the word ''mansion.''
4.Write a separate sentence instead of loading your nouns up with adjectives or adverbs. Instead of writing, ''The smart fox quickly changed direction and jumped over the high fence,'' write, ''The fox changed direction so quickly, many of the people watching it lost track of where it was; finally, it jumped over a fence that was so high many horses could not clear it.'' The word ''smart'' can be dropped; it's obvious. This kind of writing requires more words, but it is also more readable because it paints a picture that helps the reader see what is happening.
