: Re: Replacing adverbs I understand the reasons so many people have dislike for adverbs in writing, but I'm struggling with how to find a real balance. For example, these adverbs can die: "He ran

@Sue2132873

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It is the overuse and abuse of adverbs that people caution against.

Sometimes the adverb is the perfect choice, communicating with precision the intent and tone of the author.

The extinction of adverbs is overkill. There is nothing wrong with the proper use of modifiers.

You have a good instinct here. One should never ignore an opportunity to improve the natural flow and interest of one’s prose.

I find myself using the occasional ‘eventually‘ and ‘gradually‘ and even a few ‘softly’, but if on reading it, I feel the need to change a word, I do.

There is a hierarchy of significance in words, with nouns and verbs perceived as pure metal and adjectives and adverbs being less valuable. Less valuable does not render them useless, just less significant. All sentences have a subject and a verb, but that does not mean that is all that we can use.

If that were so, we would be limiting ourselves to the See Spot run kind of sentences we encountered as we learned to read. Complexity of thought invites shades of colour and precision, which often involves the use of modifiers.

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