Why Cutting Adverbs Could Revolutionize Your Writing Forever
Why are adverbs that end in -ly so awful? I’m glad you asked. Let’s take a look at an example sentence:
“Why don’t you come over here and sit by me?” she asked flirtatiously.
It’s a weak sentence. The adverb flirtatiously tells the reader how she asked the question, when instead it should show how she asked:
“Why don’t you come over here and sit by me?” she asked, batting her eyelashes.
It may not be the greatest sentence ever written, but showing the character batting her eyelashes is a lot better than telling readers she asked a question flirtatiously. Visual cues show readers what’s happening; adverbs tell them. And we want to show what’s happening whenever possible to make our writing more vivid and easier to visualize.
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