Adverbs – good or bad?

Adverbs and adverbial phrases are simply the parts of text that give the reader more information about the verb.

When used well, adverbs (he ran quickly) and adverbial phrases (he ran like someone was chasing him) can bring clarity and depth to both the action and the mood.

A carefully placed adverb can illuminate how a character is feeling. For example:

Rachel shared her apple.

In this sentence, we have no idea how Rachel feels about sharing her apple.

Rachel grudgingly shared her apple.

Now we know precisely how Rachel is feeling.

Another example:

Peter volunteered to coach the office football team.

Well done Peter, that’s great. There is no more information other than that he has volunteered to coach the football team. However, look at it now:

Peter ambitiously volunteered to coach the office football team.

Now we know more. He’s possibly not very good at coaching, or football. Or maybe the team he will be working with are not very good. The simple use of the word “ambitiously” has given us more interest and way more to think about.

However, there are strong adverbs (such as ambitiously) and weak adverbs (such as suddenly and quickly). Often, weak adverbs have been added by an author who lacks confidence in their verbs. For example, why say that
someone walked slowly when you could say they meandered?

Or they spoke quickly, rather than they spoke like a machine gun?

Some adverbs are completely superfluous. For example:

John shouted loudly as Fred ran quickly away.

Is the adverb loudly necessary? No, shouting quietly is quite unusual. Leaving out the word loudly still provides the reader with the same amount of information. Is the adverb quickly necessary? No, running is generally
done quickly, so once again removing the adverb does not impact on the reader’s level of understanding in any way.

However on their own, shouted and ran are weak verbs, and I can see why the author might have wanted to elaborate. Maybe using hollered or yelled might have been better.

And sprinted or dashed would have been better options for ran.
Often adverbial phrases are even stronger. How about this:

John yelled until he ran out of breath as Fred sprinted away.
Or
John yelled as Fred ran away as though someone was chasing him.

Summary
Questions to ask yourself:

• is the adverb adding anything or is the verb strong enough on its own?
• can a stronger verb be used, so that an adverb isn’t necessary?
• might a stronger adverb or an adverbial phrase be available?
  

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