Writing teachers consistently urge students to be more concise in their use of language. To employ an “economy of words.” Cutting unnecessary words and phrases is the heart of revision. Frequently, writers “overwrite” a first draft, racing to pour all their thoughts on the page without limiting or censoring themselves. That is fine for a first draft. But, in order to make your piece ready for publication, revision is vital to cut out those needless words that do not contribute directly to your meaning.
One category of words that may often be profitably cut from a draft are adverbs. Adverbs, naturally, modify verbs. In the simple sentence “The man runs quickly,” the subject is “the man,” “runs” is the verb, and the adverb is “quickly.” But is there a more succinct way to write this already short sentence?
There is! And here’s the magic trick … dissolve the adverb within the verb and you not only eliminate a word but you have the added benefit of creating a stronger verb. Strong verbs are the engines that power and propel sentences forward. For my money, the verb is the most important word in any sentence. Instead of “runs quickly” or “runs fast,” use a stronger, more specific verb such as “dashes” or “sprints” and drop the adverb altogether.
In short (and to coin a term), “verbalize” those adverbs by dissolving them inside the verb. When you feed adverbs, like vitamins, to verbs, you make stronger verbs!
© 2014 Bob Dial. All rights reserved.
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