adverbs | adverbs
Dec.04.2011
Recently on TV two prominent individuals, one in education and the other in politics, totally missed the adverb bus. They used the adjective form in place of a word that screamed for an “ly” at the end. One person reported, “We take this very serious.” What has happened to the...
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Feb.18.2010
I recently revised my first novel for its reissue in an omnibus edition. I was shocked at the number of adverbs I took out! It seems that in fifteen years of writing and publishing I've developed a healthy allergy to adverbs, and I was glad to have a chance to clear them out of The Singers of...
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Jan.14.2010
Borrowing lyrics with apologies to the original lyricist, "Where have all the adverbs gone?"
Really, where have the adverbs gones Adjectives seem to abound in so many of the books I have read. Too many, in fact, in those literary novels...okay, just my opinion! But adverbs, they have...
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Oct.21.2009
Have you ever had a manuscript gain an unsightly number of pages, so much so that you cringe at the cost of printing it out?
I am usually a short writer. When I started college, I trembled at the thought of ten page papers. Ten pages? Who am I, Charles Dickens?
When I wrote my dissertation and...
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Oct.13.2009
It's funny how when we read, we find that which is missing in our own writing. Having been over and over "Troubled Memories," and then after looking at the first chapter today, I almost screamed. It always felt so exciting when I re-read it. Today I saw the hidden word "boring...
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Jul.24.2009
Writing update: I've sent "Seeing Red" off to the publisher. It's two connected mystery short stories. Departures for me: Writing in first person, one POV, and it's a straight mystery. Thanks to Detective Hussey for his generosity in reading the draft to keep the cop stuff accurate....
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Feb.18.2009
each
Open up an Associated Press Stylebook to the letter E and the very first entry you see is "each. Takes a singular verb." (At least, it's the first entry in the 1992 version I happen to have handy.)
So when we copy editors think of the word "each," we think of matters such...
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Jul.09.2008
RedRoom member Dennis Shay inspired this one in a blog comment. The answer's interesting enough to stand on its own as a blog entry:
Can you say "You did it good" to mean "You did it well"? Yup.
Webster's New World lists good as an adverb. A synonym for well.
American Heritage...
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Jul.06.2008
In the sentence, "Preparations were underway," is "underway" an adverb or an adjective?
I stumbled across this question as I was comparing Webster's New World College Dictionary with Merriam-Webster Online to see whether lexicographers have reached a consensus on whether "...
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Jun.23.2008
Welcome back to the Grammar Phobe lessons! Boy, I know you all are excited about this week's lesson. I hope that you are. Well, humor me, okay?
This week we are talking about verbs. Verbs. I just love the word. Verb, verby, verbs! According to Stunk and White, here's the definition of verbs: a word...
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