The road to Hell is paved with adverbs

[awgifford]

I hate adverbs. Well okay I don't hate all adverbs, but when I come across some really bad ones, I must share.

These cannot possibly be words:

Prettily, Messily, Dazzlingly, Clichely

Yes, I have actually seen these in print. I just have to ask: What stayed the editors pen?

[MontiLee]

YAY!

I was wondering who would bring up the dreaded adverb first.

There are forums where people take cover and dleave the board for a few days while the furor dies down over the very subject.

While adverbs have their place and like any tool in a writer's box, can be used properly and judiciously, adverbs can become the crutch of the lazy writer. (ha, see what I did there.)

Does "clichely" rhyme with "quichely"?

For as many words in the dictionary, I'll never quite grasp why some words get the dreaded 'ly' tacked on the their backsides.

Dazzlingly, her hair messily piled upon her head, Patty smiled prettily.

Ow.

When one thinks about it, it's a pretty stupid word, or it's a word that is stupid prettily.

[micah]

Ow, Ow, Ow! My brains hurt.

Clichely? Seriously? Son of a biscuit.

My personal beef is with writers who tack on an adverb because they are too lazy to restructure their sentences to convey their ideas properly.

That and impossible adverbs, the ones which just don't fit with the verb. Sure "screamed silently" packs a punch when it's used once, but when the author uses the same verbal trick again and again, well it just makes me want to start punching stuff.

[awgifford]

Yes, I am serious. The sentence was: She smiled clichely. Whatever the hell that means. Needless to say, I stopped reading.

My favorite sentence with bad adverbs comes from a writer we all know. I don't think I want to mention her name here since some of you might like her work.

This well known author wrote the following: They ate in prettily decorated resturants.

I just wanted to scream. This is just lazy writing. Again, I stopped reading.

[jgifford]

Oh I know who that author is....tee hee... but here's one:

She looked at him confusedly, while he stared at her owlishly.

I can't make up bad phrases like that.

[awgifford]

Belatedly was a favorite word for the last author I just read.

[Stout Roost]

I had that nasty little habit beaten out of me when I was with the Flint Area Writers.