The adverb has been subject to more than its dubious rules for centuries. As early as the 19th century, writers were warned not to put adverbs between verbs and words. ARRIVE, a piece of advice that, oddly enough, remains in some currency to this day. Likewise, poor sentence adverbs (“an adverb that limits or describes the meaning of an entire sentence, not just a single word or phrase”) has been largely ignored by many manuals and agencies. evade objection.
The most recent objection to adverbs is perhaps the sharpest objection that this part of speech has ever experienced, for instead of correcting the position of the word in the sentence, this advice attempts to eliminate it. Absolutely as much as possible.
Never use adverbs. Never use passive verbs. Use nouns sparingly.— Melvin Maddocks, Christian Science ScreenJune 13, 1977
Use words that give a clear picture; use adjectives and adverbs sparingly.— Beverly Stokes and Richard A Hatch, Fundamentals of good letter writing are found in business communication texts (IN ABCA Newsletter), March 1, 1975
Elmore Leonard lives by exacting rules of writing – some of which go against the norm. Some of his maxims: Never use adverbs. “They write unnecessarily, and they slow down the story.” — Anthony Wilson-Smith, by Maclean (Toronto, Can.), March 29, 1999
We are unsure of the exact nature of the damage the adverb caused to these writing coaches, but suspect that it warrants the complete removal of this part of speech. The anti-adverb movement seems to have appeared widely in print in the 1970s, although there is no doubt it had begun before that. It was originally found in niche journalism guidelines, an area where brevity and lack of unnecessary words can serve writers and readers well. In addition, Stephen King and Elmore Leonard, beloved novelists who gave writing advice, both abhorred adverbs, often quite harshly, and their disgust helped reinforce the idea that we should avoid words ending in –glass.
Of course, not all adverbs end in –glass. Many of our most common adverbs, such as much, veryAnd if not, avoid this ending. And even though Adverb contain words verb, it can modify many other parts of speech, such as other adverbs, adjectives, and phrases. An adverb is a useful and multifaceted creature, and not just a word ending in –glass clogs prose with unnecessary modifications of verbs.
This defense of the adverb should not be viewed as a satire against writing advice. Many writers use adverbs clumsily or redundantly. And a lot of writing guides give sound adverb advice (e.g., suggesting that adverbs should not be used to try to support a weakly pronounced verb or as a means of avoiding repetition). We recommend that if you feel the need to attack the adverb, you can refrain from doing so by using adverbs like save or never in your advice.
Categories: Usage Notes
Source: vothisaucamau.edu.vn
