Adverbs: When to Cut Them and When to Keep Them

What counts as an adverb

An adverb modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb. Many end in -ly — quickly, carefully, really — but not all: very, often, soon, almost and quite are adverbs too.

Adverbs are not wrong. The advice to cut them is really advice to check whether each one is working.

Three kinds worth cutting

1. Adverbs propping up a weak verb. One precise verb usually beats a vague verb plus an adverb.

2. Adverbs that repeat the verb. The verb already carries the meaning.

• whispered quietly → whispered
• shouted loudly → shouted
• completely finished → finished
• absolutely essential → essential

3. Empty intensifiers. Very, really, extremely, totally and incredibly are meant to add force, but they usually dilute it. Very tired is weaker than exhausted; really important is weaker than critical.

Adverbs worth keeping

Keep an adverb when removing it changes the meaning.

• She rarely replies to email. — Without rarely, you are saying the opposite.
• Take the tablets daily. — The timing is the instruction.
• The plan nearly worked. — That’s a different story from the plan worked.

Adverbs of time, frequency and degree like these are information, not decoration.

Dialogue tags

In fiction, said plus an adverb — “Stop,” she said sharply — is often a sign that the dialogue isn’t doing its job. If the line itself sounds sharp, the adverb can go. If it doesn’t, consider rewriting the line.

A quick editing pass

1. Search your draft for ly (⌘F or Ctrl+F) to find most of them.
2. For each one, ask: does a single verb say this better? Does the verb already say it? Would the sentence lose information without it?
3. Cut or replace only where the answer is clear. A few well-placed adverbs are fine.

This is also one of the quickest ways to trim an essay that is over its word limit — see how to reduce your word count.