Eliminating Adverbs

A few years ago, I completed a five course online creative writing course through Wesleyan University. The courses taught me how to strengthen my creative and technical writing. Although I did not receive college credit, I learned invaluable lessons about using the right words to convey my overall message.

My favorite class was called The Element of Style. It focused on writing concisely while also using powerful language. Our first assignment was to write a 3,200-word story. The assignment was mundane compared to other assignments.

The next week’s lesson focused on shortening sentences and paragraphs in order to engage the reader. The assignment for the second week entailed taking our 3,200-word story and eliminating half of the words. We had to tell the same exact story in half the words. My initial thought was, “Impossible!” I’ve always been a concise writer, and I didn’t think I could complete the assignment.

Turns out, the slashing project was my favorite out of all the assignments for the online program. But how did I cut out 50 percent of the words and tell the same story?

The easiest way to make writing more concise is to eliminate adverbs. Instead of writing, “He ran very quickly up the hill,” which contains seven words and two adverbs, you could write, “He sprinted up the hill.” The second sentence is 30 percent shorter, and it is more powerful and descriptive. The English language has a plethora of imaginative and formidable verbs. Sometimes adverbs are helpful, but they should be limited; even in creative writing.

Some of the most common—and unnecessary—adverbs are very, just, ever, and so. Once I complete a story, blog post, or article, the first thing I do is a word search for very, just, ever, and so. About 95 percent of the time I can either eliminate the words altogether, without altering the sentence, or I can rewrite the sentence without using those words. This practice is an easy word saver and it strengthens your writing. After a while, it becomes second nature to omit those words from your writing.

Teachers in high school and professors in college often create writing assignments based on word count instead of powerful content, and drilling into kids words over matter creates poor writers. I was encouraged to overuse adverbs and adjectives, resulting in clunky and sluggish writing. The creative writing courses along with several books by renowned authors helped me recognize and correct the tendency to write superfluous prose.