In defense of a Wee Offender
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 | Posted by: Philip Persinger
Neither an English major nor a reader of Joyce Carol Oates and not having spent a day at a writers’ workshop in Iowa, would someone please explain to me why the modest adverb is anathema to the educated class.
I ask this humbly.
Because the educated class are… well, all the words that pop to mind are fairly rude, and I shan’t use them here. Suffice it to say that there has NEVER been a serious argument made against the use of adverbs, there has NEVER been a serious linguistic admonition against them, and the usage rates of adverbs in serious fiction is not measurably different than elsewhere.
Links to better minds than mine saying all these same things available upon request.
Levi
Because when they’re overused, the writing starts to look silly.
“Why?” she asked gaily.
“Because,” he said angrily.
She stalked purposefully up the stairs and ferociously splashed water on her face.
“Well,” he said smugly, “I hardly think that will cleanse you of your womanly sins!”
Ah, but does overuse always call for prohibition?
Well, historically…