We (Edith Hope Fine and Judith Josephson) are the Grammar Patrol. Both of us taught for years and are now writers, with thirty plus books between us, including our two popular grammar guides, Nitty-Gritty Grammar and More Nitty-Gritty Grammar. For close to twenty years, we taught writing and grammar basics and now we blog about grammar for writers.
Miss our first blog post on adverbs? Learn How and When to Use Adverbs.
Adverbs can empower your writing or cripple your sentences when they prop up weak verbs.
First, ready for a quick dose of intensive grammar? Intransitive verbs don’t take adverbs.
Ack. Intransitive? What’s that? To remember the meaning of “intransitive,” know its inside story. The prefix “in” means “not.” The root “trans” means “across.” You can’t “carry” an “object” across an intransitive verb. There was house. He sat chair. Those sound goofy with an object after the verb. So was and sat are intransitive. In a dictionary, you’ll see v.i.—meaning “verb intransitive”—after some verbs. That’s a reminder not to plop an object down after those verbs.
Right (Thumbs Up): Mr. Dribnobble lectures endlessly.
Wrong (Thumbs Down): Mr. Dribnobble is endlessly.
Why? The second one sounds weird! Use the adverb “endlessly” to describe how Mr. Dribnobble lectures. Don’t use “endlessly” with a form of the verb “to be.”
You need to pack a clear understanding of adverbs in your writer’s toolkit. Don’t use an adverb when a powerful verb can do the job. Bag adverbs completely? They do have their useful purpose, as in “The bobcat crept soundlessly toward the plump rabbit.”
