Writing Envy Lesson: Use Stronger Verbs Instead of Adverbs

[Envylope]

Do you ever find yourself wanting to say, "she ran quickly?" Don't! Cut out as many of those pesky adverbs as possible. They create needless bloat and make your story harder to read.

She ran quickly. < She Sprinted.

She pushed hard against the heavy metal door. < She heaved against the heavy metal door.

She walked slowly through the mud. < She trudged through the mud.

She gently pushed the door open. < She nudged the door open.

Anytime you consider using an adverb, think about whether or not you know a stronger verb. It will cut out needless words, making your story easier to read.

But Envy, what about this time when I can bleh, bleh, bleh...What about some other time? What about this other person who does it? BLEH, BLEH, BLEH...

Don't be a midwit. Decide for yourself if what you are doing makes sense to you.

That's about it. Blehbye...?

 

[Prince_Azmiran_Myrian]

Well Done.

 

[LeilaniOtter]

My Grmmarly catches these all the time and I kick myself. ?

 

[PancakesWitch]

Do you ever find yourself wanting to say, "she ran quickly?" Don't! Cut out as many of those pesky adverbs as possible. They create needless bloat and make your story harder to read.

She ran quickly. < She Sprinted.

She pushed hard against the heavy metal door. < She heaved against the heavy metal door.

She walked slowly through the mud. < She trudged through the mud.

She gently pushed the door open. < She nudged the door open.

Anytime you consider using an adverb, think about whether or not you know a stronger verb. It will cut out needless words, making your story easier to read.

But Envy, what about this time when I can bleh, bleh, bleh...What about some other time? What about this other person who does it? BLEH, BLEH, BLEH...

Don't be a midwit. Decide for yourself if what you are doing makes sense to you.

That's about it. Blehbye...?

I tell Grok to do this for me

 

[AliceMoonvale]

Easy solution: buy Grammarly Premium
Now I have less of this issue.
#ad

 

[pangmida]

I have a problem with adding adverbs! I do use stronger verbs like the ones you listed, yet I couldn't stop myself from slapping on a redundant adverb anyway.

She gently pushed the door open. --> She nudged the door open. --> Me: "She gently nudged the door open."

I've been doing it so much for all these years that my sentences feel naked without adverbs, even though I know they're unnecessary. ? I'll try to go back and fix them though! Thank you for the tip~

 

[Envylope]

I have a problem with adding adverbs! I do use stronger verbs like the ones you listed, yet I couldn't stop myself from slapping on a redundant adverb anyway.

She gently pushed the door open. --> She nudged the door open. --> Me: "She gently nudged the door open."

I've been doing it so much for all these years that my sentences feel naked without adverbs, even though I know they're unnecessary. ? I'll try to go back and fix them though! Thank you for the tip~

"She gently nudged the door open."

"She quickly sprinted down the hall." XD

If you need other words for things, it helps to get a thesaurus as well. "She bolted down the hall."

 

[pangmida]

"She gently nudged the door open."

"She quickly sprinted down the hall." XD

If you need other words for things, it helps to get a thesaurus as well. "She bolted down the hall."

Me: "She bolted quickly down the hall." ? Jk jk...

Ahh, Thesaurus.com and Google Translate (I'm bilingual lol) are permanent residences on my browser at this point. Grammarly too. And several Google tabs for random research. You can imagine the euphoria from closing all those tabs after a chapter is done.

 

[Envylope]

Me: "She bolted quickly down the hall." ? Jk jk...

Ahh, Thesaurus.com and Google Translate (I'm bilingual lol) are permanent residences on my browser at this point. Grammarly too. And several Google tabs for random research. You can imagine the euphoria from closing all those tabs after a chapter is done.

I have that same feeling. I can't have more than 7 tabs open without feeling insane, and I will close every tab the moment I am not using it.

 

[ThrillingHuman]

She bolted so fast, so incredibly quickly, it was truly amazing...

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

Do you ever find yourself wanting to say, "she ran quickly?" Don't! Cut out as many of those pesky adverbs as possible. They create needless bloat and make your story harder to read.

She ran quickly. < She Sprinted.

She pushed hard against the heavy metal door. < She heaved against the heavy metal door.

She walked slowly through the mud. < She trudged through the mud.

She gently pushed the door open. < She nudged the door open.

Anytime you consider using an adverb, think about whether or not you know a stronger verb. It will cut out needless words, making your story easier to read.

But Envy, what about this time when I can bleh, bleh, bleh...What about some other time? What about this other person who does it? BLEH, BLEH, BLEH...

Don't be a midwit. Decide for yourself if what you are doing makes sense to you.

That's about it. Blehbye...?

Question: How do you know a verb is strong? What is the indication?

Like, as we here in the Philippines were taught to speak English, but it's just on the surface level. We don't even distinguish passive from active voices. The problem with 'acting it out' is the difference in giving meaning to words, like 'lift' for British English, and 'elevator' for American English.

 

[Envylope]

Question: How do you know a verb is strong? What is the indication?

Like, as we here in the Philippines were taught to speak English, but it's just on the surface level. We don't even distinguish passive from active voices. The problem with 'acting it out' is the difference in giving meaning to words, like 'lift' for British English, and 'elevator' for American English.

A strong verb is a verb that can take multiple concepts and combine them. It's a verb that allows you to take out adverbs with their usage.

Hans wants to run, but Hans wants to run fast. What is running fast? It's sprinting. Therefore, sprint is a stronger verb. By the way, what if Hans wants to do something that is between running and walking? A stronger verb in that case is jog.

If you wanted to say that Hans ran slowly, you would say that Hans jogged. Basically, a strong verb is anything that can not only tell you what a character is doing, it can tell you HOW they are doing it.

Let's say that hans wants to push someone hard. Then Hans will shove them. Shoving tells you how Hans pushed. If Hans wants to lift something with great effort, he might heave it, but since I already used that, he might also haul it. Usually, the strong verb will make sense in the context as well.

Example: Hans hauled the trunk up the stares. With his freehand, he heaved the heavy door open. Once the chest was inside, he breathed a sigh of relief, and flopped onto his couch.

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

A strong verb is a verb that can take multiple concepts and combine them. It's a verb that allows you to take out adverbs with their usage.

Hans wants to run, but Hans wants to run fast. What is running fast? It's sprinting. Therefore, sprint is a stronger verb. By the way, what if Hans wants to do something that is between running and walking? A stronger verb in that case is jog.

If you wanted to say that Hans ran slowly, you would say that Hans jogged. Basically, a strong verb is anything that can not only tell you what a character is doing, it can tell you HOW they are doing it.

Let's say that hans wants to push someone hard. Then Hans will shove them. Shoving tells you how Hans pushed. If Hans wants to lift something with great effort, he might heave it, but since I already used that, he might also haul it. Usually, the strong verb will make sense in the context as well.

Example: Hans hauled the trunk up the stares. With his freehand, he heaved the heavy door open. Once the chest was inside, he breathed a sigh of relief, and flopped onto his couch.

So for this part, having a thesaurus nearby also helps in avoiding redundancy in words, though this will take time to master for non-native English speakers/writers like me. As in the example of 'jog' and 'running slow,' we all grew up thinking 'jog' is a word of its own, and not really an 'in-between' for walking and running.

 

[Envylope]

So for this part, having a thesaurus nearby also helps in avoiding redundancy in words, though this will take time to master for non-native English speakers/writers like me. As in the example of 'jog' and 'running slow,' we all grew up thinking 'jog' is a word of its own, and not really an 'in-between' for walking and running.

It is a word of it's own, but jogging is faster than walking, slower than running, and way slower than sprinting. You can also use words like hobbled if a character is injured or something. There are so many opportunities to replace adverbs with stronger verbs. "Hans dug the bullet out of his leg and hobbled away from the shooter."

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

It is a word of it's own, but jogging is faster than walking, slower than running, and way slower than sprinting. You can also use words like hobbled if a character is injured or something. There are so many opportunities to replace adverbs with stronger nouns. "Hans dug the bullet out of his leg and hobbled away from the shooter."

Hmm...so if I understand it correctly, stronger verbs are usually words that are variations of the 'base' action? Like run = sprint, or dash?

Edit: Fking hell, I learned more proper English here than in school. ? ?

 

[Envylope]

Hmm...so if I understand it correctly, stronger verbs are usually words that are variations of the 'base' action? Like run = sprint, or dash?

Stronger verbs can be variants, yes. More importantly, they give you the HOW. If you want to say "run slow", think of another action that describes it. If you want to say "push hard" the same thing applies. Basically any time that you want to describe HOW the verb is happening, try to find a stronger verb that does describe that HOW.

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

Stronger verbs can be variants, yes. More importantly, they give you the HOW. If you want to say "run slow", think of another action that describes it. If you want to say "push hard" the same thing applies. Basically any time that you want to describe HOW the verb is happening, try to find a stronger verb that does describe that HOW.

Ayt, thanks for the clarification!

 

[Maelstrom556]

I really need to remember this. It's so hard to think about not using adverbs and such modifiers when in the flow state sometimes. I guess that's where the "editing" phase comes in, but even then I end up distracted by more immediate errors.

 

[greyblob]

serously, who the hell is this envy guy. I keep seeing his name everywhere

 

[Envylope]

serously, who the hell is this envy guy. I keep seeing his name everywhere

Your mom.