“That’s not how it happened,” Jane said quickly. She frequently
lectures on a variety of topics. My J-school sentences were much
less exciting without adverbs to modify the verbs. “I really had
no say in the matter,” Mike said. He speaks at area colleges.
Many adverbs are subjective, and therefore, they have no place
in a news story. Copywriting is a different ballgame. In my
promotional copy, I haul them out of their dusty bin and pepper
my work with adverbs, which emphasize how my clients’ products
or services benefit potential customers. This attorney returns
calls swiftly. Adverbs, in addition to modifying verbs, can also
help combine related sentences to eliminate unnecessary words.
(My J-school professors might even be proud.) Consider this:
This attorney works with the court. She stays abreast of the
latest legal trends. She knows how to get results. Rewritten
with adverbs, the sentence reads: By attentively staying abreast
of the latest legal trends, Attorney Smith works closely with
the court to get