Adverbs are words that normally end in an ly and should usually be avoided when possible. I used two ly words in the last sentence; nobody can avoid them all. Many new writers delete all of their ly words but don’t use a stronger verb in its place. The reason to delete ly words is because stronger verbs can replace them. Here’s a list of a few strong verbs you can use to replace your weaker verbs and adverbs.
Walk:
slowly walked – sauntered, strolled, loped, moseyed, wandered, meandered
quickly walked – strode, darted, rushed, treaded, marched, advanced
Look:
angrily looked – glowered, glared
longingly looked – gaped, ogled, stared
quickly looked – glanced
Talk:
loudly talked – shouted, bellowed
softly talked – whispered, mumbled
Sit:
sat slowly – perched, rested, settled
sat quickly or angrily or clumsily – plopped, plodded
Whenever you see an ly word, look up the verb it describes in the thesaurus, and see if you can find a stronger verb to convey the same thing without the adverb.
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