I miss adverbs of the -ly variety.
In writing, some tell us to rewrite in order to avoid adverbs as an entire part of speech, much less the -ly ones. OK, I get that. If we take the time when writing or editing we can refine a [VERB + ADVERB] combination into a stronger standalone verb. Or describe more in context to avoid the need for modifiers. Stephen King has a great rant about adverbs in this excerpt from his On Writing book.
On the other hand, people are dropping the -ly in their speech yet keeping the rest of the word, thereby not reforming their sentences to use a stronger verb, and it pains me.
Consider:
- “Drive safely” versus “Drive safe”.
- “Walk carefully” versus “Walk careful”.
- “Run quickly” versus “Run quick” versus “Run fast”.
To me, it boils down to choosing to retain -ly version based on whether I use an existence verb or an action verb.
One can “[BE] [ ADVERB]”, but really, one should most often “[DO SOMETHING] [ADVERB-LY]”.
He IS FAST, but he RUNS QUICKLY.
She IS a SAFE driver, but she DRIVES SAFELY.
Then on the third hand {yeeees, maybe I do have three, thank you very much}, while I still love Schoolhouse Rock’s Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, get Your Adverbs Here , it’s more of a sentimental thing at this point because I now want to edit most of the clip. Thanks Mr. King, thanks a lot.