Rogue adjectives and adverbs
Image: Bart Everson (cc)
After wading through the fragrant fields of florid prose that can be the unmistakeable hallmark of some popular fiction, you may think overuse of adjectives and adverbs wouldn’t be such an issue in the drab world of business writing. Well … you’d be right, up to a point.
While you’re unlikely to pick up an annual report filled with words such as ‘breathlessly’, ‘palpitating’ or ‘starstruck’, you may find a variety of less spectacular modifiers and qualifiers seeding your writing that can be an indicator of deeper problems.
When we’re unsure of our argument, we betray ourselves with the qualifiers and modifiers with which we unconsciously sprinkle our prose.
It’s a valuable exercise to review a piece of your writing and circle the following words:
really
very
mostly
often
pretty
just
simply
basically
virtually
some
usually
about.
Ask yourself, ‘Are they really necessary?’
Was ‘really’ necessary in the previous sentence?
Not really.
I mean, ‘no’.
Their presence can be an indication of CYA writing or ‘cover your a*se’. Admittedly, in the real world this can be a sad necessity, but recognise that clarity and directness will be the casualties.
These words can also indicate that you don’t understand your topic well enough – or have enough accurate information about it. Remedy? Further research ...
Think of them as a helpful sign. Your goal is to weed them out, but you can’t do that until you’ve addressed the underlying problem of how they got in there in the first place.
Anytime you can weed out these unnecessary qualifiers, do so.
