One of the questions that many writers confront is "My writing is so boring that even I don’t want to read it.  How can I make my writing more interesting, appealing and attractive to my readers?"  This is a very good question, but there are many answers.  In fact, there are many ways to make your writing more interesting.  This week, we are going to discuss just one of those ways. 

Can you imagine picking up a mystery book and reading the following?

“The man got in the car.  He drove his car to the old house.  He walked up to the door and knocked on it.  The door opened.”

Question:  Is this man a friend or enemy of the owner of the house?

Answer:  You don’t know.  There is too little information here.  You, however, can add some words that would help the reader take a good guess as to whether the man is a friend or enemy (or other).  Not only are these sentences unclear, they are also very boring. 

How do those famous writers (i.e.; Stephen King, Agatha Christie) make their ideas and sentences so good that you are willing to spend $25 just on one of their books?  One way good writers make their writing more interesting is to add adverbs.  What’s an adverb?  Let us explain.

An adverb is a word that has many jobs.  One of its jobs is to describe HOW an action is done.  The first sentence in the above example reads

“The man got in the car.” 

However, we must ask, “HOW did the man get in the car?”  Did he get in the car slowly, quickly, cowardly, ferociously, bravely, wildly, rowdily, quietly, loudly, brazenly, boldly, or shamelessly?  By answering how the man got in the car, you describe the situation to your readers.  The readers can now visualize and understand the scene more clearly.  In turn, your readers will find your writing much more interesting. 

Take another look at the adverbs listed in the above paragraph.  What did you notice?  They all end in –ly.  Actually, NOT all adverbs end in –ly, and NOT all –ly words are adverbs.  However, many adverbs DO end in –ly.

Let’s add adverbs to our sentences from above:

“The man quickly got in the car.  He peacefully drove his car to the old house.  He happily walked up to the door and swiftly knocked on it.  The door  opened immediately.”

Was he a friend or foe (enemy)?  A friend, of course.  The words that tell us that he is probably a friend are the adverbs—quickly, peacefully, happily, swiftly, and immediately.  It is the second and third adverbs that tell us this man is most likely a friend. 

Now, let’s change the adverbs:

“The man angrily got in the car.  He frantically drove his car to the old house.  He ferociously walked up to the door and loudly knocked on it.  The door opened violently.”

Was he a friend or foe?  He is most likely a foe.  Again, it was the adverbs that told us.  As you can see, adding adverbs is extremely important.  It tells the reader a lot about what you are writing about. Remember this rule:  

“A good writer is like an artist—he/she paints a picture in the reader’s mind using words.”

How do you make an adverb?  One of the best ways to form adverbs is to add –ly to the end of an adjective.

Now, the question is where do you put them?  That is somewhat easy.  There are many exceptions in English grammar, but the best way to explain the rules about where to put the adverb is to follow the suggestions below.

1. If the verb you are modifying or describing is the last word in the sentence, put the adverb at the end of the sentence. 

Example: The sun rises.

If you want to add the adverb "slowly," look at the above sentence.  The last word is rises.  Therefore, put "slowly" at the end.

                 The sun rises slowly.

There are some verbs which, although at the end of the sentence, can still have an adverb in front of it.  

Example:  The sun slowly rises.   

Some verbs only allow an adverb after it when the verb is at the end of the sentence, but others are best in front of the verb.

2. If the verb you are modifying or describing is NOT the last word in the sentence, put the adverb directly before the verb, at the end of the sentence, or at the end of the clause with the verb.

Example: Rebecca leaves the house.

If you want to add the adverb "quickly," look at the following sentence.  The verb (leaves) is in the middle of the sentence.  Hence, you have two ways of writing this sentence:

                 Rebecca quickly leaves the house.

                 Rebecca leaves the house quickly.

Quiz

Directions:  Read each sentence below.  Then, add the adverb in parentheses.  Remember: there may be more than one answer!

Answers are below. 

1.  The manager of the restaurant interviewed lots of people for the job of waiter.  (aggressively)

___________________________________________________________________ 

2. The dog barked. (continuously)

___________________________________________________________________ 

3. The rocket blasted off. (loudly)

___________________________________________________________________ 

4. The surgeon operated on the patient.  (nervously)

___________________________________________________________________ 

5.  I have studied Russian.  (diligently)

___________________________________________________________________ 

6.  By Tuesday, Jordan and Joshua will have been on the mountain for three days.  (reluctantly)

___________________________________________________________________ 

1.  The manager of the restaurant interviewed lots of people for the job of waiter.  (aggressively)

Answer: The manager of the restaurant aggressively interviewed lots of people for the job of waiter.  

Explanation: The verb in this sentence is interviewed.  You cannot put the adverb aggressively at the end of the sentence because it is too far away from the verb interviewed. 

The manager of the restaurant interviewed lots of people.

You may be able to put aggressively at the end.  Thus, you could write the following sentence:  The manager of the restaurant interviewed lots of people aggressively.  However, this sentence is also awkward and a little confusing.

Explanation: The grammar tense here is the future perfect progressive (will have been).  The main verb is "been."  Therefore, the adverb goes before "been."  In fact, if the grammar tense contains a form of the verb "to be," put the adverb in front of the verb to be and NOT in front of the main verb (see rule 6 below).  You can't put the adverb at the end of the sentence because it is too far away from the verb.  

Rules to Remember!