Aspiring science-fiction authors receive one piece of advice above all others: Forsake the adverb, the killer of prose. It’s terribly, awfully, horrendously important. But why? Really, adverbs aren’t ...

Good questions have been piling up in my inbox lately. Ed in Albany, N.Y., had a question about a recent column in which I mentioned people “who just won’t stop using the word ‘over’ wrong.” Here’s Ed ...

“John quickly pulled out his gun, shakily aimed it at Joe, and angrily shot him dead.” There’s one way you might write a line of fiction (or, if you’re a member of my immediate family, memoir). Here’s ...

Mastering adjectives and adverbs is crucial for vivid and engaging writing. Many students struggle with this concept, leading to awkward prose and undermining their credibility. Adjectives describe ...

Lately … I’ve begun rethinking my adverbial antipathy.For years, I’ve known without a doubt what to do if I found an adverb in my copy: exterminate the sucker ...

I am gladly, fully, openly in support of adverbs. Despite our democratic ideals, schoolchildren throughout America learn that not all words are created equal: Nouns and verbs make sense of the world, ...