Adverbs: Narrative versus Dialogue
Writer Compass Writing craft
If you’re like me, it’s been a minute (or decades) since high school English, and I never had to diagram a sentence, so let’s start with a definition:
ad·verb: noun grammar
from Latin adverbium, from ad- ‘to’ (expressing addition) + verbum ‘word, verb’
Words that modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, or whole clauses by adding information about how, when, where, or to what extent an action or quality occurs, including quietly, often, nearby, and very.
Adverbs add flavor to writing and can contribute to an author’s voice, but like too much salt, too many adverbs in a book can leave a nasty taste and a DNF (Did Not Finish) tainting word-of-mouth recommendations.
Obscenely green, the garden sprawled exuberantly under the summer rain, leaves gleaming wetly as fat droplets splashed noisily into puddles that spread hungrily across the path. The air hung heavily, sweetly scented with crushed herbs and overripe blossoms, while the clouds brooded ominously overhead, releasing fresh sheets of water that shivered delicately along every trembling blade of grass.
The topic of “Adverbs” covers a lot of ground, so let’s look at how adverbs work in narrative versus in dialogue, because they behave differently in each—and the bar for using them isn’t the same.
In narrative, readers often feel adverbs are authorial—you, the writer, telling them how to see or feel something.
She slammed the door and stalked down the hallway, obviously furious with him.If your context already carries a lot of weight, adverb redundancy can usually be cut by choosing a stronger verb.
She stepped quietly into the nursery so she wouldn’t wake the baby.Changed to:
She tiptoed into the nursery so she wouldn’t wake the baby.I say usually be cut, because in narrative you should:
Keep adverbs that add a specific shading, especially when they encode irony or character attitude. This has more to do with your voice AND how you’ve drawn your characters.
Cut adverbs that just intensify what the sentence already makes clear (really, truly, very, mostly, barely, completely).
This takes practice.
Because she barely passed the exam, the counselor warned her she might not graduate next year.Adverb cut:
Because she passed the exam, the counselor warned her she might not graduate next year.The barely is necessary to understand context. And it’s better (and shorter) than adding a cliché:
Because she passed the exam by the skin of her teeth, the counselor warned her she might not graduate next year.In dialogue, spoken language is naturally full of intensifiers that can be strong markers of voice, class, era, and emotional state. When a character says, “I really don’t want to die here” or “He’s actually serious,” the adverbs should be part of their personality and dynamic, not just padding.
So, in dialogue, ask yourself:
1. Does this sound like this specific character talking?
2. Does the adverb add emotion, attitude, or irony that isn’t already obvious?
If yes, it’s usually worth keeping, even if you’ve cut similar adverbs in narration.
How do you put this into practice?
Final draft cleanup pass(es).
Go over narrative first by searching for “ly” or “ly ” (ly with a space after it). Ask yourself if the verb + context already implies the modifying adverb. If yes, cut or rephrase.
Check dialogue and internal monologue by searching for “ly” and “ly ”. Be more lenient here. Cut only the ones that feel generic or repetitive for that character. That way, you keep your conversational *panash* while making the narrative voice lean and precise.
Here is a suggested list of adverbs to check outside the “ly” words. Make a pass through your finished manuscript for each one and decide to cut or keep based on context. A lot of work? Yes. Worth it? Yes.
Very - Really - Truly - Actually - Extremely - Totally - Completely
Absolutely - Suddenly - Probably - Definitely - Certainly - Basically
Literally - Virtually - Interestingly - Quite - Hopefully
The main adverb “rule” for writers is to decrease or cut the number of adverbs in your work by using stronger verbs, or to make sure your context is clear in the surrounding narration or dialogue.
When used in context, adverbs can make your writing clearer and more precise, emphasize a specific detail with a single word, increase sentence diversity, or replace an unnecessarily descriptive phrase with a single word for clarity, saving words in your word count.
Ultimately, this rule comes down to experience. If you know how to use an adverb well, then adverb away! If you’re not sure, be cautious or avoid them. ♣️