“He drives really slow.” I can get that done pretty quick.” “She was acting strange.” If these sentences sound right to you, they shouldn’t. I know things are getting pretty bad when they sound right to me, and when I talk like that. And I do catch myself doing just that.
Remember adverbs? They are the part of speech that usually modify verbs. They tell how, or when, or where. Much of the time they are formed by adding ly to an adjective. An adjective usually modifies a noun and tells what kind.
Slow is an adjective. Slowly is an adverb:
He is a slow driver. But — He drives really slowly.
I am a quick cleaner. But — I can get that done pretty quickly.
She is a strange girl. But — She was acting strangely.
I guess people are using adjectives when they should be using adverbs because they figure they can shorten the word by taking off the ly at the end. Short seems to be the way these days. LOL (!!!) But it doesn’t mean it’s right. Just saying’…
I was so uplifted by your essay! I have been despairing about the disappearance of adverbs from our language. So many people sound, frankly, poorly educated these days, and I simply refuse to eradicate adverbs in my spoken and written communication, no matter the current trend. The problem with the evolution of language, however, is that once a trend takes hold, it becomes entrenched. Resist! Consistently, avidly and determinedly!!
Thank you so much for the comment. I agree that there is nothing wrong with adverbs — although I hear a lot of flat adverbs, and I am not too fond of those. So let’s keep using those -ly adverbs! I resist a lot of trends!