Politics

Distrust badverbs.

Judge David Weinzweig | 1.14.2026 8:01 AM

Adverbs were invented to serve other words and phrases, like Robin to Batman, literary sidekick to superhero, offering color and commentary about verbs and adjectives. They come in at least five flavors:

Adverbs of time tell the reader when something has or will happen, pointing to a date on the calendar (today, yesterday, tomorrow) and general time periods (forever, soon).

Adverbs of frequency tell the reader how often something has or will happen (constantly, frequently, rarely, always, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly).

Adverbs of manner tell the reader how something happened (slowly, beautifully, loudly, wisely). Adverbs of manner often stand next to the main verb.

Adverbs of degree tell the reader that something is intense (very, clearly, totally).

Adverbs of place tell the reader where something happened (everywhere, here, there, under, somewhere).

Adverbs are not your friend. I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops.  —Stephen King

Adverbs do many things for writers. They are frequently used in the law to intensify and hedge. I distrust hedge and intensifier adverbs, which I call badverbs, because they tell the reader what to think with no support or explanation. Badverbs are not your friend. They compromise the cause of clarity and distract from the message, breeding doubt in the........

© Reason.com