I grew up watching Schoolhouse Rock between cartoons on Saturday mornings. If you're nodding in recognition, you've probably started humming your favorite song from the series. Like most kids, the parts of the songs that burned into my brain were the catchy chorus lyrics. Anything beyond that—well, let's just say there's more knowledge in those songs than I remember!
Thanks to those song lyrics of long ago, many of us know the parts of speech. Yet, we don't know the "why" of what we learned. We think, "What's the big deal? No one ever gets a manuscript back with the words 'wrong adverb usage' scribbled across it." You're right—but they do get their manuscript back!
Proper written communication is extremely important. Untold numbers of people will read what you write. They'll never hear your voice; never see your facial expressions or body language. If you express yourself incorrectly, or leave out something important, they won't hear your message. Your written words are your voice. If you write poorly, what are you saying? More importantly, what are your readers hearing?
This month, let’s start with the basics. First, the definitions that are stuck in my brain:
- Noun: Person, place or thing.
- Verb: Action word.
- Adverb: Describes a verb.
- Adjective: Describes a noun.
That's pretty basic, and it's served me well through the years. But, there's more to defining these words. I checked the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed., 2003, and found the following definitions (edited for space):
- Noun: A word that names something, whether abstract or concrete. It may be a common noun (the name of a generic class or type of person, place, or thing) or a proper noun (formal name of a specific person, place, or thing). (5.4)
- Verb: A word that shows the performance or occurrence of an action or the existence of a condition or a state of being, such as an emotion. A verb is the most essential part of speech—the only one that can express a thought by itself, in a complete grammatical sentence (with the subject understood). (5.97)
- Adverb: A word that qualifies, limits, describes, or modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. An adverb may also qualify a preposition, a conjunction, or a clause. Finally, grammarians have traditionally used the term “adverb” as a catchall to sweep in words that aren’t readily put into categories. (5.143)
- Adjective: A word that adds a new idea to a noun or pronoun either by describing it more definitely or fully or by narrowing a noun’s or pronoun’s meaning. (5.66)
Society has always enjoyed coining new words by changing nouns into verbs ("He googled the topic") and verbs into nouns ("He went for a run"). Thanks to the Internet and cell phones, words and phrases initially used regionally soon spread around the country. Does that make them acceptable? Not always. It depends on the audience you're addressing, and the editor of the publication. When in doubt, stick with traditional wording.
Some words can be used interchangeably as either an adverb or adjective. Words like near, straight, daily, only, and tight. The majority of words ending in
–ly are adverbs, but not all. Our English language rules are filled with exceptions! When using adverbs and adjectives, be aware of what you're modifying. In the following sentence, you're describing the pizza, not the action of tasting it, therefore you need an adjective.
Incorrect: That pizza tastes strangely.
Correct: That pizza tastes strange.
Read your work out loud. If it sounds stilted, choppy, or forced, it needs changing. Choose your words wisely and you'll avoid rejections from editors. Listen to what you are saying!
About The Author:
Kelly Huckaby is The HOME Writer, a freelance writer and web
designer who lives with her husband and five homeschooled children in Oklahoma. Her work has appeared in Cross & Quill,
Homeschooling Horizons and various homeschooling newsletters across the USA and Canada as well as many online magazines.
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