adverbs that contain the same meaning that's already in the verb of a sentence?

Question

I am reading William Zinsser's book "On Writing Well". In it he writes: "But the secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. Every word that serves no function, every long word that could be a short word, **every adverb that carries the same meaning that's already in the verb**, every passive construction that leaves the reader unsure of who is doing what - these are the thousand and one adulterants that weaken the strength of a sentence." I am not sure what he means by adverbs that contain the same meaning that's already in the verb. Please provide me with examples of this and tips on how to avoid it. My goal is to learn how to identify instances where this happens and fix them.

Answer 1

Here is an example.

She rapidly darted across the street.

Darted (according to dictionary.com) means "move or run somewhere suddenly or rapidly."

Darted contains, by definition, the suddenly or rapidly. Adding rapidly is, again, unnecessary as "I slowly darted across the street" makes no sense.

The way you check your own writing is to look for your adverbs and check the verb to ensure the verb requires the modification.

Another example below is worth noting:

The ducklings followed behind their mother. (This is what is known as an adverb in place; it is not a preposition in this usage.)

In this situation, "followed" already tells the reader the position of the ducklings in relationship to their mother. One doesn't follow ahead of someone or something. One doesn't follow alongside someone or something.

So to add "behind" as an adverb is unnecessary if the verb is followed.

Compare this to:

The ducklings swam behind their mother.

Here, the adverb is necessary for clarity. The ducklings could be in front of, next to, or behind (or some of each).

Swam behind = proper use of verb and adverb

Followed behind = a bit redundant

Answer 2

I have been a Zinsser fan for years and think this is a great question. A few examples of the construction you're asking about are:

He flew swiftly from the scene of the crime. -- In this use, fly already contains an element of swiftness, so the adverb is redundant.

The frightened child babbled incoherently when trying to describe her nightmare. -- To babble is, by definition, to speak incoherently. The adverb merely repeats what the verb already says.

The shifty characters loitered idly on the street corner. -- Again, to loiter means to stand around idly, so the adverb adds nothing but length to the sentence.

I tend to commit this error quite frequently in my own writing and typically devote my first edit to cutting out all unnecessary adverbs and adjectives and finding more meaningful verbs and nouns.

Good luck!