The Controversy Over Adverbs

So here I am back in a writing class and I turn in my paper, which has very few adverbs for the entire piece, and the teachers announces that adverbs are our enemies. Well, she didn't actually say that they were something to loose sleep over, her main idea was that adverbs muddy up the clean water and cause clear writing to become hazy.

I always enjoyed saying how the cat bounced playfully onto the bed and dug its claws deep into my skin. But just like a cat's claw, that playful bounce becomes a prick into my writing skin as the red editing pen comes out to dash away the playful part of the bounce. My question is, if you want to be concise and say it was a playful bounce, why go around the block three times by saying: The cat was in a playful mood and jumped up on the bed. Blah, blah, blah, etc. Do you get what I'm saying? Using an adverb, I eliminated the need for extra sentences and got my meaning across in a direct manner.

Perhaps brevity isn't what my teacher is looking for. Of course, I never said I was an expert on grammar. Ask my sister, Loretta (Art By Retta), and she will tell you how poor my grammar was when I first attempted to share my stories. If anyone could be an editor in my family, it would be her. But it seems to me that adverbs were created for a reason in the English language, and it couldn't be to just cut them out of everything. I suppose I'll have to persevere and do my own research on the subject. After all, I seem to remember at least a few prominent authors who were willing to risk the editor's slice and have faithfully added a few adverbs.

We must learn the rules before we can break them. And we can offer up a resounding hooray for any adverbs that slip through the editor's pen.