Month: July 2016

Do Not Go Gently Into That Adverb Denial

  Do Not Go Gently Into That Adverb Denial   Adverbs are about as popular as flatulence on your honeymoon. As aspiring writers, we are told to “avoid adverbs” or “avoid –ly words”. Oh dear. At least 30 –ly words are adjectives, not adverbs: likely, ghastly,...

Tag Verbs in Dialogues

Diz, the English teacher, handed me back my homework. He’d underlined “she said” ten times in red. He peered at me over his glasses. “Look, Parkes, we know she said it. If she had two lips, a tongue, and half-decent vocal cords, of course she said it. We want to know...