Aspiring science-fiction authors receive one piece of advice above all others: Forsake the adverb, the killer of prose. It’s terribly, awfully, horrendously important. But why? Really, adverbs aren’t ...

“Many older adults said they feel positively about their lives,” the New York Times reported recently. That sentence probably sounds as acceptable to you as it did to the Times editors. But what if ...

I've been promoting a new book of short stories: I've been giving public readings and interviews. It's a great and privileged thing to be able to do and of course it bucks one's ego immensely. It's ...

Count the adverbs in the following sentence. Therefore, we should wait outside awhile because the very lovely and kindly family will be there soon to tell us fast whether everyone is well. Would it ...

Marlon James makes us wish we were back in school again, taking his classes. Marlon James, the Jamaican-born Macalester College English professor who last month won the 2015 Man Booker Prize for his ...

If, somewhere out there in Grammarland, adverbs have their own post office, I’m sure my picture is hanging in it, probably above the caption “Public Enemy No. 1” or “Wanted Dead or Alive.” I don’t ...