Most good writers understand that adjectives and adverbs usually aren't worth the space that take up. Now there's a study, reported at the Neuromarketing blog -- The Dark Side of Adjectives -- that supports that belief.
Researcher looked at a variety of online content and compared what was spread around on social media sites:
... the least shared content had the highest use of adverbs and adjectives. This isn’t totally surprising. Experts have told us for decades that nouns and verbs move the reader forward, but modifiers slow the reader down.
(The research is published on the book Hierarchy of Contagiousness by Dan Zarrella, available at Amazon or at Powell's.)
If you want your writing to be spread around the web, go easy on the modifiers. In fact, if you want people read, understand and be motivated by your writing -- online or off -- start trimming out adjectives and adverbs. It's an easy way to improved response.
