Adverbs can be your friends WAS: Re: The Return of Tom Swift

[Haggridd]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Amy Z" <lupinesque at y...> 
wrote:
> June wrote:

> > 
> > THE ONLY WORDS YOU NEED FOR SPEECH ATTRIBUTION 
> ARE:
> > 
> > He/she said
> > 
> > he/she asked

The only liquid you need to drink is water, but would you seriously 
want to forgo fresh-squeezed orange juice, ice cold milk, coca-cola 
classic, an agg cream (you New Yorkers know what I mean), a dry 
martini, single malt scotch, lapsang souchong tea, espresso, 
cappucino, lemonade, Dr. Brown's Black Cherry soda, Killian's Irish 
Red beer, draft Guiness stout, or scumble? (For you non-Discworld 
readers, scumble is made from apples-- well, mainly apples.)

In all seriousness, I think dialogue is handled best wn there is no 
need for attribution because it is clear from the dialogue itself.  
Judicious use of other lucutions than "he said/she said" can relieve 
the monotony wit out overpowering the dialogue.  I have no 
objections to a "she asked" or a "he answered" when a question is 
posed.  Nor would I delete a "they chorused" at a group response.
The sparing-- extremely sparing--- use of modifying adverbs can add 
to the flavor of a passage.  Which of these are acceptable and which 
are not I can only answer by quoting Justice Brennan's rule for 
finding obscenity:  "I know it when I see it."

Haggridd (who very much appreciates Amy Z's Swiftie in her previous 
post)