Hype reduces reading, sharing — even sales
When “king of usability” Jakob Neilsen cut the fluff from a webpage about Nebraska, the neutral webpage was 27% more useful.… Read the full article
modifiers
Adjectives can sell
‘Applewood-smoked bacon’ just tastes better
Turns out a Southwestern Tex-Mex salad by any other name would not taste as good.
Vivid menu descriptions — “applewood-smoked bacon,” “Maytag blue cheese” and “buttery plump pasta,” for instance — can increase restaurant sales up to 27 percent, according to research by Brian Wansink.… Read the full article
Why minimize modifiers?
They make journalists cry ‘hype,’ reveal shoddy research & more
Why cut adjectives and adverbs from your copy?
Because modifiers:
1. Strike journalists as hype
Writing media relations pieces?… Read the full article
‘Killing me softly’
Use modifiers to change, not intensify, meaning
Beware adverbs, counsels The Poynter Institute’s Roy Peter Clark.
Too often, they dilute the meaning of the verb or repeat it: “The building was completely destroyed.”
Instead, of using adverbs to intensify meaning, Clark suggests, use them to change meaning.… Read the full article