Adverbs like tellingly and revealingly that comment on a whole statement, used only where the paragraph has earned them.
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Two adverbs, two completely different jobs. One describes the action; the other describes the writer.
A. He resigned quickly.
B. Tellingly, he resigned.
Both contain an adverb. They are doing entirely unrelated jobs.
A tells you how the resignation happened — fast rather than slow. The adverb is attached to the verb, and it is a fact about the world.
B tells you nothing about the resignation at all. It tells you how the writer wants you to read it: as a fact that gives something away.
Remove quickly from A and you lose a fact. Remove tellingly from B and you lose the writer.
Three claims these adverbs can make, one that only points, and the one that can read as smug.
Almost every comment adverb you need makes one of three claims about the fact it introduces.
1 — This fact EXPOSES something. tellingly · revealingly
Tellingly, none of the three departments submitted a figure.
The claim is that somebody has given something away, usually without meaning to. This is the strongest of the three, because it implies an actor with something to hide. Your next sentence must say what was given away.
2 — This fact is UNEXPECTED. curiously · strikingly
Curiously, take-up was highest in the districts with the fewest terminals.
The claim is that this cuts against what a reader would predict. Your next sentence must supply what they would have predicted, or the oddity is invisible.
3 — This fact was EXPECTED. unsurprisingly · predictably
Unsurprisingly, the scheme with the largest budget produced the largest reduction.
The claim is that this follows from something already established. Your next sentence — or your previous one — must supply the something.
Eighteen sentences. Sort them by what the adverb claims — and notice that one bucket claims nothing at all.
Sort each item into the correct category
Eight adverbs and what each one commits you to. The right-hand column is the bill, not the definition.
Terms
Definitions
Eight short passages. In each, decide whether the adverb was earned by the sentences around it.
Each item gives you a short passage. The question is never whether the adverb is a good word. It is whether the sentences around it have supplied what the adverb promised.
Four of the eight are earned.
"The consultation ran for six weeks. Tellingly, the department published nothing about it."
Three chains. The third resolves to no adverb at all, because the comment would not have been earned.
Chain 1
The sentence: The committee examined the two proposals ______ before rejecting both.
Candidates: curiously / carefully
Step 1 — Does the adverb describe HOW they examined, or the writer's reading of the fact?
Step 2 — Therefore the expert writes: The committee examined the two proposals before rejecting both.
Chain 2
The context: Applications from the two largest districts were processed within a week. Those from the six smallest took an average of eleven.
The next sentence: ______, the two largest districts were the only ones with a dedicated caseworker.
Candidates: tellingly / unsurprisingly
Step 1 — Does the new fact expose something, or explain something the reader has already seen?
Step 2 — Therefore the expert writes: , the two largest districts were the only ones with a dedicated caseworker.
Chain 3
You are opening a paragraph. Your draft reads: ______, the scheme was abandoned after eighteen months. Nothing has come before it — this is the paragraph's first sentence.
Candidates: predictably / tellingly / no adverb
Step 1 — What would either adverb be promising, and has anything supplied it?
Step 2 — Therefore the expert writes: scheme was abandoned after eighteen months.