Detect -ly adverbs in your text and compute the adverb rate. Pinpoint the sentences with the heaviest adverb load and edit toward leaner prose.
Use the adverb detector when editing fiction, marketing copy, or any writing where pace and vividness matter. Hemingway-style guidance targets adverb rates under 4%; tight ad copy often goes below 2%.
Adverb detection is a stylistic metric, like passive voice — it surfaces patterns rather than scoring difficulty. Use alongside the Filler-Word Detector for a fuller weak-prose audit.
The detector flags every -ly word in the text, excluding a stoplist of -ly words that aren't adverbs (family, lovely, jelly, etc.).
Adverb rate is the percentage of words that are adverbs. Hemingway-style writing keeps the rate below 4%; tight ad copy often stays under 2%.
Strict mode adds a check that the word has an adjective stem — fewer false positives but may miss neologisms.
Stephen King's rule: "The road to hell is paved with adverbs." They're a sign you chose a weak verb that needed propping up. "Ran quickly" → "sprinted".
Family, lovely, jelly, etc. — these are excluded from the count. Enable strict mode for tighter detection at the risk of missing neologisms.
Under 4% for tight prose. Under 2% for ad copy. Some genres (literary fiction) tolerate higher rates by design.
Input
"She quickly opened the door and softly whispered her name."
Output
2 adverbs in 9 words (22% adverb rate) — heavy.
"Quickly" and "softly" both weaken stronger verb choices. "She flung the door open and whispered her name" reads tighter and more vivid.
% content words vs. function words.
analysisVocabulary variety — type‑token ratio.
analysisTotal + per‑word syllable counts.
analysisHighlight passive sentences in your writing.