Grammar Moses: Is the adverb an endangered species?

It's a shame that David Harris quit the General Assembly in 2017, because the Arlington Heights Republican might have addressed legislatively a growing problem not just in Illinois, but across the country.

"I have to tell you that I think the adverb is on the verge of extinction," he wrote. "Perhaps it is because of advertising, perhaps it is because of a lack of grammar instruction in schools, perhaps it is just because ..."

If politicians were to butter me up with this sort of patriotic talk at election time, I might be moved to vote for them.

Back to David: "So many people do not use adverbs anymore. I heard Jim Furyk, the golfer, say when he was interviewed about his play in the tournament this past week, that he needed to play 'aggressive.' No, sir, you needed to play 'aggressively.'

Or you often hear people say something like 'Do it quick.' No, that should be 'Do it quickly.'

You write eloquent, David.

I see a lot of discrimination toward adverbs. It seems a waste to eschew a whole part of speech.

I hope Jim Furyk feels badly about what he said.

(I hope you saw what I did there and two sentences earlier.)

Do you remember, do you recall?

In the chorus to "Lulu," the title track to Trip Shakespeare's 1991 album, bassist John Munson intones "Do you remember, do you recall?"

I love that song, that album and that band. And with few exceptions, you have no idea what I'm talking about because that Minneapolis quartet was at its zenith at the same time Nirvana exploded onto the scene. And Trip Shakespeare played decidedly un-grungy music.

But, wait, this isn't a music column!

"My son noticed in the sub headline in the story about the unfortunate death of the state trooper, 'Trooper hit by auto on I-294 recalled for always wanting to come to others' aid,'" wrote Dorene Wackerfuss. "My son commented that it made it sound like the trooper was a defective car. Perhaps the better phrase would be 'recalled as someone' or 'remembered as.'"

"Recall" and "remember" can be used interchangeably in many cases, and the leading dictionaries support this.

But you know my mantra: Clarity first.

I talked this over with Neil Holdway, who oversees the copy desk and is the buck-stops-here guy when it comes to headlines.

"I do prefer 'remembered' myself," he said. "We often use 'recalled' instead as headline shorthand - all the M's in 'remembered' are a killer for head counts."

When you have a tight head count, what fits is second only to what's clear.

Cursery examination

"Dang it! I saw this today from an Information Technology professional at another firm," wrote gym buddy John McGovern.

He didn't write "Dang it!" but, heck, this is a family newspaper.

"When you run spell check, make sure you are checking the whole document. Spell check will only check what comes AFTER the curser depending on your settings."

John added the ALL CAPS for emphasis.

A "courser" is one who curses. A "cursor" is the blinking vertical line on my computer screen that I can't seem to keep up with.

Since John sent me the sentence, let's dogpile on the passage he sent:

• Fix the misplaced modifier: Spell check will check ONLY what comes after ...

• Avoid using "check" twice in a sentence.

• Don't forget the comma after "cursor."

Write carefully!

• Jim Baumann is vice president/managing editor of the Daily Herald. Write him at jbaumann@dailyherald.com. Put Grammar Moses in the subject line. You also can friend or follow Jim at facebook.com/baumannjim.