BYTETOOLS

Adverb Counter

Find and count adverbs in your writing — -ly words plus common non-ly adverbs — with highlights and density. Free, private, 100% in-browser.

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Adverbs found
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Total words
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Adverb density

Detection is heuristic: it flags -ly words minus a ~90-word exclusion list (family, apply, friendly…) plus a list of common non-ly adverbs. Words that can be several parts of speech are matched by pattern, not by grammatical analysis.

What is the Adverb Counter?

Adverb Counter finds the adverbs in your text, counts them, highlights every occurrence in place and reports your adverb density.

  • Finds -ly adverbs with a ~90-word false-positive exclusion list
  • Optional counting of common non-ly adverbs
  • In-place highlighting of every match
  • Adverb density as a percentage of all words
  • Most-used adverbs listed with counts
  • 100% offline — text never leaves your browser

How to use the Adverb Counter

  1. 1

    Paste your text into the input box.

  2. 2

    Choose whether to also count common non-ly adverbs like “very” and “just”.

  3. 3

    Read the adverb count and density in the stats.

  4. 4

    Review each highlighted adverb and decide whether a stronger verb could replace it.

About the Adverb Counter

Adverb Counter finds the adverbs in your text, counts them, highlights every occurrence in place and reports your adverb density. It flags -ly words while excluding a built-in list of ~90 false positives like “family”, “apply” and “friendly”, and can optionally count common non-ly adverbs such as “very”, “quite” and “always”.

Fiction writers and editors use it to act on the classic advice — from Strunk & White to Stephen King — that most adverbs prop up weak verbs: “ran quickly” is weaker than “sprinted”. The highlighted view lets you audit each adverb in context instead of hunting for them manually.

Detection runs 100% locally in your browser. Your manuscript is never uploaded, so works in progress stay private.

Frequently asked questions

How many adverbs are too many?

There is no magic number, but many fiction editors get uneasy above roughly 2–3% adverb density in narrative prose. The point isn't to hit zero — it's that each highlighted adverb is a chance to ask whether a stronger verb would do the job better.

Does it only count words ending in -ly?

By default it counts -ly adverbs plus, if you enable the option, about 40 common adverbs that don't end in -ly (very, quite, soon, never, always…). Turn that option off if you only want the classic -ly hunt.

Why isn't “family” or “friendly” counted?

The tool carries an exclusion list of about 90 -ly words that are nouns or adjectives rather than adverbs — family, apply, jelly, friendly, elderly, lovely and so on — so they never pollute your count.

Is this as accurate as a grammar checker?

It is a pattern-based heuristic, not a part-of-speech tagger, so a word like “early” (adverb or adjective depending on the sentence) is counted the same everywhere. It is deliberately transparent and fast; expect a small number of judgment calls to review yourself.

Is my text stored or sent anywhere?

No. Matching runs in your browser with JavaScript, nothing is uploaded, and the tool works offline.

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