adverbs that contain the same meaning that's already in the verb of a sentence

I am reading William Zinsser's book "On Writing Well". In it he writes:

"But the secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. Every word that serves no function, every long word that could be a short word, every adverb that carries the same meaning that's already in the verb, every passive construction that leaves the reader unsure of who is doing what - these are the thousand and one adulterants that weaken the strength of a sentence."

I am not sure what he means by adverbs that contain the same meaning that's already in the verb. Please provide me with examples of this and tips on how to avoid it. My goal is to learn how to identify instances where this happens and fix them.

Answer

I can't say to an absolute certainty, but from the context you gave it sounds like you shouldn't use an adverb that defines the verb.

He quickly sprinted across the courtyard.

In this example, we have the adverb quickly and the verb sprinted. In this case, you can't sprint without being quick about it, making it redundant. If you were to say:

He girlishly sprinted across the courtyard.

This adds information to the sentence and gives you wonderful imagery. Basically, he's saying to only use words and phrases that give value to your writing; you can't sprint without being quick, it's implied.