In the past year while reviewing the work of other writers I have stumbled more than once upon the phrase “working collaboratively” used to describe the working relationship between or among several parties, and I found my brain snagging on it.  The word “collaborative” is an adjective that literally means “working together” — notice the word “labor” hiding inside — so to say “working collaboratively” is not only redundant, but is the warping of an adjective into the form of an adverb which, at least according to Webster’s New World Dictionary, does not exist! Can anyone provide me with a proper use of the adverb “collaboratively” that does not modify the word “work”? Think about it.

Seen October 3, 2012 in a job description: ” … This individual will also collaborate and work cross-functionally with the Marketing department to deliver selling stories that can be used by [company deleted] Sales organization and our Broker Network.”

IMHO a proper use of the word “collaborate” AND a better adverb modifying “work” – yay!