The etymology of raudo takes us to the Latin word rapĭdus . The term is used to describe something that is fast, sudden or abrupt .
For example: “Upon hearing a scream, the police officer quickly approached the scene, where he found the woman lying on the ground” , “The thief quickly left the house and was not caught” , “The president quickly expressed his solidarity with the opposition leader” .
In short, rapid action is action that takes place at great speed . It can also be an action that is carried out in less time than usual.
Returning to the first example mentioned, the agent who rushed to the area where he heard a scream moved without wasting time. A criminal who escapes quickly , meanwhile, flees in a hurry, while the leader who quickly expresses his solidarity does not delay in making his feelings public.
Rapid action is often forced by circumstances . Let's say a man at home notices that a fire has broken out in one of the rooms. The man, noticing the flames and not having the means to put them out, decides to quickly leave his home to get to safety.
Let's take the case of a country whose currency is devalued by 25% in just two days. This devaluation causes a rapid decline in the purchasing power of the population, since money suddenly loses part of its value and wages are used to buy fewer goods than before.
It is very important to point out and emphasize that the term "raudo" is an adjective and not an adverb. Unfortunately, in everyday speech we tend to confuse both types of words, largely because areas outside the language do not require a great level of attention to their fundamentals, but rather forgive us most of our mistakes as long as "we make ourselves understood."
To explain this particularity in greater depth, we can resort to one of its most common synonyms: fast . It is not the same to say “The car moved quickly” than “The car is very fast” . In the first sentence, fast acts as an adverb , while in the second its function is adjectival. Although the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy recognizes the use of this term as a synonym for quickly , the latter offers us greater clarity and is preferred in academic texts.
Let us remember that the adverb modifies the verb, it gives us information to better understand the conditions under which it is carried out. In this case we are faced with an adverb of manner , because it explains to us "how the action is carried out." Returning to the word raudo , the Royal Academy does not recognize it as a synonym for raudamente , so we must be very careful when constructing our sentences to ensure that we are expressing the correct idea.
In the first three examples presented in this article, the use of the term is intentionally ambiguous to reflect its appearance in the media and popular language. Let's go through each case to understand the true function that the adjective raudo performs in each of them. When we say "the policeman approached quickly" , we are actually referring to the speed with which he approached , that is, to the way in which he performed the action; therefore, its use is incorrect, since we should opt for the word raudamente .
The same can be said of the thief and the president, who for different reasons took very high action. In short, all three examples are academically incorrect, although acceptable in popular discourse.