Powerful Verbs Bring Boldness and Vigor to Our Writing

Effective use of verbs seems to be a little understood concept by many writers, and most of us could profit from a brief (not to be confused with short) review of three verb forms.

“Active” verbs denote action by the subject of the sentence. Writers, however, often miss the obvious here, a.k.a. ACTION. This oversight results in potentially powerful sentences that, instead, strike the reader as blah. Let’s consider some examples of strong verbs along with definitive adjectives and enhanced structures that turn a boring, almost empty canvas into a detailed word picture.

Boring and uninspired: Mary sat down in the chair. Disappointed and exhausted, she fell asleep.

Enhancement 1: Mary sank into the chair. Her descending eyelids encased her tears even before her head found a resting place against its plush back.

Enhancement 2: Mary dropped into the chair. Her red-rimmed eyes drifted closed the moment her head burrowed into the corner of its winged back.

Enhancement 3: Mary slumped against the back of the chair and allowed the corner of its winged back to cradle her throbbing head. Like shutters latched against the fury of a gale, her eyelids closed out the tempest that had devastated her day.

Enhancement 4: Collapsing into the depths of the overstuffed chair, Mary pulled a blanket of sleep over her to shut out the cold truth that had catapulted her warm and loving heart into a frigid wasteland.

Now let's look at “passive” verbs, which pass the action onto the subject. As a rule, these don’t pack the punch of active verbs, but they do serve a valid purpose when not overused. In addition to showing the receipt of action by the subject, passive verbs can cloak the identity of the actor when that information is inappropriate or insignificant or be used when the actor is unknown or obvious.

Subject acted upon: The frisbee was thrown by John. It was caught by Spot, and then it was stolen by Rover. The winning manuscript was submitted by a fellow CIPA member.

Unknown or unnamed actors: Ugly graffiti was written across the freshly painted walls of the new library. Every book on the shelves had been tossed to the floor.

Obvious actor(s): The leading man was greeted with a standing ovation.

Actor insignificant: Medicines should be stored in a safe place.

“Linking” verbs link or connect the subject and the predicate of a sentence and can sometimes be replaced with an equal sign. Most often forms of “to be,” they may also include verbs such as appear, seem, smell, look, taste, feel, and a few others. These are not strong verbs, but they do have an occasional good use. Check out the following examples:

1. Ms. Marple is the teacher. (Ms. Marple = the teacher.)
2. The apple pie tastes (to be) delicious.
3. The flower garden smells (to be) like spring.
4. The candid discussion was both interesting and informative. (Links subject “discussion” with predicate adjectives “interesting” and “informative.”
5. Our next leader may be Sam. (Links subject “leader” with predicate noun “Sam.”
6. I feel sad about his loss. (I am [form of to be] sad about his loss.)

Powerful verbs convey boldness and vigor. They give our characters permission to ACT. Less punchy ones allow the reader a moment to take a breath and regroup before the next compelling scene. These indispensable tools add vital color to our author’s palette and bring depth and texture to our word pictures. Use them with knowledge of their strength and understanding of their impact to take your writing to the next level.

Editor Linda Lane has returned to her first love—writing—while maintaining her editing work. Her novels fall into the literary category because they are character driven rather than plot driven, but their quick pace reminds the reader of genre fiction. They also contain elements of romance, mystery, and thrillers. You can contact her at websites: LSLaneBooks.com and DenverEditor.com.