Three Things Strengthening Your Verbs Will Do for Your Writing

Amanda Patterson reports:

"Choosing strong verbs helps you to be specific. You should replace an adverb and a verb with a strong verb if you can. It will improve your writing. Don't say: 'She held on tightly to the rope.' Do say: 'She gripped the rope.' Don't say: 'He looked carefully at the documents.' Do say: 'He examined the documents.'...Choose specific, active verbs whenever you can. Don't say: 'He was said to be lying by the teacher.' Do say: 'The teacher accused him of lying.'...Strong verbs help you eliminate wordiness by replacing different forms of the verb 'to be'. They allow you to stop overusing words like 'is', 'was', 'are', and 'were'. Don't say: 'She was the owner of a chain of restaurants.' Do say: 'She owned a chain of restaurants.' If you reduce wordiness, choose specific verbs, and use the active voice, readers will be able to understand you more easily. This is what you want because the reason we write is to communicate."