Why You Need Strong Verbs When You Write

We discuss why you why you need strong verbs when you write, and give you examples.

Why You Need Strong Verbs When You Write

These verbs improve your writing in three ways. They help you:

1. Reduce adverbs: 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.”
2. Avoid the passive voice: 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.’
3. Eliminate wordiness: 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.

Examples of Strong Verbs

Resources:

1. If you want to improve your business writing, explore our Business Writing Workbooks.
2. If you want to improve your creative writing , explore our Creative Writing Workbooks.

Source for Strong Verbs

by Amanda Patterson

© Amanda Patterson

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