Supercharged Verbs

Apr 9

Have you ever wondered why your word-perfect writing simply lies there on the page without a wink of character?

One reason could be your verb choice. Verbs become weak and lazy when they are tired.

They no longer lift your sentence into the air and wave at the reader, but instead, bury themselves into the paper and hide.

Verbs become lazy for two main reasons.

They are overused. When we read the same verbs constantly, we become immune to their emotive effect. Replace weak verbs with strong ones to add soul to your script.
They are non-specific. Powerful verbs are specific enough to enliven the context without support from an adverb.

With these reasons in mind, how can you enliven your writing?

Watch out for the verbs regularly found in certain forms of writing.
The repetition bandwagon is a one-way train to Snoozeville. How often have you led, managed, and been responsible for a task on your CV? So, you led a team project? In what way? How could you describe this action differently? Did you coordinate, execute, head, oversee, orchestrate, or inspire this new project? That would be more likely to interest the reader.
Choose verbs that are powerful rather than passive.
Stative and modal verbs are passive in nature and lack description. Examples of stative verbs are be, have, believe, feel, think, and do. Modal verbs are those helpers such as should, would, may, might, will, and can. Although these verbs are essential to writing, they should be used sparingly.
If your writing lacks oomph, you will almost always find the culprit here.
Replace verbs that rely on adjectives for their meaning with a more specific verb.
- He said jokingly = He quipped.
- He laughed loudly = He guffawed.
- He breathed noisily. = He wheezed.
- He worked hard. = He laboured.

This said, keep in mind the major elements of good writing: authenticity, accuracy, and clarity.

Your writing should be easy to understand and identify as your own work.

Resist the urge to reach for the thesaurus unless the word doesn't automatically spring to mind.

If you are in need of inspiration, here is a short list of strong verbs to supercharge your writing.

CV WRITING

Replace hollow verbs with meaningful ones:

FIND: detect, identify, locate, pinpoint, discern
USE: accept, adopt, employ manipulate, operate
SHOW: demonstrate, exhibit, present, reveal
ANALYZE: consider, investigate, interpret, inspect, study
EXAMINE: audit, investigate, survey, review
PARTICIPATE: partake, compete, cooperate, perform, aid
BE RESPONSIBLE FOR: initiate, instigate, found, conceive, lead, spearhead, manage

FICTION

Replace non-specific verbs with concise, emotive ones:

Parallelism