 For Authors: June 20, 2018 Issue [#8962] |
  For Authors
This week: Stronger Writing - Powerful Verbs: A-G Edited by: Vivian  
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We all want our writing to "pop," to grab readers and entrap them in our written world. Show not tell helps. Using strong action verbs creates active voice, showing. Where do we find those power verbs? Allow me to give you a few, 195 to be accurate. However, we'll cover some in this issue and more the next few editorials. Use these verbs wisely, though. Writing still needs clarity and coherence; verbs need to "fit" the meaning of the clause.
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Strengthening Writing with Power Verbs: Letters A-G
We want our readers to be drawn into and enveloped by our short story or novel, by anything we write. Boredom loses their attention quickly. Showing, using active voice, creates reading excitement. To avoid passive voice and to have active voice, writers use power verbs. To help know some power verbs, I discovered a list, author unknown, and added to it. Now, I will share the list I have to date, from A through G this article.
Let's begin with some verbs beginning with the letter A:
• Advance
• Advise
• Alter
• Amend
• Amplify
• Attack
An example of using such verbs includes using advise rather than tell, when the verb advise fits: Mary told John not to skip school; Mary advised John not to skip school.
Next, we will look at a few starting with B:
• Balloon
• Bash
• Batter
• Beam
• Beef
• Blab
• Blast
• Bolt
• Boost
• Brief
• Burst
• Bus
• Bust
Again an example, the mortgage interest increased; the mortgage interest ballooned.
Some verbs start with the letter C:
• Capture
• Catch
• Charge
• Chap
• Chip
• Clasp
• Climb
• Clutch
• Collide
• Command
• Crackle
• Crash
• Crush
Writers often over use take or took. When possible, we can use more powerful verbs: Mary used her camera to take a photo of the scene; Mary used her camera to capture the scene. Not only is "take" avoided, but the sentence become tighter, more concise.
Next, we add a few verbs that begin with D:
• Dash
• Demolish
• Depart
• Deposit
• Detect
• Deviate
• Devour
• Direct
• Discern
• Discover
• Drain
• Drip
• Drop
How often do we have someone run? Perhaps we can have a person dash across the street rather than run.
Now comes some verbs commencing with the letter E:
• Eavesdrop
• Engulf
• Enlarge
• Ensnare
• Erase
• Escort
• Expand
• Explode
• Explore
• Expose
• Extend
• Extract
• Eyeball
He led her through the maze; he escorted her through the maze.
Shall we explore some power verbs with F?
• Fish
• Frown
• Function
• Frustrate
• Fancy
John dislikes the color brown. John frowns on the use of brown.
One more list of verbs for this time, power verbs beginning with the letter G:
• Gaze
• Glare
• Glisten
• Glitter
• Gobble
• Govern
• Grasp
• Grip
• Groan
• Growl
• Guide
Mary looked at the valley below. Mary gazed at the valley below.
I keep the full list handy when I write because the thesaurus found with MS Word often doesn't have the best list of synonyms, and it doesn't have any suggestions if I can't express what I need in one word. I will add power verbs from the next seven or eight more letters in four weeks.
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