{"id":11536,"date":"2025-08-12T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=11536"},"modified":"2025-10-06T11:30:55","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T15:30:55","slug":"every-words-a-choice-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=11536","title":{"rendered":"Every Word\u2019s a Choice \u2013 Part 3 — Verbs Do the Heavy Lifting"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Some languages get their power from colorful imagery (Arabic, for example). Others\u2014like Chinese and English\u2014offer strong verbs<\/em>. Are the verbs in your stories doing all the work you want them to do? Weak verbs produce flabby prose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Avoiding Weak Verbs<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The various forms of the verb \u201cto be\u201d are weak verbs. \u201cTo be\u201d verbs\u2014is, are, was, were, and so on\u2014do only one thing<\/em>, they establish that something or somebody exists<\/em>, they do not tell us anything more. They embody no action. Other weak verbs include forms of have and do, as well as shall, will, should, would, may, might, must, can, and could. As an editor, I like sentences that get to the point. \u201cThere is\u201d and \u201cthere are\u201d are weak ways to start a sentence. Instead of plunging readers into the action, they put distance between you and your reader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo be\u201d verbs slip into our writing in other roles too. You use them when you want to suggest a continuing action, one that takes place over time, like \u201cShe was eating a sandwich while he talked,\u201d though you could just as well say the more direct \u201cShe ate a sandwich while he talked.\u201d Compare this pair of sentences. Which arouses more interest?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was driving erratically. versus<\/strong>
The car veered over the center line and back right, nearly clipping the curb.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo be\u201d verbs also appear in passive voice constructions. Editors constantly tell writers to \u201cavoid the passive.\u201d Passive constructions hide the responsible actor (like the famous \u201cMistakes were made.\u201d By whom?). Of course, if you\u2019re writing a mystery, you may want to obscure the guilty party! The passive does work occasionally, but, as a general rule, steer clear. (Find some passive voice myths punctured here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sensory Verbs\u2014Do You Need Them?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verbs related to one of the senses\u2014heard, saw, smelled, tasted, felt\u2014often end up being filter verbs. They put distance\u2014a filter\u2014between you as the author and your readers. If you write, \u201cJack heard the front door slam,\u201d you tell readers three things: the door slammed, and<\/strong> Jack heard it, and<\/strong> some unseen narrator is telling them so. You\u2019ve put a little narrative gap in there. If you simply write \u201cthe front door slammed,\u201d the reader hears it too. Directly. Much more engaging. Another comparison:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She saw a man\u2019s shadow on the bedroom wall. versus<\/strong>
A man\u2019s shadow inched across her bedroom wall.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your Prose Isn\u2019t a Movie<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you picture the action of a story in your mind, you may be tempted to describe all your characters\u2019 movements for clarity. But readers easily follow everyday actions involving sitting, standing, turning, walking, etc. without having them spelled out. There\u2019s no one right choice in handling everyday actions. The important thing is to think about it<\/strong>. Make your choice consciously. For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He stood up from the chair and walked through the door, out into the hall. versus<\/strong>
He left the room.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one will think he dragged the chair out of the room with him. Of course he got up. And he couldn\u2019t have left the room without walking through the door. You can cut to the chase unless there\u2019s a reason not to. Another one:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She rose from the kitchen table, shuffled to the stove and picked up the coffeepot, turned back to me at the table, and filled my cup. versus<\/strong>
She poured me another cup of coffee.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If she poured the cup of coffee, all the other actions are implied, and you can move along, unless there\u2019s a compelling reason for all the detail. Maybe she is very weak or infirm, and doing all that is a Big Deal. Maybe the reader knows she\u2019s put something harmful in<\/em> the coffee, so the minute attention to the action is deliberately dragging out the suspense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More on verbs next Tuesday.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part 1:<\/strong> Introduction to \u201c Every Word\u2019s a Choice\u201d\u2014finding the best words to tell your story. The series is based on a talk I recently gave at a writers\u2019 conference. <\/em>https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=11484<\/a>
Part 2:<\/strong>  Using effective nouns to establish a relationship with readers.<\/em> https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=11501<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Some languages get their power from colorful imagery (Arabic, for example). Others\u2014like Chinese and English\u2014offer strong verbs. Are the verbs in your stories doing all the work you want them to do? Weak verbs produce flabby prose. Avoiding Weak Verbs … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[174,51,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-first-draft-blog","category-words","category-writing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2NkiT-304","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11536"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11609,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11536\/revisions\/11609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}