2.4 The Importance of Verbs

Much of the style advice given so far revolves around the importance of verbs. Think of your sentence as a machine, and the verb as the engine that makes the machine work. Like machines, sentences can function efficiently or inefficiently, and the use of a strong verb is one way to make them work effectively. Also like machines, sentences can be simple or complex. Here are some key principles regarding the effective use of verbs in your sentences. While effective sentences may occasionally deviate from these principles, try to follow them as often as possible:

• Keep the subject and the verb close together; avoid separating them with words or phrases that could create confusion
• Place the verb near the beginning of the sentence (and close to the subject)
• Maintain a high verb/word ratio in your sentence
• Prefer active verb constructions over passive ones
• Avoid “to be” verbs (am, is, are, was, were, being, been, be) whenever possible
• Try to turn nominalizations (abstract nouns) back into verbs.

Use the verb strength chart in Table 2.4.1 as a guide to “elevate” weaker verbs (or words with implied action) in a sentence to stronger forms.

While you are not likely to use the command form very often, unless you are writing instructions, the second strongest form, Active Indicative, is the one you want to use most often (say, in about 80% of your sentences). In the indicative form, the subject carries out the action of the verb. This makes the sentence more direct, and often more concise.

Part of the skill of using active verbs lies in choosing the verbs that precisely describes the action you want to convey. English speakers have become somewhat lazy in choosing a small selection of verbs most of the time (to be, to do, to get, to make, to have, to put); as a result, these often-used verbs have come to have so many possible meanings that they are almost meaningless. Try looking up “make” or “have” in the dictionary; you will see pages and pages of possible meanings! Whenever possible, replace these bland verbs with more precise, descriptive verbs, as indicated in Table 2.4.2. Note that commonly used “signal verbs,” or verbs used to signal a quotation or paraphrase of someone else’s ideas, can also be more precise and descriptive.  Saying “she writes” does not really indicate the purpose for the writing, whereas saying “she claims” suggests she is making an argument, and “she describes” makes her rhetorical purpose more evident.

For more detailed information on using signal verbs when introducing quotations, see Appendix C: Integrating Source Evidence into Your Writing.

Here is the exercise in a Word document for you to download and revise:

Revision Exercise – Energy Drinks (.docx)

After trying the exercise, click on the link below to compare your revision to effective revisions of this passage done by other students:

Sample Revisions of Exercise 2.7 (.docx)

Table 2.4.3 sums up many key characteristics of effective professional style that you should try to avoid (poor style) and implement (effective style) while writing technical documents.