Tag Archive | strong verbs

Author Confessions: Strong and Weak Verbs

Sep16
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Author Confessions: Strong and Weak Verbs

I’ve not really considered the musculature of a verb until I was well into my writing career. As I mentioned when I discussed adverbs, they are often used as a cheat when using weak verbs.

I found an awesome definition: “Strong verbs are verbs that are precise, vivid, and descriptive, offering more specific and powerful imagery and meaning than weaker verbs. They can convey action, emotion, and clarity more effectively.” https://www.twinkl.com/teaching-wiki/strong-verbs  These are verbs that will not need an adverb.

So let’s look at a few weak verbs and stronger options for them. I’m using past tense because that is the most common tense for fiction.

Said – uttered, whispered, remarked, bellowed, hissed, remarked, commented

Walked – wandered, stomped, traipsed, sauntered, crept

Ran – raced, sped, jogged, hurried, darted, dashed, rushed

Sat – plopped, collapsed, settled down, positioned

Asked – queried, questioned, interrogated, requested, inquired

Went – moved, careened, darted, meandered, flew, exited

Got – acquired, seized, gathered, earned, procured, grasped, collected

Liked – enjoyed, admired, cherished, treasured, preferred, relished

Saw/Looked – searched, sought, peeked, explored, gazed, witnessed, viewed

These are not the only options for words to make your verbs pop and capture the reader. There are lists of various words with alternate stronger verb options found on-line and I have a few on my Pinterest Writer’s Toolbox page if you want to check it out.

Caveat

The regular, weak verbs can also be used! Don’t shun them completely. Sometimes you want to add more punch to your prose and if you need to write tight for word count purposes, then you want the stronger verbs because you can use less words and add vibrant color to a scene.

To use all the strong verbs, all the time, can come across as pretentious so you don’t want to unload an entire thesaurus into your book for the sake of variety. Try to use discernement and if the average, everyday, plain verb is best, then keep it. Also remember that in dialogue we often tend to use the regular words and don’t become more colorful in verbal expressions so unless that is a quirk of your character in the story, you might want to keep it simpler.

Confusing? I hope not! Stronger verbs can propel your story forward more effectively in some cases but not every verb has to be like that.

 

Author Confessions: Those Alluring Adverbs

Aug12
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Author Confessions: Those Alluring Adverbs

In case you haven’t played MadLibs lately, adverbs are words that modify a verb, adjective, or another adverb in a sentence. Using them in a piece of fiction, however, can be a sign of a weak verb. Adverbs can suck the meaning and intention from your words. Not all adverbs end in -ly and as some adjectives end in -ly so that’s not necessarily a way to tell for sure. There are five types of adverbs. Did you know that? I was proabably taught that long ago in some English class but it’s amazing how those little details get lost in the mind filled with life. There are:

  • Adverbs of manner that tell us how something happened. Examples: fast, loudly, quite, carefully, happily.
  • Adverbs of place tell us where. Examples: here, near, outside, there, upstairs.
  • Adverbs of time tell us when. Examples: again, early, never, now soon, tomorrow.
  • Adverbs of frequency tell us how many times. Examples: always, daily, often, rarely, generally, seldom.
  • Adverbs that modify or describe adjectives, verbs, clauses, and other adverbs. Examples: very, not, more, here, always, correctly

Many of these can be essential in a story but a few tend to be overused.

One example:

Using an adverb: “He was really angry.”

Better verb:  “He was furious.” (stronger verb)

More descriptive of the emotion: “His fists clenched and his face grew warm, and his pulse excelerated.”

That was one sentence. Imagine if you will, needing to evaluate every sentence and paragraph in a novel to root out these alluring adverbs that tempt the author to take the lazier route to getting a story written. I’m not saying this is wrong, because a first draft is meant to be edited so having adverbs in there can be useful to get the bare bones of a story on the page, and they can be modified later.

Sometimes the author will decide to keep the adverb. They are not necessarily evil. Or should I rephrase that? Adverbs are not wicked devices devised by satan himself. They are a legitimate part of our English language and they do have a place. Having stated that, it is wise for any author to be aware of these alluring adverbs and work to widen their vocabulary to include stronger verbs that paint the image they want in the the mind of the reader.

Here are a few of the alluring adverbs to be on the watch for. This is not an all inclusive list.

Actually         Totally

Completely     Continually

Constantly     Continuously

Literally     Really

Unfortunately    Ironically

Incredibly   Hopefully

Finally

When an author is doing edits, much like weasel words, the author needs to assess how essential the adverb is in the sentence. Is there a stronger verb that would be more descriptive, or perhaps describing things in more detail?  In dialogue these will be more commonly found and oftentimes remain because that is the way we speak and the writing should reflect that.

If you read last week’s post you are probably surprised I didn’t include SERIOUSLY in this list. There are many adverbs that could be considered. The challenge for the author is to vary their prose to use a wider vocabulary to keep the reader engaged in the story and not annoyed because of weak verbs modified by those alluring adverbs.