Can I tell you something about myself that may sound odd? Verbs thrill me. There’s nothing as delightful as an action verb painting a vivid image. Take, for instance, this passage from Madeline Miller’s Circe describing a Fury tasked with tormenting Prometheus:
“A forked tongue flicked from her lips. On her head, snakes writhed, green and thin as worms, weaving living ribbons through her hair.”
I love this description because I can clearly see her tongue “flicking” from her lips and the snakes “writing” and “weaving” through her hair.
That’s the power of verbs. They can breathe life into sentences. It’s OK to say, “Tracey drank her apple juice.” But watch how this indifferent act of drinking comes to life in the following sentences:
- Tracey sipped her apple juice.
- Tracey slurped her apple juice.
- Tracey gulped her apple juice.
- Tracey inhaled her apple juice.
Dang, Tracey! Slow down before you choke, heave, and collapse.
Use a thesaurus to find verbs screaming action. Only use words that hit the perfect pitch in your sentence. You and your readers will be delighted.
Suggested Resources
Hale, Constance. Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch: Let Verbs Power Your Writing. W.W. Norton & Company, 2013.
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