So although you can use the basic verb and still tell the same story, you will create a deeper impact within the reader if you use a strong verb in its place strong verbs only help your writing. There are several worksheets on verb conjugation and consistent use of verb tenses within texts. There are thousands of fantastic adjectives and adverbs too. Bland verbs, such as uses, says, and relates, lead the writer into summary.
Strong action verbs college of education university of. Julia child uses many great verbs when writing her recipes. Ask the students to copy each verb and then write beside it as many strong verbs as they can think of to replace it. The ultimate strong verbs list and guide to power up your. I kept the groups larger this time with 3 or 4 students.
Good writing is about wellchosen nouns and strong verbs, not adjectives and adverbs. Strong verbs enhance written and spoken communication. It can be a challenge to insert these sources smoothly without taking away from your voice as a writer. Powerful verbs for weaving ideas in essays salt center. Why you need strong verbs when you write writers write. The following creative writing ideas demonstrate how wow words can be. Strong verbs invigorate narrative and deliver precise meanings without increasing word count. I started reading a verb for herb by maria fleming. The following verbs are helpful as a means of showing how an example or quote in literature. But writing verbs correctly is an important skill that is rarely taught these days in writing classes. Poor writing, often found in student essays, rely upon adverbs and adjectives for description. Verbs are the most critical part in marketing writing. Rather than using the words say, show or report all the time, you can use more speci. This list of 180 strong verbs will help you get started on the road to colorful, dazzling writing.
One of the final stages of revising a draft is editing for strong verbs. Grade 5 verbs worksheets our grade 5 verbs worksheets focus on topics related to verb tenses. The ultimate strong verbs list and guide to power up your writing. Setting goals and objectives correctly will help your plan to be successful. One interesting action verb can add a lot of detail to a story. Weve broken the following list of strong verbs into subsets to help you more quickly find the strong verb with the exact quality you want from vivid to forceful to fun. Put muscle into your writing by using strong verbs wikieducator. The point is that good writing is more about wellchosen nouns and strong verbs than it is about adjectives and adverbs, regardless what you were told as a kid.
One of the crazy joys of writing is that others response to what you say often depends on how you say it. If you misplaced your copy of any of these given in class, please help yourself to another copy here. The table below list useful verbs that are very common in academic texts. To determine whether a verb is strong, ask yourself whether the verb has a. The distinction between a weak verb and a strong verb is based on how the past tense of the verb is formed. The ultimate strong verbs list thatll supercharge your. Feel free to add other interesting, vivid verbs you find in books. Specific, powerful verbs and verb phrases make your writing more analytical and incisive when composing a rhetorical analysis sophisticated, close read of any text.
Strong verbs are verbs that help readers imagine or know exactly what the writer is trying to describe. Strong verb and weak verb with examples for all classes, students, kids, with examples, how to find out weak verb, in english, strong and weak, list, pdf. Ausb writing center last updated 52416 your resume bullet points should each have. Worksheet 1 explains what a strong verb is, with examples of recasting sentences with weak verbs into sentences with strong verbs. Click here or below to download the expanded list now 249 powerful verbs. You can use a thesaurus to find other strong verbs, or keep an eye out for interesting verbs while reading. In other words, they convey a stronger degree of meaning than a weaker verb with the same or similar meaning. Apr 16, 2019 strong verbs are essential for great writing. As a bonus, weve included a few tips to help you with assessing your papers. Effective verbs for introducing quotations oftentimes in academic writing, you decide to use outside sources to enhance your argument and make it credible. Any time you use one of these verbs be, is, are, was, been, being, were, has, have, having, had ask yourself if the sentence should be rewritten.
In the same way that a story needs active, dynamic verbs to keep the plot moving, academic essays too will benefit from the correct. Part of a collection of free grammar and writing worksheets from k5 learning. Verbs in academic writing in the same way that a story needs active, dynamic verbs to keep the plot moving, academic essays too will benefit from the correct use of verbs to help you present your ideas. Download the list of action verbs for kids in 2nd, 3rd. You are likely to come across more verbs for the different. Are verbs of being they use the to be form including.
Powerful verbs for weaving ideas in essays the following verbs are helpful as a means of showing how an example or quote in literature supports an idea or interpretation. The main culprits include the verbs to be and to have. Using concise sentences and powerful verbs is one way to engage readers and strengthen the force of your meaning. Verbs do have a tone, and even verbs that mean generally the same thing wont work equally well in. Using concise sentences and powerful verbs is one way. List for new english strong verbs for academic writing. Strong action verbs use this list of strong action verbs to diversify, strengthen, and individualize your resume language. Included in this document are four well defined tips to strengthen student writing by giving average and excellent examples of descriptive verbs in active voice. The ultimate strong verbs list thatll supercharge your writing. Help your students improve their writing dramatically with strategic writing exercises that get them to think about writing with strong verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
The verbs range from basic ones, such as run, walk and see, for ell leaners, to verbs such as discuss, slither and release to encour. Editing for strong verbs school of liberal arts iupui. As this article suggests you need to use action verbs when describing your skills. Start making verbs the controlling force in your writing. Without the precise strong verb, our writing can be boring or send the wrong message. Glenn writing center, xavier university, spring 20 effective verbs for introducing quotations oftentimes in academic writing, you decide to use outside sources to enhance your argument and make it credible. Allow students to share their answers with one another in groups of four students each. However, if you keep your audience in mind when introducing these references, youll. This file contains 150 illustrated verbs in 2 word wall formats, one with 6 words on a lettersized sheet of paper and another larger version with 3 words per sheet. And in all honesty, writing has never been the most difficult thing in the world for me but when it comes to.
Notice that the strong verbs in the revised examples convey an intensity of. Look for a noun or adjective that you can convert to a strong verb. Suggests hints intimates implies questions casts sheds light clarifies masks notes. Answer the practice questions in this interactive quiz and worksheet to check your understanding of how to select strong verbs that will do. The list below is not exhaustive as many more strong verbs exist. I had already introduced verbs to my class but wanted to strengthen their knowledge of verbs. Action verbs and high impact phrases foster school of. Verbs do have a tone, and even verbs that mean generally the same thing wont work equally well in the same context. To determine whether a verb is strong, ask yourself whether the verb has a sensory connotation. Verbs such as walk and talk dont really help the reader to build a vivid mental picture of the action being performed. A list of 351 strong verbs to inspire your writing. I wanted to use the data from the previous lesson to group the students, but i found that my classes were kind of all over the place with their word choice and various other writing issues.
Use strong action words a choice action word can really impact whether a reader takes action or not. Action verbs and high impact phrases using action verbs will demonstrate to an employer that you took action, produced results, and contributed. You should replace an adverb and a verb with a strong verb if you can. Verbs in academic writing utsc university of toronto. We cover the past, present and future perfect tenses and introduce the progressive tenses also called the continuous tenses. Replace the to be verb with a stronger, more specific verb. Theres no quicker win for you and your manuscript than ferreting out and eliminating flabby verbs and replacing them with vibrant ones. We discuss why you why you need strong verbs when you write, and give you examples.
The list is organized in sections to help you locate the best words. One way of making your writing more interesting is to use strong verbs instead of neutral ones. A strong action verb can paint a picture of how the character is behaving. Always begin the descriptions of your experience with words from the list below and avoid writing in the passive voice with phrases such as.
Learning to use strong language is crucial to your success as a writer, and strong verbs are a great way to improve your writing by changing just one simple word. Michael hauge, hollywood script consultant and story expert, author of writing screenplays that. The list of strong verbs to make your content pop, fizz. Strong verbs are action verbs that are specific and easily visualized by the reader. Using strong verbs will definitely make your writing more intriguing and will increase the chances of someone buying and loving. However, most of us rely too heavily on to be verbs or use them unconsciously. Weak verbs more commonly called regular verbs form the past tense by adding ed, d, or t to the base formor present tenseof the verb, such as call, called and walk, walked.
Vibrant verbs list for kids super easy storytelling. First grade lesson learning to recognize and use strong verbs. Because of this, i chose to keep my students in their. This descriptive writing miniunit will help your students stepbystep with an editable powerpoint and captivating visual images. Other strong verbs help readers see and hear actions more vividly. See passive and active voice the principle the verb to be is the most commonly used verb in the english language. Good writing is about wellchosen nouns and strong verbs, not adjectives and.
However, understanding the differences between a goal and. In fact, theres a good chance that almost everything youve been taught about writing verbs and using strong verbs was probably wrong. I printed out a sentence with a weak verb on the top of 8 different papers, one for each group. This simple lesson answers the question what is a strong verb and teaches you how to recognize and convert weak verbs into strong verbs. Underline any use of be, is, are, was, been, being, were, has, have, having, had. Help boost your childs vocabulary with this printable list of strong words, and explore more free scholastic printables and worksheets on subjects like reading, writing, math and science. Writing resourcesteaching writingwriting helpwriting tipswriting promptswriting foldersteaching ideas. You can also condense and strengthen sentences by editing strings of prepositional phrases and using a strong verb instead.
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