Setting goals and objectives correctly will help your plan to be successful. Underline any use of be, is, are, was, been, being, were, has, have, having, had. This list of 180 strong verbs will help you get started on the road to colorful, dazzling writing. However, understanding the differences between a goal and. In other words, they convey a stronger degree of meaning than a weaker verb with the same or similar meaning.
I kept the groups larger this time with 3 or 4 students. If you misplaced your copy of any of these given in class, please help yourself to another copy here. Verbs in academic writing utsc university of toronto. The list is organized in sections to help you locate the best words. Verbs are the most critical part in marketing writing.
You can also condense and strengthen sentences by editing strings of prepositional phrases and using a strong verb instead. Using strong verbs will definitely make your writing more intriguing and will increase the chances of someone buying and loving. Michael hauge, hollywood script consultant and story expert, author of writing screenplays that. Notice that the strong verbs in the revised examples convey an intensity of. Allow students to share their answers with one another in groups of four students each. In the same way that a story needs active, dynamic verbs to keep the plot moving, academic essays too will benefit from the correct. 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. We discuss why you why you need strong verbs when you write, and give you examples. Part of a collection of free grammar and writing worksheets from k5 learning. Without the precise strong verb, our writing can be boring or send the wrong message. 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 and guide to power up your writing. 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. Powerful verbs for weaving ideas in essays salt center.
To determine whether a verb is strong, ask yourself whether the verb has a. Verbs such as walk and talk dont really help the reader to build a vivid mental picture of the action being performed. Answer the practice questions in this interactive quiz and worksheet to check your understanding of how to select strong verbs that will do. 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. There are several worksheets on verb conjugation and consistent use of verb tenses within texts. Use strong action words a choice action word can really impact whether a reader takes action or not. As this article suggests you need to use action verbs when describing your skills. Rather than using the words say, show or report all the time, you can use more speci. There are thousands of fantastic adjectives and adverbs too.
The university writing center 3211 hhra building weak vs. And in all honesty, writing has never been the most difficult thing in the world for me but when it comes to. However, if you keep your audience in mind when introducing these references, youll. Strong verbs are verbs that help readers imagine or know exactly what the writer is trying to describe. Julia child uses many great verbs when writing her recipes. 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. Specific, powerful verbs and verb phrases make your writing more analytical and incisive when composing a rhetorical analysis sophisticated, close read of any text. Start making verbs the controlling force in your writing. Ask the students to copy each verb and then write beside it as many strong verbs as they can think of to replace it. You are likely to come across more verbs for the different. Verbs do have a tone, and even verbs that mean generally the same thing wont work equally well in the same context. Poor writing, often found in student essays, rely upon adverbs and adjectives for description. Strong action verbs college of education university of. This simple lesson answers the question what is a strong verb and teaches you how to recognize and convert weak verbs into strong verbs.
The writer of family guy juxtaposes the characters brian and peter to enhance their differing intelligence levels. Help your students improve their writing dramatically with strategic writing exercises that get them to think about writing with strong verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. In fact, theres a good chance that almost everything youve been taught about writing verbs and using strong verbs was probably wrong. 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. 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. Are verbs of being they use the to be form including. A strong action verb can paint a picture of how the character is behaving. Verbs do have a tone, and even verbs that mean generally the same thing wont work equally well in. 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. The list of strong verbs to make your content pop, fizz. Apr 16, 2019 strong verbs are essential for great writing.
One interesting action verb can add a lot of detail to a story. The list below is not exhaustive as many more strong verbs exist. Always begin the descriptions of your experience with words from the list below and avoid writing in the passive voice with phrases such as. You can use a thesaurus to find other strong verbs, or keep an eye out for interesting verbs while reading. A very simple but effective way to improve your writing is to replace to be verbs, which are weak, with strong verbs. 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. Because of this, i chose to keep my students in their. Download the list of action verbs for kids in 2nd, 3rd. Editing for strong verbs school of liberal arts iupui.
Writing resourcesteaching writingwriting helpwriting tipswriting promptswriting foldersteaching ideas. Effective verbs for introducing quotations oftentimes in academic writing, you decide to use outside sources to enhance your argument and make it credible. Worksheet 1 explains what a strong verb is, with examples of recasting sentences with weak verbs into sentences with strong verbs. List for new english strong verbs for academic writing. Strong verbs enhance written and spoken communication. Replace the to be verb with a stronger, more specific verb. I printed out a sentence with a weak verb on the top of 8 different papers, one for each group. Feel free to add other interesting, vivid verbs you find in books. 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. Put muscle into your writing by using strong verbs wikieducator. One way of making your writing more interesting is to use strong verbs instead of neutral ones.
Good writing is about wellchosen nouns and strong verbs, not adjectives and. The following verbs are helpful as a means of showing how an example or quote in literature. This descriptive writing miniunit will help your students stepbystep with an editable powerpoint and captivating visual images. I had already introduced verbs to my class but wanted to strengthen their knowledge of verbs.
The distinction between a weak verb and a strong verb is based on how the past tense of the verb is formed. Using concise sentences and powerful verbs is one way. Strong verbs are action verbs that are specific and easily visualized by the reader. Vibrant verbs list for kids super easy storytelling. Grade 5 verbs worksheets our grade 5 verbs worksheets focus on topics related to verb tenses. However, most of us rely too heavily on to be verbs or use them unconsciously. 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. Action verbs and high impact phrases using action verbs will demonstrate to an employer that you took action, produced results, and contributed. First grade lesson learning to recognize and use strong verbs. Using concise sentences and powerful verbs is one way to engage readers and strengthen the force of your meaning. The table below list useful verbs that are very common in academic texts. 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. The ultimate strong verbs list thatll supercharge your writing. Theres no quicker win for you and your manuscript than ferreting out and eliminating flabby verbs and replacing them with vibrant ones.
Click here or below to download the expanded list now 249 powerful verbs. A list of 351 strong verbs to inspire your writing. One of the final stages of revising a draft is editing for strong verbs. To determine whether a verb is strong, ask yourself whether the verb has a sensory connotation. Check out this recently published list of 277 action words that supercharge your writing. Strong verbs for essay writing allendale school district. See passive and active voice the principle the verb to be is the most commonly used verb in the english language. 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. The main culprits include the verbs to be and to have. 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. It can be a challenge to insert these sources smoothly without taking away from your voice as a writer. Exercises in both worksheets give students the opportunity of writing complete sentences by using strong verbs rather than weak ones.
We cover the past, present and future perfect tenses and introduce the progressive tenses also called the continuous tenses. But writing verbs correctly is an important skill that is rarely taught these days in writing classes. Good writing is about wellchosen nouns and strong verbs, not adjectives and adverbs. As a bonus, weve included a few tips to help you with assessing your papers. 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.
Strong action verbs use this list of strong action verbs to diversify, strengthen, and individualize your resume language. The ultimate strong verbs list thatll supercharge your. You should replace an adverb and a verb with a strong verb if you can. These action verbs lists for kids make it easier to add more exciting verbs to your creative writing or storytelling. Other strong verbs help readers see and hear actions more vividly. 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. Accomplishment, creative, communication, helping, instructional, leadership, organizationdetail, research, technical. Not only do you need to know how to use powerful verbs, but having a strong verbs list at your disposal is invaluable. Strong verbs invigorate narrative and deliver precise meanings without increasing word count.
Why you need strong verbs when you write writers write. Strong verb and weak verb, examples, list, pdf performdigi. I started reading a verb for herb by maria fleming. Action verbs and high impact phrases foster school of. The ultimate strong verbs list and guide to power up your. Ausb writing center last updated 52416 your resume bullet points should each have. Bland verbs, such as uses, says, and relates, lead the writer into summary.
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