Why Is Choosing Strong Nouns and Verbs Important When Writing Poetry

S trong verbs add action, vitality, color, and zest to your writing. But what are strong verbs? And how do you use them?

How to use strong verbs

Do you ever read text and
wonder …

Why do the words jump off this page?

Why does this writing feel energetic and strong?

Why is it so fast-paced?

And do you wonder why your draft text seems a tad limp in comparison?

It happens to all of us.

First drafts often require an injection of power and pizzazz. First drafts are full of weak verbs, and weak verbs make your writing limp, flabby, and listless.

In contrast, strong verbs add action, vitality, color, and zest. So, the "secret" to writing with gusto is to choose stronger verbs.

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What are strong verbs?

Strong verbs engage your senses, and help readers picture a scene (verbs in bold):

You feel the air reverberating when he slams his fist on the table. The teacups jiggle, his face reddens, and his voice thunders.

Strong verbs allow readers to visualize actions. Instead of only reading words, they're drawn into your writing, experiencing your story.

But strong verbs don't need to convey powerful action. Subtle action can evoke powerful feelings, too. For instance:

He cradles the baby, strokes her dark hair, tickles her chin, and hums a lullaby.

Strong verbs are precise and concrete. In contrast, weak verbs are abstract and generic—they don't help you visualize a scene. Examples of weak verbs are "to be," "to provide," "to add," and "to utilize." You can't picture these words.

For instance, if someone provides feedback, is he shouting his comments? Or lecturing you with a smug face? Or perhaps scribbling a few suggestions in the margin of your handout?

You can't picture "provide feedback," but you can visualize "shouting," "lecturing," and "scribbling."

Strong verbs breathe life into abstract ideas

Over the weekend, I read Ray Bradbury's "Zen in the Art of Writing." I enjoyed his word choice, and I loved how his verbs breathe life into abstract concepts, like storytelling and the Muse.

For instance, he describes how he started writing stories based on lists of nouns:

And the stories began to burst, to explode from those memories, hidden in the nouns, lost in the lists.

And he writes about the Muse:

The Muse, then, is the most terrified of all the virgins. She starts if she hears a sound, pales if you ask her questions, spins and vanishes if you disturb her dress.

And on eating books:

I tore out the pages, ate them with salt, doused them with relish, gnawed on the bindings, turned the chapters with my tongue!

Bradbury's choice of strong verbs (like "gnaw" and "douse") adds zest and power. He uses few adjectives and adverbs to keep his writing fast-paced.

Strong verbs in business writing

You might think strong verbs are only for fiction writers.

But that's untrue.

Here's Nancy Duarte in her book "Resonate" (about engaging your audience with story-based presentations):

Throughout history, presenter-to-audience exchanges have rallied revolutions, spread innovation, and spawned movements.

And:

When a great story is told, we lean forward, and our hearts race as the story unfolds.

And:

Haven't you often wished you could make customers, employees, investors, or students snap, crackle, pop, and move to the new place they need to be in order to create a new future?

Here's an example of Apple's copy:

So whether you're listening to music, watching videos, or making speakerphone calls, iPhone 7 lets you crank it up. Way, way up.

And:

Apple Watch Series 2 counts more than just steps. It tracks all the ways you move throughout the day, whether you're walking between meetings, doing cartwheels with your kids, or hitting the gym.

"To do" in the last sentence is, of course, a weak verb. Apple's copywriters could have changed "doing cartwheels with your kids" into "cartwheeling with your kids" without disrupting the rhythm and making the sentence stronger.

It is nouns and verbs, not their assistants, that give good writing its toughness and color.

~ Strunk and White (in the Elements of Style)

How to choose strong verbs

No clear distinction exists between strong and weak verbs. It's a gliding scale, and it's up to you as a writer to decide how strong you'd like your verbs to be.

For instance, "to walk" is stronger than "to go" because it gives you an indication of how someone moved. But stronger options would be: to saunter, to hike, to shuffle, to trudge, to stride, or to plod. Each of these verbs gives you an indication of how someone walked:

• to saunter: picture a girl walking rather leisurely, perhaps peeking into the shop windows
• to hike: picture a woman in walking boots with a backpack, walking at a good pace
• to shuffle: picture an elderly woman moving ahead gingerly, hardly lifting her feet
• to trudge: picture a girl in wellies making a big effort, perhaps walking through the snow or mud
• to stride: picture a lady walking as if on the catwalk, with long strides
• to plod: picture a tired woman with sagging shoulders, walking rather tiredly

Strong verbs can also be used for abstract language. For instance, you could say you generated ideas during your brainstorm session. But how did your ideas arrive? For instance:

• A few ideas popped into your mind
• Your mind exploded with ideas
• A stream of ideas burst forward
• Ideas first trickled, then gushed forth
• The brainstorm session spawned a stream of ideas

Strong verbs are more precise than weak verbs; they can paint clear pictures—even of abstract activities like thinking and generating ideas.

How to play with your verbs

Imagine this: how would readers experience your voice if you used fewer adjectives and adverbs?

Here's an example of text, sagging under adjectives and adverbs:

While quietly sitting at her wooden desk, she slowly formulated her thoughts and worked really hard to write her blog post. The next day she felt apprehensive and nervously hit publish. Would her audience be interested enough to read her content word-by-word?

To add energy to the text, the first step is to strip the content back to its bare bones:

While quietly sitting at her wooden desk, she slowly formulated her thoughts and worked really hard to write her blog post. The next day she felt apprehensive and nervously hit publish. Would her audience be interested enough to read her content word-by-word?

The stripped down version lacks nuance and color. So, let's try stronger verbs and add a little context:

For hours, she sat at her desk. She wracked her brain, and slaved over her words to produce a blog post. And the next day? She hit publish with trepidation. Would her audience gobble up her words?

The thesaurus is your friend. Use a thesaurus to find more precise alternatives for weak verbs.

Your word choice shapes your voice

Finding your voice is about experimentation.

Write a first draft quickly using the words coming up into your mind.

Then, review your draft. In which sentences can you replace weak with strong verbs?

Which verbs can be more precise? Which verbs are sensory? Which verbs have a strong emotional connotation?

Play with your words. Have fun. And discover your voice.

A list of 351 strong verbs to inspire your writing

The list below is not exhaustive as many more strong verbs exist.

You can use a thesaurus to find other strong verbs, or keep an eye out for interesting verbs while reading.

To determine whether a verb is strong, ask yourself whether the verb has a sensory connotation. Does it make you hear, feel, smell, taste or see something? Does it paint a clear picture?

Onomatopoeic verbs

Onomatopoeic words express a sound, so they're a sub segment of sensory verbs.

The word onomatopoeia comes from the Greek for making words—the sound has formed the word that represents it.

Examples:

To crack, to tap, to snap, to sputter, to knock, to boom, to clap, to bang, to drum, to squeal, to bump, to chatter, to twitter, to chirp, to clank, to click, to click-clack, to tip-tap, to jingle, to jangle, to rattle, to tinkle, to hush, to murmur, to plop, to pop, to fizz, to sizzle, to swoosh, to gargle, to sizzle, to hiss, to burp, to hiccup, to whack, to thumb, to crunch, to creak, to squeak, to flutter, to giggle, to tee-hee, to cackle, to honk, to hum, to meow, to woof, to munch, to shush, to screech, to slosh, to squish, to whirr, to gnaw

Sensory verbs

Sensory verbs are strong because they paint clear pictures in readers' minds and make them feel something.

Examples:

To sparkle, to shine, to brighten, to wipe out, to muddle, to dazzle, to spark, to glow, to shimmer, to glimmer, to beam, to ripple, to tickle, to thrill, to explode, to burst, to guzzle, to gobble up, to breeze through, to drool, to spit, to roar, to thunder, to reverberate, to resonate, to rumble, to flavor, to smooth, to rub, to tremble, to whisper, to vibrate, to pulsate, to throb, to quiver, to buzz, to sip, to slurp, to slobber, to blemish, to applaud, to clash, to bounce, to blend, to shake, to savor, to tantalize, to tittilate, to pinch, to stroke, to brush, to bathe, to hose, to douse, to shower, to drench, to spray, to sprinkle, to trickle, to splash, to seep, to slide, to slump, to tumble, to nose-dive, to fly, to float, to clog, to swoop, to propel, to dig in, to dip, to surge, to wolf down, to shovel, to gulp down, to roll, to soar, to curl up, to unfold, to weave, to swipe, to tear, to polish, to pale, to vanish, to spin, to weave, to intertwine, to buckle down, to button up, to pierce, to stick to

Strong action verbs—intransitive

Action verbs propel a sentence forward, keeping readers engaged.

Instead of using weaker words like walk or move, try to describe the movement more precisely so readers can imagine the movement.

Intransitive verbs can stand on their own, without an object. For instance, I walk is intransitive because there's no object that is walked by me. I hit you is transitive—you are the object as you are hit by me.

Examples:

To stumble, to wobble, to swing, to lurch, to glide, to zip, to sail, to crash, to dive, to tiptoe, to pussyfoot, to duck, to flip-flop, to dilly-dally, to linger, to stall, to sway, to sink, to spurt, to hurry, to dash, to nip, to race, to whiz, to flit, to chew, to stroll, to sashay, to amble, to plod, to ramble, to loiter, to meander, to roam, to snake, to gallivant, to twist, to dance, to jig, to jive, to waltz, to tango, to swirl, to hop, to trip, to skip, to whirl, to gallop, to stride, to zoom, to trot, to dart, to sprint, to shoot, to leap

Strong action verbs—transitive

Below follow examples of words related to holding, pushing, or hitting something.

You can use these verbs for both concrete and abstract concepts. For instance, you can jump-start an engine or you can jump-start your career. You can squeeze a stress ball, or you can squeeze more to-do's into your calendar. A cow regurgitates grass, and a blogger may regurgitate worn-out topics.

Examples:

To crank up, to flood, to snowball, to skyrocket, to catapult, to flick, to jump-start, to tackle, to grab, to grasp, to wrestle, to poke, to stir, to prod, to stab, to strike, to smash, to hit, to plunge, to drop, to dump, to drain, to squeeze, to topple, to ditch, to block, to muzzle, to electrify, to galvanize, to fire up, to ignite, to kindle, to whip up, to sharpen, to shock, to jolt, to beat, to regurgitate, to trigger, to pocket, to bat, to smack, to slap, to kick, to kick-start, to hammer, to nail, to club, to flog, to clutch, to hook, to cling, to grip

Negative emotional verbs

A verb like to fail has a strong negative connotation but doesn't necessarily paint an unambiguous or vivid picture in a reader's mind. Failure comes in different forms—you can marginally fail an exam or your start-up can fail utterly, and the feelings associated can vary. Do you sob for days? Do you fret you're a failure? Do you feel crippled or bruised by the failure? Do you feel devastated or shrug your shoulders?

Below follow examples of more sensory verbs with negative connotations:

Examples:

To choke, to strangle, to smother, to gag, to suffocate, to throttle, to cry, to howl, to sob, to blubber, to scream, to groan, to moan, to fret, to fume, to bleed, to nag, to steal, to kidnap, to ransack, to loot, to pilfer, to plunder, to snitch, to puke, to vomit, to yelp, to bark, to growl, to grumble, to mutter, to spout, to suck, to scold, to plummet, to collapse, to skid, to agitate, to slave, to labor, to wreck, to ruin, to cripple, to devastate, to decimate, to trash, to shatter, to torpedo, to sabotage, to capsize, to maul, to crush, to slash, to bruise, to hijack

Positive emotional verbs

The verbs below paint strong positive imagery in your reader's mind.

Your apple tree can blossom, and your blog can flourish. A magician might be spellbinding, but your blog posts can hypnotize readers, too.

Examples:

To flourish, to thrive, to bloom, to blossom, to mushroom, to smile, to grin, to cheer, to raise, to boost, to lift, to bolster, to invigorate, to energize, to excite, to enliven, to fortify, to hearten, to embolden, to animate, to arouse, to hypnotize, to spellbind, to sweep off one's feet, to fall in love, to treasure, to unclog, to clarify, to disentangle, to liberate, to relieve, to release, to unshackle, to cuddle, to nestle, to huddle, to snuggle, to embrace, to hug, to kiss, to massage, to cradle, to enfold, to envelop, to sprout

Note: This post was originally published on 14 February 2016; an expanded version was published on 12 June 2019.

Why Is Choosing Strong Nouns and Verbs Important When Writing Poetry

Source: https://www.enchantingmarketing.com/strong-verbs/

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