Another way to eliminate dead verbs and make writing more vivid is
to change the sentence around
. Instead of “The music was written by Mozart,” change the sentence order to “Mozart wrote the music.” That simple change eliminates the dead verb “was” and immediately converts the sentence from passive to active voice.
What is a dead verb?
Dead Verbs:
is, are, am, have, had, has, be, been, was, look, were, take, took, went, go, ran, run, make, do, did, gone
, came, come, -ing words. Form an appositive: The man is a doctor, He helps people get well. The man, a doctor, provides help to sick people. There are three kinds of dogs.
How do you replace being verbs?
- Present. I am. they/she/he/it is. you/we/they are.
- Past. I was. they/she/he/it was. you/we/they were.
- Perfect. I have been/had been. they/she/he/it has been or had been. you/we/they have been or had been.
- Progressive. I am/was being. they/she/he/it is or was being. you/>we/they are/were being.
How do you replace boring verbs?
- 1) get.
- 2) have.
- 3) say and tell.
- 4) walk.
- 5) eat.
- 6) look.
- 7) win.
- 8) think.
How do you replace weak verbs?
You can replace weak verbs
— helping and being verbs —
with action verbs to make your sentences more engaging. By avoiding the passive voice, verbs stand out as meaningful words in your sentences.
What words can replace be?
The most common “to be” verbs are “am,” “is,” “are,” “was,” “were,” “be,” “
been
,” “being,” “become,” “became” and “seem.” These verbs have an important function in the English language since they help writers indicate temporal relationships between ideas.
How many be verbs are there?
The verb be is irregular. It has
eight different forms
: be, am, is, are, was, were, being, been. The present simple and past simple tenses make more changes than those of other verbs. I am late.
What are the dead words?
A dead word is a word in the English language that is overused. If you search the internet, you can find many actual lists of dead words. Some examples of dead words are:
happy, sad, mad, said, mean, good, bad, a lot, fun, and very
. Think about when your students submit their first draft of a piece of writing.
What’s a boring verb?
verb.
bored
; boring. Definition of bore (Entry 6 of 6) transitive verb. : to cause to feel weariness and restlessness through lack of interest : to cause to feel boredom trying not to bore your audience got bored by the party and left.
How do you remove dead verbs?
Another way to eliminate dead verbs and make writing more vivid is
to change the sentence around
. Instead of “The music was written by Mozart,” change the sentence order to “Mozart wrote the music.” That simple change eliminates the dead verb “was” and immediately converts the sentence from passive to active voice.
What is the difference between a strong verb and a weak verb?
Strong verbs are “
irregular
” (though not necessarily in all their forms), weak verbs are “regular,” and “mixed verbs” (which account for the “half” in “two and a half types of verbs”) are a small class of verbs that take weak verb endings but are nevertheless irregular.
What is considered a weak verb?
Weak verbs (more commonly called regular verbs
How do you strengthen verbs?
- Slam.
- Strike.
- Crash.
- Slice.
- Smash.
- Ram.
- Smack.
- Bang.
How do you get rid of to be verbs in writing?
Change−To eliminate a “to be” verb, students can
change the subject of the sentence to another noun or pronoun found in the sentence and rearrange the order of the sentence
.
What word best replaces looking?
- fish eye.
- glaring.
- gun.
- look.
- looking.
- ogling.
- peek.
- peep.
Is had a to be verb?
have = ‘ve I’ve seen the Queen. | had = ‘d You’d better go home. | Ian’d left them behind. |
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