THE SHORT, SWEET, STRONG VERB

     In previous posts, I’ve encouraged you to give specific examples to support and clarify your general statements, and concrete illustrations to support and clarify your abstract statements. If you do this, you’ll be adding words to your writing. After all, “I enjoy sports that focus on bashing spheres, such as tennis, baseball, and golf” uses more words than “I enjoy sports.” 

Strong verbs have more power.

     But aren’t we also told to “Be concise”?

     Yes.

     By “concise,” however, we don’t mean “use as few words as possible.” If that were the case, an opinion column about gun control laws might contain only three words: “I’m for them” or “I’m against them.” That’s concise, but not very persuasive.

    The real rule, obviously, is this: Use as few words as necessary to achieve your writing purpose.*

     This post is about one kind of weak, wordy writing: using a long phrase where a single strong verb will do—specifically, replacing a strong verb with a weak phrase centered on an abstract-noun version of that verb. This is one form of something called a “nominalization” (from the Latin for “name” or “noun”).

     More simply, here’s the rule: When you can, use a single strong verb instead of a long noun-based phrase.

     I can explain this best with (what else?) specific examples:

DON’T WRITE                                   INSTEAD, WRITE

give consideration to                              consider

have respect for                                      respect

made a decision                                      decided

had hope                                                 hoped

made the suggestion                               suggested

engaged in the act of

    (running, cooking, typing)                 ran, cooked, typed

made a movement                                  moved

was a success at                                      succeeded at

were involved in food preparation         prepared food, cooked

“I feel regret that I made a meal of

the clams.”                                             “I regret that I ate the clams.”

Pompous writers in the corporate, academic, and political worlds often try to inflate their documents with nominalizations. Don’t do that.

Now there is a necessity that this post comes to a conclusion.
Oops.

I mean, now I need to finish this post.

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*What is the purpose of writing? There’s no one answer to that. Words can be used for as many purposes as wood. Beginning on p. 466 of the great, massive, profound, and hilarious novel The Sot-weed Factor, author John Barth lists about 250 words for “prostitute,” half in French, half in English. The list goes on for five pages. Nobody in his right mind would call this list “wordy.” Why not? Because it achieves its purpose: to leave the reader rolling on the floor like a galleywench.    

John Barth writes long novels that don't waste words.