This lesson is part of the free email course.
Lesson 7: How verbs bring your text to life
In this seventh and final lesson of Clarity in Academic Writing, we'll talk about how our sentences revolve around verbs.
Verbs
Verbs are the most important part of the sentence. They are the lifeblood of your text.
They move the sentence forward
Verbs help the reader move from the beginning of the sentence to the end. They drive movement between sentences. Imagine the reader skipping from verb to verb as they read.
Photo by Sammie Chaffin
Readers expect precise verbs instead of zombie nouns.
1. Use verbs, not zombie nouns
Readers expect the main actions of the sentence to be expressed as verbs (not zombie nouns). Change zombie nouns back into verbs!
Inhibiting the body's ability to use glucose is lethal.
Several yeasts transport sugar monomers by facilitated diffusion.
A recent study reported only
These publication guidelines hardly affect reporting practices.
The ReallyWrite Editor identifies zombie nouns so that you can decide whether and how to change them.
2. Use precise verbs, not vague or empty verbs
Readers expect verbs to be clear and precise. Stay away from empty verbs like make, do, has, is, shows, and regards because they usually hide a zombie noun.
Clear and precise verbs look like this:
assert postulate consider invoke eliminate radiate isolate restore permeate propel elongate interact cease constrain extend circulate activate scatter simplify generalize derive construct depict speculate investigate assess characterize guide extrapolate infer attribute transmit migrate deteriorate absorb interlock invade exude
How can I change empty verbs into precise verbs?
Here are a few examples:
The major benefit of this intervention
This intervention allows patients to quickly resume oral intake.
In this paper, we
In this paper, we review...
Removal of the ions
The ions were removed from the plasma... OR We removed the ions from the plasma...
Readers expect the subject and the verb to be close together.
Readers expect the verb to come immediately after the subject. They tend to skip over the information between the subject and the verb. If you want the reader to read everything, move the verb close to the subject, like this:
Our model of female TMT appointments as catalysts that cause shifts in TMT cognitions, which, in turn, redirect knowledge-related strategic renewal from a buying to a building approach, is a novel effort at advancing research on women at upper echelons to examine time-dependent, within-firm mechanisms linking women in upper echelons and firm outcome.
In our model, female TMT appointments shift TMT cognitions, which, in turn, redirect knowledge-related strategic renewal from a buying to a building approach. Our model advances research on women at upper echelons and examines time-dependent, within-firm mechanisms linking women in upper echelons and firm outcome.
Photo by Priscilla du Preez
Readers prefer the active voice.
Readers expect verbs to be in the active voice whenever possible. The active voice is usually more concise and is processed more quickly (= easier to read). Active voice must be used when taking responsibility for a decision.
For example:
We chose this method because…
The ReallyWrite Editor identifies passive voice verbs so you can easily see if you are using them unnecessarily.
Active and passive voice are tools: you will use them both.
Passive voice can be used when the subject is unknown or unimportant as long as the sentence remains clear.
Either can be used to create parallelism or ensure that old (given) information is found in the beginning of the sentence.
Choose passive voice consciously and wisely.
“Put your important characters in subjects, then join these subjects to verbs that name their specific actions.” (Williams, Style & Grace)