Strong Writing - Choose Powerful Verbs!

It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that it's the adjectives you choose, the words that describe things, that makes your writing vivid. But sometimes you can make your writing a lot stronger by choosing verbs that are powerful and descriptive.

Take these two sentences for example:

The cheerful man walked down the street.

The man sauntered down the street.

Which sentence do you think is stronger? Although the second sentence doesn't even have an adjective and it's one word longer than the first, it's much more effective. Not only does the word sauntered describe the way in which the man walked - it also suggests something about his mood.

Compare these two:

The man walked home unsteadily.

The man stumbled home.

The second version is more economical. It expresses the same idea as the first sentence but in more neatly, without having to use the adverb unsteadily. (Remember, an adverb is a word that describes a verb.)

So when you next sit down to write, make your writing strong - choose powerful verbs!