456 McGRAW-HILL’S SAT
Eliminate Weak Verbs—Uncover the
“Lurking Verbs”
Why is this sentence so weak and vague? It’s filled
with jargon, abstract nouns, and weak and passive
verbs. Here’s a much more effective revision:Investors like aggressive companies that are
committed to making themselves well known
and to building their share of the market. As a re-
sult, investors put a lot of money into these com-
panies, thereby overvaluing them, even though
the companies often have weak products or busi-
ness models.
We’ve cut out the jargon, used more concrete nouns,
included more logical connections, and found stronger
verbs. We also replaced the passive verbwith an active
verb.A passive verb places the noun performing the ac-
tion after the verb, as in The ball was hit by the boy,or
eliminates the noun performing the action altogether, as
inThe ball was hit.In the original sentence, the verb is in
the passive voice and doesn’t convey a clear thought: The
companies will be seen as “players.”Seen by whom? It
doesn’t say, so the sentence is unclear. Notice that the
revision makes this clear: Investors like companies.This
tells us what’s happening, and who’s doing it.Lesson 10: Write Forcefully
Take an essay you’ve written recently and circle
all of the verbs. How many are forms of the verb
to be,likeis, are, was,andwere?Probably too
many.To beis the most overused verb in the
English language, and it is also the weakest.
Other weak verbs are to existandto have.Too
many of these verbs in your writing make it
weak and lifeless. If your writing contains too
many weak verbs, find the stronger lurking
verbs in the sentence, and rewrite it. Lurking
verbs are words in the sentence that aren’t verbs
but should be, because they convey the idea or
action of the sentence more effectively.Weak: The micehavea tendency to overeat
when they are in the absence of this
hormone.
Stronger:The micetendto overeat when they
lackthis hormone.The original verbs, haveandare,are weak. More
effective verbs are “lurking” as nouns in the first sen-
tence:tendencyandabsenceseem to carry the main
ideas, but they are nouns. Notice how much more
forceful the revision is because these ideas were
transformed into verbs.
Weak: Wewill not betolerant of anyone
who is disrespectful of the opposing
players.
Stronger:We won’ttolerateanyone whodis-
respectsthe opposing players.Use Clear and Active Verbs
Consider this example of a weak and unclear sentence:
The most aggressive of the new companies,
whose priorities are characterized by their capi-
tal commitment to market share and name
recognition, will be seen as the “players” in their
niche, and may see an extension of share over-
valuation, despite weak product development or
business models.Use the passive voice sparingly: don’t say The
ball was hit by the boywhen you can say The boy
hit the ball.The passive voice often makes a
sentence needlessly wordy and vague.Phrases like give it 110%, go for the gold, rip it to
shreds, in the lap of luxury, keep at arm’s length,
pick up the pieces, cross that bridge when we come
to it, go to town,and so on are clichés.Acliché
is an overused phrase. Whenever you use a cliché
in your writing, a good reader will think you are
being lazy, or that you cannot think of an origi-
nal way to convey your idea. Instead, use your
own, original words to convey your thoughts.Eliminate ClichésClichéd: Believe me, I felt like a fish out of
water giving that speech, but I sucked
it up and gave it a go.
Better: Although the prospect of speaking in
front of the class intimidated me, I
tried to focus on my words rather
than my fear.