{"id":2387,"date":"2014-06-19T02:43:58","date_gmt":"2014-06-18T18:43:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shirleytaylor.com\/blog\/?p=2387"},"modified":"2014-08-08T01:48:27","modified_gmt":"2014-08-07T17:48:27","slug":"the-power-of-verbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shirleytaylor.com\/blog\/the-power-of-verbs\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power of Verbs"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"verbs\"<\/a>If you don’t already know about the power of verbs, it’s good that you’re reading this – because verbs are very powerful.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\n\t<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
There is something about writing that makes us express ourselves more formally than we would do when speaking. For example, you might chat with a colleague in the staff canteen about how you are going to realise your department’s goals<\/i>. But when you sit down to write a report about it, for some reason you find yourself writing about ‘the realisation of our goals’<\/i>.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\n\t<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
This habit is very common. What happens is that instead of using a verb, for example, ‘to realise’<\/i>, you use the related noun, ‘realisation’<\/i>. To use the correct term for this bad habit, these are called nominalisations, meaning using the noun form of verbs.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\n\t<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Let’s look at some more examples.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\n\t<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Noun phrase                                     Verb<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\n\t<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
the avoidance of                              avoid<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
the improvement of                         improve<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
the provision of                                provide<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
take into consideration                     consider<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
undertake an analysis of                   analyse<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\n\t<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Noun phrases appear all over our writing. They lengthen your sentences and they make your writing less lively, less human and more official sounding. Let’s look at some sentences now:<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\n\t<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Noun phrase<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
We ensured the motivation of staff with the introduction of Learn at Lunch sessions.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\n\t<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Verb phrase<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
We motivated staff by introducing Learn at Lunch sessions’.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\n\t<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Noun phrase<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Newton Hospital made a decision to expand its paediatric services.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\n\t<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Verb phrase<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Newton Hospital decided to expand its paediatric services.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\n\t<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Noun phrase<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
The judge said we must take into consideration the age of the offender.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\n\t<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Verb phrase<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
The judge said we must consider the offender’s age.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\n\t<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
When you are writing, it’s good to remember that too many noun phrases make writing very dull, and they obscure the real meaning of a sentence. Always remember the power of verbs.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\n\t<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Tip: Watch out for nouns that end in -ion, -ment, -tion, -ence, -ancy, -ant.<\/i> You can often change them into verbs.<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you don’t already know about the power of verbs, it’s good that you’re reading this – because verbs are very powerful. There is something about writing that makes us express ourselves more formally than we would do when speaking. For example, you might chat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6,15,19,1],"tags":[41,40],"yoast_head":"\nThe Power of Verbs - Shirley Taylor's Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shirleytaylor.com\/blog\/the-power-of-verbs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Power of Verbs - Shirley Taylor's Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you don’t already know about the power of verbs, it’s good that you’re reading this – because verbs are very powerful. There is something about writing that makes us express ourselves more formally than we would do when speaking. 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