Sunday, December 21, 2008

Vivid Verbs



What action verbs come to mind when you think of Christmas or New Year's Eve? The use of specific, vivid verbs can help your writing come alive. I have listed vivid verbs in my Wordle that come to mind when I think of Christmas. Now it is your turn to list at least 10 vivid verbs that you could use in your writing about New Year's Eve.


Blazing A Path....
In your writing, always look for opportunities to replace weak verbs with strong, vivid action verbs. In this paragraph, replace the bold words with livelier action verbs.

On your in-line skates at top speed, you go down a hill. The wind is against your cheek. Yours skates almost put you into orbit. Suddenly, a cyclist moves into your path out of nowhere. You say, “Watch out!” but she doesn’t hear you.
You’re afraid you may run into that oncoming bike. If you move, you’ll push that jogger into the bushes. You decide you’d better get onto the grass, and you hope you won’t hit a tree while you’re going at this speed. Now you’re in midair, and the landscape moves by. Finally, as you get up out of the ditch, you say to yourself, “I’d better learn how to use those brakes.”


Some possible vivid verb choices for "Blazing A Path" that are not in any particular order:
smack yell scream exclaim crawl rushes swerves zoom sprint blazes slam collide burns emerges crash shove launch jump blows fly rushes plead scurry

Post a comment of an example of a vivid verb you could use in the place of a weaker one in the above paragraph. Make sure it is one that is not already listed above.


Check out my new digital learning website: GrammarCloud!

71 comments:

  1. 5A Jackson- push-shove

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  2. 5A Cole- say•comment

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  3. 5-A Mac M Get Up-Clamber

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  4. 5A Jason say-shout

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  5. 5A Will say- mumble

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  6. 5ACole push-jostle

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  7. 5aConnor hit-strike

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  8. 5a-Patton get up- stumble

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  9. 5aConnor hit-strike

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  10. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  11. 5ASam move-proceed

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  12. 5aedwin moves-shifts

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  13. 5ATrip-moves-advances

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  14. 5AHenry gets-crawl

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  15. 5APeyton say-exclaimed

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  16. 5B Cole moves-jolts

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  17. 5btrammel go-proceed

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  18. moves-tranfers into

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  19. MOVE: swerve, diverge

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  20. going-making progress

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