7/25/2008
The Almighty VERB
| I know….YAWN! Since when is the topic of verbs considered exciting? While it may not be exciting, verbs are key to your marketing success. REALLY! Action, action, we want action. Active beats passive – every single time. Always, always, always choose words – especially verbs – that are active, visual and powerful. Your writing will be far more vibrant and convincing if you use active rather than passive verbs and the active voice over the passive voice. Passive verbs tend to be wordy, unnatural and, frankly, downright dull. Consider these two sentences: Passive: The book proposal was given to the publisher by Lisa. Active: Lisa presented her book proposal to the publisher. Or these: Passive: The cake was eaten by the boys. Active: The boys devoured the cake. What is…isn’t. I once had a client who forbade me from using any form of the verb “to be.” This means I couldn’t use is, are, am, were, etc. At first I thought he was out of his mind, but you know what? The end product was all the more strong, forceful and effective. The verbs were impactful and had more meaning than those dreaded-but-necessary “to be” verbs. creative writing business writing small business marketing writing Labels: business writing, creative writing, marketing, small business marketing |
