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"With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern and leaped into the room. He shrieked once — once only. In an instant I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him. I then sat upon the bed and smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done. But, for many minutes, the heart beat on with a muffled sound. This, however, did not vex me; it would not be heard through the walls. At length it ceased. The old man was dead." -Edgar Allan Poe, "The Tell-Tale Heart"
Edgar Allan Poe believed that stories had to have the maximum impact on the reader. His suspenseful subjects hold our attention, but what gives Poe's writing so much energy? Part of the energy comes from Poe's choice of verbs. Consider some of the verbs in the passage above: "threw," "leaped," "shrieked," "dragged," "pulled," "smiled," and "beat." These verbs carry meaning. They convey the tension that Poe builds.
| Flex your muscles. Verbs help you do something and make your writing stronger. Most verbs express some form of action, such as "leap" and "drag." They carry the other elements of a sentence to the place they need to go. Every sentence must have a verb. |
I Get By with a Little Help from My Friends
Some verbs, often called helping verbs but more formally known as auxiliary verbs, usually precede the base form of another verb and carry little meaning of their own. There are 23 helping verbs in English, including the verb "to be" and its forms. Nine auxiliary verbs called modals function only as helping verbs. That means they never stand on their own.
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Another verb form, known as a linking verb, occurs in two situations. In the first, the linking verb is followed by an adjective; in the second, the linking verb is followed by a noun or pronoun that refers to the subject.
- He looks good.
- The food smelled spicy.
- He is my father.
- This is she.
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Sports writers use colorful verbs to describe athletic events. How many verbs can you come up with to describe this soccer play? Compare your verbs to those used by the reporter in the article that accompanies this photo.  |
Just Do It!
In "The Tell-Tale Heart," Poe writes that the murderer "threw open the lantern." He could have written, "The lantern was thrown open." But that would remove the murderer from the action. The phrase "threw open the lantern" has the necessary energy to describe this particular moment in the story. This construction is called active voice. "The lantern was thrown open" is a passive voice construction.In the active voice, there is an agent and an action. Someone or something does something to something else.
In "Congress passed the amendment," Congress is the agent, and "passed" is the action. In the passive voice, the subject of the sentence is acted on by some other agent or by something unnamed.
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| Gwendolyn Brooks leaves out an important verb in the poem "We Real Cool." Would the poem work if she included the verb "are"? |
Tell Me More
A construction such as "He walks into the room" is active, but sometimes a more specific verb paints a more accurate picture of someone who entered the room in some other way. Why did Poe choose to have his murderer "leap" into the room? Think for a moment about how else a person can enter a room. The verb "leaped" gives different information than "crept" or "walked," for example.Use your verb power to get more specific. Look:
- "Every day the woman walks to work." What do you see?
- "Every day the woman plods to work." How about now?
- "Every day the woman saunters to work." And now?
Now you try it. Compare your answers with those of other students. Notice how critical the verb choice is to meaning.
One particular genre of poems offers instructions on how to do something. Sometimes the instructions are serious; sometimes they are whimsical. Poems in this category include Gary Snyder's "Things to Do at a Lookout," William Stafford's "Like a Little Stone," and Julio Cortazar's "Instructions on How to Cry."
In Richard Wilbur's "Advice to a Prophet," the poet puts himself in the unlikely position of giving advice to some modern-day prophet who has yet to arrive. Here are four of the poem's verses. Wilbur instructs the prophet to spare us, to speak, and to ask. What instructions can you give?
Assignment
Imagine yourself giving instructions to new aliens arriving by UFO. How would you teach them to behave? What words would you use? "Hover"? "Beam"? "Communicate"?
What instructions will you be giving? List as many verbs as you can that might be a part of your instructions. Use the imperative (command) form of each verb.
Write one imperative verb at the beginning of each line. Then complete each instruction. Put each instruction on its own line of poetry.
Be sure to break your instructions into small steps.
Be sure to use very specific verbs. Eliminate any lines that offer unnecessary instructions or that differ too much in tone from the rest. Be sure to end with an instruction that gives closure to the poem.
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