It's been a while since I sent you a writing exercise. Today, I want to concentrate on replacing mundane words with ones that have a little pizzazz. Those 'to be' verbs like is, are, was make up the worst, but there are others we can also replace, those that show something but are a bit boring. Doing so will make your writing come alive and be more publishable, as well.
Let's concentrate on what would appear to be active verbs instead of the passive ones mentioned above. These are perfectly good verbs, but they could be better. For each word, make a list of words that show more, give a better mental picture for the reader. I'll do the first one, and you can carry on with the rest. Use a thesaurus if you must, but do try to come up with as many as you can on your own.
A. walked: strolled, strode, sauntered, shuffled, trudged, meandered, ambled, hiked
B. laughed:
C. cried:
D. want:
E. love:
F. made
After you have made your lists for the words, write a sentence using each one. Notice how the new words show more than the original
Writing exercises help us stretch those writerly muscles, make us more aware, and can enhance our writing. Give this one a try!
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