Choosing Engaging Verbs
Using engaging verbs in journalistic writing can enhance reader interest and keep them engaged. Learn how to choose specific and compelling verbs without injecting personal bias, ensuring your writing remains professional and captivating. Explore examples of professional writing enriched by vivid verbs to inspire your own storytelling. Practice brainstorming engaging verbs for common actions to elevate your descriptive abilities and create dynamic narratives.
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Choosing Engaging Verbs Editing
Journalistic writing doesnt have to be boring. One way to make writing more interesting is by using verbs (action words) that are engaging. Engaging verbs are words that encourage readers to keep reading!
Watch out when using engaging language! Your teacher always says to be careful when writing for journalism. You re not to show opinion or too much emotion. Sometimes engaging language might do this. You re also not supposed to use words that are slanted. Slanted words present information in a way that favors a particular group or opinion.
Make verbs specific One thing that helps your story engage readers is to choose specific verbs, but without opinion. Did the runner dash to the finish line? Or did he stumble or sprint or hobble? If you watched the race carefully, you could describe the runner s movements without showing your opinion, and just be specific.
Brainstorm an engaging verb for each of the examples. 1. Walk 2. Talk 3. Dance 4. Eat 5. Throw 6. Write
Lets look at some professional examples. The verbs are underlined. The earthquake was not particularly strong. Then it ticked past the sixty-second mark, making it longer than the others that week. The earth snapped and popped and rippled. His watch swept past the three-minute mark and kept going. The Really Big One, 2106 Pulitzer Prize-winner for Features Kathryn Schulz of The New Yorker (describing seismologist Chris Goldfinger s reactions at the start of the 2011 earthquake in Japan)
What does the sentence mean? Text sentences: It ticked past the sixty-second mark The earth snapped and popped and rippled His watch swept past
The door swung open into a dining area. Siatta strode into the unfamiliar space. A little more than six feet tall and weighing about 175 pounds, he was a thoroughly trained veteran of a small-unit ground war and heavily tattooed, with red tally marks on his sternum indicating seven Taliban kills from 2009 and 2010. The women cowered behind a flimsy bedroom door. One of them dialed 911. Another clutched a stubby kitchen knife. The Fighter, 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winner for Features, C.J. Chivers of The New York Times (describing a former Marine s PTSD violence)
What does the sentence mean? Text sentences: The door swung open The women cowered Another clutched a
Doomed partygoers trapped on the second floor of a crudely converted warehouse screamed, Help us! Help us! as one of the deadliest structure fires in Oakland s history ripped through a tinderbox of makeshift living spaces and a labyrinth cluttered with art late Friday night, killing at least 24 people. officials conceded Saturday they had been unable to gain access during an inspection visit and it appears they did not follow up. 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winner for Breaking News, the staff of the East Bay Times A series of coverage stories about the Oakland Ghost Ship fire
What does the sentence mean? Text sentences: Doomed partygoers trapped deadliest fire in Oakland s history ripped officials conceded Saturday
Apply this to your own writing: Take an article you have already written, published or not, and update 3-5 of the verbs. Attach a short explanation for why you changed each verb. It should look like this example: Original sentence Crossed the finished line Changed Verb Limped across the finish line Reason for change The runner was injured and this change shows that fact.
