#active verbs

Hello, authors! Do you ever find yourself writing a scene where your characters are having a steaming cup of coffee and suddenly have a craving for one yourself? Or, what if your characters are sharing a luscious ice cream sundae? Doesn’t that make you want one? Why is that? Because Words Have Power! It is our job as writers to use those words in the best way possible not only to communicate…

Now we know about active and descriptive verbs it’s time to play with them a little. As I also said we’re gonna be looking at adjectives.  

Grammar and especially Korean grammar is like math, but the really simple part like subtraction and addition. With verbs, you always wanna subtract the stem 하다 and 다 and you add something to replace it and change it’s meaning, and verbs are your building blocks for a lot of other word forms - like adjectives.

Korean adjectives are always followed by your noun, you cannot put a verb immediately after an adjective nor can you put the adjective behind it as your verb is the sentence stopper. 

When we want to make adjectives you have to be aware of whether your verb is active (av) or descriptive (dv) because it changes how you change it into an adjective.        

Active verbs are, as we’ve covered, active/actions. We make the verb into an adjective like this:  Av - verb stem + 는 = Adjective Here goes the examples! 

먹다 - 다 + 는 = 먹는  우린 먹는 것을 없어요. We don’t have edibles (anything/something to eat). 

사다 - 다 + 는 = 사는  오늘 사는 사과예요.  It’s the apple I bought today. 

Descriptive verbs are, as you know, verbs that describe something, probably you already know them as adjectives in the English language.  Dv - verb stem + (으)ㄴ = adjective  The 으 is used when the verb ends in a consonant and then it becomes 은. Let’s look at some examples, shall we?    

좋다 - 다 + 은 = 좋은  좋은 책이에요.  It’s a good book. 

바쁘다 - 다 + ㄴ = 바쁜   바쁜 시간이에요. It’s a busy time. 

Deep Point-of-View/Active Verbiage Writing Example from Ann Videan's "Fathoming Deep Point-of-View" workshop, 9/26/21

From Ann Videan’s “Fathoming Deep Point of View” workshop for the Society of Southwestern Authors. Sept. 26, 2021. Full workshop slide set available at https://www.slideshare.net/avidean/edit_my_uploads deep-pov-active-verbiage-writing-exampleDownload

Three top writing tips to captivate a reader

While reviewing a blog I ran across at the Self-Publishing School site, I realized their points covered some of the main techniques I teach in my writing workshops to overcome these issues. Study the few tips below, and you’ll be amazed at how your words jump off the page!

Avoid passive voice, use active voice instead

Passive voice often uses inactive verbs followed by words ending in “-ed” or…

Check out these 309 active verbs that will supercharge your writing. Use them. [Tweet “Check out these 309 active verbs that will supercharge your writing. Use them. #authors #writers”] Absorb Advance Advise Affix Alter Amble Amend Amplify Attack Avoid Balloon Bash Batter Beam Beef Blab Blast Bolt Boost Bounce Brief Broadcast Brood Burst Bus Bust Capture Catch Charge Chap Chip Chizzle Clasp Climb…

This is part of a series by editor Barbara McNichol to provide tips that help you write like a pro.

You’ve probably been urged to use “active” verbs when you write but do you know why? Because sentences written with active verbs:

Clearly spell out the action being performed and who is doing it.

Convey the ideas more quickly and directly than passive sentences.

Frequently require fewer words…

More brief thoughts on #writing, particularly #adverbs and #ExcitingVerbs.

notI hate adverbs.

At least in fiction, I hate adverbs, because they are often used out of place. Adverbs are the tools of weak writers who don’t know how to otherwise convey a story. Let’s take two paragraphs for example.

John was furious, and banged his fist on the desk. The force was so great that the handset fell from its place on his phone, but that was fine–he didn’t care, because the…