9-15-03 Roth's Verbs

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="042d05a3.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Big Ring Media Team, Inc.</B></FONT><B>    </B><B> |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Big Ring Media Team, Inc."><B>home</B></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="043d2123.jpg"> <div> Click on this link to return to <A HREF="id39.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Word Watch by Date">Word Watch by Date</A>.</div> <div> Click on this link to go to <A HREF="id40.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Word Watch by Subject">Word Watch by Subject</A>.</div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 width="100%" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>9-15-03 Roth's Verbs</I></div> <div> As anyone who has ever studied French can attest, the power of language lies in the verbs. Sadly, the verbs in most modern business writing are lackluster, ho-hum words with no power. Our writing should have an impact on our readers if they are to remember our message. That impact can be a tickle, a slap, a sucker punch to the gut that leaves readers gasping. But it must not pass unnoticed.</div> <div> Besides enduring hours of French, how can we learn to master verbs? By finding writers who finesse their verbs, studying their work, and applying what we've learned. They're out there.</div> <div> One we read and reread is Henry Roth. A remarkably talented author, Roth actually wrote little. Too bad for us.</div> <div> Roth's novel, <I>Call It Sleep</I>, was first published in December 1934 and is one of our favorites. Finding a copy now is difficult, almost impossible. It's worth the effort. Consider this passage from the first chapter:</div> <div> “Mama,” he called, his voice rising above the hiss of sweeping in the frontroom. “Mama, I want a drink.”</div> <div> The unseen broom stopped to listen. “I'll be there in a moment,” his mother answered. A chair squealed on its castors; a window chuckled down; his mother's approaching tread.</div> <div> Note that it's the broom that stops to listen. And for those of us old enough to remember windows with sash weights, what a wonderful verb is “chuckled.” How many of us would have said that the window banged shut, or that he heard his mother close the window, or would have simply skipped that detail altogether.</div> <div> The skillful use of verbs will do more to add punch to our writing than any other single strategy. We read the masters and learn from them, then apply what we've learned in our own writing. It's fun, and it's effective.</div> </td> </tr></table></body>