Is there a term for unsophisticated verbs in writing?

October 18, 2017 12:24 PM

I'm trying to figure out how to explain why the usage of particular verbs is weak.

I'm trying to explain to a student why a sentence isn't working, and my paltry primary school grammar education is tripping me up. I hope my question is clear.

Is there a term for weak usage of verbs like "to have" as it is used in this sentence?

"The new version has cool graphics and brighter colors."

A more sophisticated way to say this would be "The new version incorporates..." or "The new version includes..."


Is there a word for verbs that aren't as powerful or descriptive as they could be, that perform the minimum required effort to convey meaning but aren't strong or evocative, like "has" in the first example? I see weak uses of verbs like "to have," "to be" and "to make" all the time in writing. Is it just a matter of vocabulary, or is there a term for these functional but not very exciting workhorse verbs that I am forgetting?

posted by annabellee to Writing & Language (19 answers total)

Best answer: I think part of what you are getting at is using the passive voice instead of the active voice. Active voice is almost always better, with exceptions.
posted by ancient star at 12:26 PM on October 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Maybe you're looking for the term stative verb?
posted by Wobbuffet at 12:29 PM on October 18, 2017

Gosh, I'm not a teacher or a writer or anything, but I don't think "incorporates" is any better than "has." It's the same boring sentence with a longer word.

Also neither of those sentences are using passive voice.
posted by mskyle at 12:30 PM on October 18, 2017 [71 favorites]

My English teachers always called them "strong verbs" and "weak verbs." They also called the strong verbs "action verbs," which is in contrast to verbs that describe states or occurrences.

In your particular sentence though, I think "has" is the right choice.
posted by colfax at 12:33 PM on October 18, 2017 [3 favorites]

Best answer: I also think that maybe "stative verb" or "weak verb" might be what you're thinking, and agree with mskyle that "incorporates" doesn't improve on "has." Check out "inflated verbs" on this last point.
posted by pinochiette at 12:35 PM on October 18, 2017 [7 favorites]

Response by poster: It's stative vs. dynamic, and yeah, the example I gave was weak--thanks for understanding what I meant nonetheless. I'm glad to learn about inflated verbs as well (something I would have called "flowery language" but not known the correct term for).
posted by annabellee at 12:43 PM on October 18, 2017

(Weak verbs are verbs which add an ending to a verb stem to indicate person, number, tense, and mood. Most verbs in English are weak verbs.)
posted by xyzzy at 12:48 PM on October 18, 2017 [3 favorites]

There is no use of passive voice here, and this has nothing to do with strong or weak verbs. Whether a verb is weak or strong has to do with how verb tenses are formed.
posted by FencingGal at 12:48 PM on October 18, 2017 [5 favorites]

It's just plain language vs fancy, right? Like saying "utilize" when "use" is perfectly adequate. It comes down to the audience and the image you want the text to present. One is more polished, professional etc. and one is more colloquial, folksy etc.

"The new version incorporates bleeding-edge technology to optimize collaboration opportunities and facilitate interdepartmental synergy"

"The new version has a lot of cool updates that will help teams work together more effectively"

Those are the same. It's not that one is "weak" and one is strong... but that one is purposely trying to promote an image, or present a certain style, mindset or purpose. The other is just to transmit information and communicate.

The lesson here IMO is to know who you're writing for, and use the language that will communicate best with that audience.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 12:52 PM on October 18, 2017 [2 favorites]

I don't think "use" and "utilize" are good examples because those mean exactly the same thing. "Incoporates" and "includes" are more specific than "has."
posted by FencingGal at 12:57 PM on October 18, 2017 [2 favorites]

I think the concept you may be after here is that of register. "Has" seems like it would be used in a more informal register than "incorporates." The fact that "cool" is the next word makes me +1 on "has" being probably the right fit here.
posted by Smearcase at 1:02 PM on October 18, 2017 [7 favorites]

I used to try to illustrate this to my students by showing how some verbs provide additional information in a very concise way. So, "He walked slowly over to the table," vs. "He strolled to the table," or "He meandered to the table."

With the kind of thing you're describing, you're in danger, as has been pointed out, of replacing straightforward words with longer ones that mean exactly the same thing. "Has" vs. "Incorporates," for instance. That can sometimes just be jargony bloat, though it does, as has been pointed out, have to do with register or level of diction as well.

Sometimes a good way to find a stronger construction is not to think about the word level, but the sentence level. For instance, in your example, maybe the subject of the sentence doesn't need to be "the new version," but the graphics and colors. "The graphics and color palette are much improved over the previous version." Or maybe there's a reason they're better: "Name of Designer came on board for this version, and it shows in the improved graphics and wider range of colors."

One of my challenges when I first started teaching writing to college students was that I was always a very intuitive writer--I had an ear for it. So I didn't need to know the underlying grammar or be able to describe it in technical terms. I spent my first couple of semesters teaching saying, "Can't you just hear that it's not a sentence?" But of course they couldn't.

It was very important that I eventually learn all that stuff, so I could tell a student, "This isn't a sentence because..." If you are a writing teacher, you need to learn this. If you are not a writing teacher but are wanting your students to improve at this level, perhaps call in help. If you're at the college level, that might mean sending the kid to the writing center. At the high school level, tutoring. If you have access to a writing center, they will have many, many useful handouts to explain various things. The Purdue University Online Writing Lab has long been an excellent resource for this kind of thing, either for your own use or to refer students to. Having something like a handout with an explanation and examples can help when you're trying to explain to a student, because your own technical knowledge or imagination might fail you in that moment--I used to sometimes go blank trying to come up with a counter-example.
posted by Orlop at 1:49 PM on October 18, 2017 [13 favorites]

If I were going to rewrite that sentence to be better, I would write something like, "Cool graphics and bright colors enhance the new version." Incorporates and includes are also stative verbs in that example, and don't add any additional meaning to the sentence. The rewrite puts the more interesting part of the sentence at the beginning, and the verb enhance indicates that the inclusion of those items benefits the new version.

Alternatively, "Cool graphics and bright colors detract from the new version."
posted by jeoc at 1:54 PM on October 18, 2017 [2 favorites]

I'm not a professional writer, or anything close to that, but....

I think that loading up text with big words with an intent to impress leads to jargon-rich blather. Word choice is must less important than structure, and the best way to improve a bad sentence is to recast it entirely.

The example is improved using words that convey a sense of change:

"The new version is enhanced with cool graphics and bright colors."

But maybe:

"In the new version, cool graphics and bright colors make your slides pop as never before!"


Edit: jeoc got to "enhance" the sentence before me! Bravo!
posted by SemiSalt at 4:04 PM on October 18, 2017 [2 favorites]

We’re getting into subjective stuff here, but “pop as never before” sounds like advertising lingo and makes me roll my eyes. There is so much hyperbole in online writing: best ever, worst person, etc. That is not something to be teaching students unless you’re literally teaching them to write advertising copy. I’m a professional copy editor who taught college writing for nine years, if that matters.
posted by FencingGal at 4:14 PM on October 18, 2017 [2 favorites]

Not every word in a sentence has to be exciting. In fact, not every word should be. There are two points of interest in that sentence: that there's a new version and that there are cool graphics, etc. Depending on which is more important in context, one goes first, the other goes second, but "has" is perfectly acceptable as your verb, because you're really not trying to convey anything more than possession. The generic and somewhat abstract quality of "has" is not a problem here.

In a review, "The new version is enhanced by cool graphics" is generally preferable, because you are probably emphasizing the idea of the overall contrast between new and old versions. Notice that this is a passive verb and it's fine, though you wouldn't want a whole string of them, precisely because "new version" is the main concept. But certainly the immediate context could vary and make "Cool graphics enhance the new version" preferable.

(I actually find "incorporate" and "include" in this context subtly off, especially the latter, because they imply that the graphics are an element in a larger group, which doesn't quite fit intellectually, but I know I'm fighting common usage there...)
posted by praemunire at 6:42 PM on October 18, 2017 [4 favorites]

When I took a technical writing course I learned to always use the most straightforward words I could find, with the goal of being clear and consise. “Has” is not a weak word. There are times when’s flashier writing is what’s called for, depending on the occasion and culture, but in general the time to use a longer word is when a shorter word does not adequately express whatever you’re getting at.

I liked the examples of “meandered” and “strolled” upthread. They bring a lot to the sentence but are not just substitutes for “walked,” as they have different connotations. They tell you that the subject moved from point a to point b and the way they moved isn’t important and conveys something about the subject and the situation.
posted by bunderful at 1:54 PM on October 19, 2017

*when flashier writing
*the way they moved is important

Sorry, fast typing on phone during work break.
posted by bunderful at 4:03 PM on October 19, 2017

"adds"
posted by Caxton1476 at 8:51 AM on October 25, 2017