DON’T SMOTHER VERBS

Don’t camouflage verbs, or you’ll lose the action and flavor of your sentences. To clean up hidden verbs, try this tip: underline words ending with -ent, -ant, -ion, -ment, -ence, -ance, or -ency. Writers frequently place these endings on verbs to make them nouns, thereby destroying their action.

Hidden: The instructor made the standing assignment for implementation of better productivity of students.

Clear: The instructor assigned regular homework to ensure student productivity.

Notice that when you eliminate muffled words like assignment and implementation, the sentence shortens and comes alive.

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