Verb Your Enthusiasm: How to Master the Art of the Verb and Transform Your Writing

Every writer, from novelists and journalists to town-council minute-takers, can enliven their work with a few choice verbs, according to this graceful guide from Pulitzer winner Kaufman (The Art of Grace). “My argument is simple: Excellent writing requires smart verbs,” she explains, noting that during her nearly 30 years as a dance critic for the Washington Post, she honed the skill of choosing precise and evocative verbs to express both motion and emotion. Chapters with appropriately active titles like Energize, Sharpen, Weed, Tantalize, and Zhush It Up are peppered with examples from the likes of Zadie Smith, Wallace Stevens, Anton Chekhov, and Ray Bradbury, as well as a surprisingly poignant offering from Ulysses S. Grant. (As he lay dying of cancer, Grant wrote: “The fact is I think I am a verb instead of a personal pronoun. A verb is anything that signifies to be; to do; or to suffer. I signify all three.”) Kaufman also provides digestible tips and quick exercises, plus a splendid list of verbs that have faded from general usage and a few that are making a comeback thanks to TikTok, such as the recently trending 200-year-old Scottish term hurkle-durkle, meaning to lounge in bed after waking. Calling verbs “the secret superpower of language,” Kaufman posits that “nouns are our reality; verbs are our dreams.” Indeed, this verb-filled outing reads like a dream. (Apr.)