"To Be" Verbs -- To Use or Not To Use
Brandilyn Collins has been writing a series of posts about the rules of writing. In a recent post she discusses the rule Avoid Using “to be” Forms in Narrative . As I worded my comment (for which I probably owe her an apology for being so lengthy) I began to think about the power of “to be” verbs. The Problem With the Forms of Be You probably learned the Be Verbs in English. They are, am , is , are , was , were , been , being and be . We often say that they are weak verbs, but that is inaccurate, as I will show later. What we actually mean is that they appear repetitive, they hinder clarity and they lack action. In sort, when they are used carelessly, they produce writing that is boring, passive and static. Repetition The sun was bright. The air was warm. The day was beautiful. Here we see three sentences and they all have the same verb. There is nothing wrong with any of these sentences, but they lack variety and while the scene is light and airy the repetition drags it down and mak...