strengthen+your+verbs+lesson


 * Read the following article from Teen Ink Magazine **

When you have finished reading - you are going to attempt to TRANSFORM in your Harris Burdick writing by eliminating the "TO BE" verbs in your writing piece. You will hear your writing transform, taking your reader on a more active, interesting journey.

(You don't need to eliminate ALL of them, however you should try t o //avoid// these verbs. You should try to  **avoid**  these verbs. Note that I am  **not saying** “do not use them.” These are perfectly wonderful words and you need to use them, but try to limit their use to 30-35% of your sentences)


 * TO BE: **
 * am
 * is
 * was
 * were
 * be
 * being
 * been

**TIPS to put those "To Be" verbs to rest**


 * Problem-Solving Strategies to Eliminate the****“To-Be” Verb[[image:http://penningtonpublishing.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/To-Be-Verbs-300x175.jpg width="300" height="175" link="http://penningtonpublishing.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/To-Be-Verbs.jpg"]]**

1. **Substitute**-Sometimes a good replacement just pops into your brain. For example, instead of “That cherry pie sure is good,” substitute the “to-be” verb is with tastes as in “That cherry pie sure tastes good.” 2. **Rearrange**-Start the sentence differently to see if this helps eliminate a “to-be” verb. For example, instead of “The monster was in the dark tunnel creeping,” rearrange as “Down the dark tunnel crept the monster.” 3. **Change another word in the sentence into a verb**-For example, instead of “Charles Schulz was the creator of the Peanuts cartoon strip,” change the common noun //creator// to the verb //created// as in “Charles Schulz created the Peanuts cartoon strip.” 4. **Combine sentences**-Look at the sentences before and after the one with the “to-be” verb to see if one of them can combine with the “to-be” verb sentence and so eliminate the “to-be” verb. For example, instead of “The child was sad. The sensitive young person was feeling that way because of the news story about the death of the homeless man,” combine as “The news story about the death of the homeless man saddened the sensitive child.”