Technology can be a marvellous tool; it can also be quite problematic. Last week’s article suffered as a result of the latter. My text was not treated kindly by the Newsletter program and would have been difficult to read as a result. I have included in this week’s article, the sections which lost their way – and pray that the program behaves itself this time! I have also attached five extracts from writers including C. S. Lewis, Roald Dahl, Carlo Collodi, Tim Winton and F. Scott Fitzgerald which demonstrate verbs in use. 

As I said last week, verbs are the muscles of all writing. The current definition of a verb describes it as a word which represents different processes such as doing, saying, thinking, relating and being. 

Doing verbs
Much of our experience consists of physical activity. The following are some common doing or action verbs:

We find examples of doing verbs in most texts, but particularly in texts such as stories, recounts, procedures and explanations. 

Saying verbs
Sometimes experience is not represented directly but is reported verbally. The following are some common saying verbs: 

Saying verbs are usually found in stories, where we get to know characters the way they speak and interact with others. In the following passage, for example, J.K. Rowling gives the reader an insight into Dudley’s personality through the choice of saying verbs:

“Make it move,” he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn’t budge. 

“Do it again,” Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on. 

This is boring,” Dudley moaned. He shuffled away. 

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, J.K.Rowling

Thinking verbs
Thinking verbs reflect processes of our internal world. They describe what we think, feel, desire and perceive. The following are some examples:

In a story, thinking verbs can also give us insight into the characters of a story by describing what is going on in their minds. They are often used when characters reflect on the action or evaluate what is happening in the story. 

“But then,” thought Alice, “shall I never get any older than I am now? Alice knew it was the rabbit coming to look for her…”

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll 

Relating verbs
There are certain verbs which do not represent actions, speaking, thoughts or feelings. Their role is to simply link two pieces of information. We call them relating verbs. The most common relating verbs are the verbs be and have and variations on these.

Being verbs
Another type of verb is where there is no action or relationship being described, simply a state:

There was a brown snake on the oval.
There is a huge pothole in the driveway.
There are many wonderful books in the library. 
There were students reading poetry near the dam on Saturday. 

The following extracts show the way doing, saying, thinking, relating and being verbs function in texts:

There was crisp, dry snow under his feet and more snow lying on the branches of trees. Overhead there was pale blue sky, the sort of sky one sees on a fine winter day in the morning. Straight ahead of him he saw between the tree trunks the sun, just rising, very red and clear. Everything was perfectly still, as if he were the only living creature in that country. There was not even a robin or a squirrel among the trees, and the wood stretched as far as he could see in every direction. He shivered. He now remembered that he had been looking for Lucy. 

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, C. S. Lewis

This is a hospital, he thought. I am in a hospital. But he could remember nothing. He lay back on his pillow, looking at the ceiling and wondering what had happened. He was gazing at the smooth greyness of the ceiling which was so clean and grey, and then suddenly he saw a fly walking upon it. The sight of this fly, the suddenness of seeing this small black speck on a sea of grey, brushed the surface of his brain, and quickly, in that second, he remembered everything. 

Beware the Dog, Roald Dahl

And he took the poor piece of wood in both hands and, without mercy, started to beat it against the wall. 

‘Now I understand!’ he exclaimed, laughing and pulling his wig. ‘I must have imagined that tiny voice that said “Oh!” I’d better do my work.’ And, because he was very frightened, he began singing to encourage himself. 

Pinocchio, Carlo Collodi

I grew up by the sea. Sometimes I think I grew up in the sea, so often was I immersed in it. At the very least I know that the sea helped me grow up. The big blue has always been a source of awe and mystery in my life. It gave me a liberty not universal in the urban child’s experience. And even now it sustains a sense of childlike wonder in me that I have tried to make available to my children. The living, teeming sea connects me to my past, to the lives of my ancestors and to the future I imagine … 

Land’s Edge, Tim Winton

On the last night, with my trunk packed and my car sold to the grocer, I went over and looked at that huge incoherent failure of a house once more. On the white steps an obscene word, scrawled by some boy with a piece of brick, stood out clearly in the moonlight, and I erased it, drawing my shoe raspingly along the stone. Then I wandered down to the beach and sprawled out on the sand. 

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

Mrs Clare Murphy
English Coordinator and Literacy Instructional Coach