Smothered Verbs

When you hear the word smothered, what comes to mind? Do you flashback to an episode of Law & Order or a scene from your favorite mystery novel? TLC has a program called sMothered. Maybe you think about smothered pork chops or chicken. But I’m willing to bet you didn’t think about verbs. That’s right, friends; smothered verbs are a thing in the editing world. Unlike smothered pork chops, smothered verbs are not good.

What Are They?

We know that a verb is an action word, so what does smothered verb mean? It’s an abstract noun (a noun you cannot see, smell, hear, touch, or taste) that could have been a verb. Let’s look at a few examples.

The executives held a meeting to review the budget.

The writer gave consideration to all the fans’ suggestions.

The inspector will make an examination of the area immediately.

To start with, let’s note that all the examples above are grammatically correct. As a proofreader, I wouldn’t change any of those sentences. However, as a copyeditor, I’d get my red pen out. Remember, as writers we want our words to be as clear and concise as possible, so it’s easy for our readers to digest our work. Smothered verbs take perfectly good verbs and turn them into nouns or noun phrases. This adds extra words to our sentences. If you use a smothered verb every once in a while, it’s not a problem. But when your writing is filled with smothered verbs, it can make your writing feel clunky or cumbersome. That’s why a good copyeditor will alert you when they notice smothered verbs popping up in your documents.

How Do We Fix Them?

Let’s return to our first example. We can improve the sentence by rewording it.

The executives met to review the budget.

It’s a more direct sentence because we removed a few words and strengthened the verb. Let’s work on the other two examples.

The writer considered all the fans’ suggestions.

The inspector will examine the area immediately.

Although these changes are small, they can make a big difference in your writing, especially if you have a lengthy document. Some people might argue that these changes are fussy or unnecessary, but readability is critical for your audience. It’s important that we do everything we can to make our writing as smooth and clear as possible.  

How Can We Spot Them?

When you review your writing, keep an eye out for words ending in -tion, -ison, -ment, -ence, -ance, and -ity. While the words themselves are fine, they are often included in wordy phrases containing weak or smothered verbs. Consider the phrases below.

Make a decision > Decide

Perform an assessment > Assess

Be in attendance > Attend

With a few small changes, you’ve strengthened not only your sentences but your document as a whole.

Now that you know what a smothered verb is and how to spot one, check your manuscript or website copy to see where you’ve used them in the past. Think about how you can rephrase your work to improve your verb choices and readability. If you need help finding smothered verbs and strengthening your sentences, contact me. I’d love to learn about your project and help make your writing bulletproof.