Dead Verbs or Strong Verbs

Blowing Away the State Writing Assessment Test

by Jane Bell Keister

Dead Verbs

am; are; be; had; has; have; is; was; were; any verb ending in “ing”;sense verbs (looks;smells;sounds; feels;etc.)

Dying Verbs

become/became;Act/acted; seem/seemed; make/made;exist/extisted

Great Verbs

vociferated; spewed; exclaimed;proclaimed; festered; oozed; fretted; lounged; sprawled; abhor; loathe; ambled; trotted;