The Power of Verbs
Live in Your World. Play in Ours
Open Happiness
Taste the Rainbow
What do all of these catchy slogans have in common?
Verbs.
With verbs, one-liners jump off the page. They prompt the consumer to take action – to purchase the most engaging PlayStation game, throw back a can of Coke, or rip open a Skittles package.
Verbs are so powerful, in fact, that some slogans don’t need any other part of speech to make them stick in our minds. After all, Rice Krispies’ “Snap! Crackle! Pop!” campaign uses just three verbs. And it’s been etched in our minds since 1932.
So how can you incorporate the power of catchy ads into your own writing? Think verbs. A snappy verb can make a dull sentence exciting.
Consider this sentence: “The dog ran quickly down the street.”
Now, try replacing “ran quickly” with different verbs like “bounded,” “charged,” or even “scurried.”
These verbs add new life to the sentence. And they even add new meaning. A dog “charging” conjures up a much different image than a dog “scurrying.”
Verbs capture our attention and paint vivid images. So the next time you want to spice up your writing, look to your verbs.
