Stuck with ideas and sentences you can’t connect into paragraphs? Maybe you’re overusing the verb “to be.” Here are the dos and don’ts to jumpstart your writing momentum from the get-go.
Consider this sentence:
The apple is red.
Without context, it’s difficult to ask questions about this statement that are not generic ones like:
“Is it?”, “why?”, or “who cares?”—questions one can throw at any statement.
This is because, as the main copula of the English language, the function of “to be” is to link the subject of a sentence to its complement (description). In fact, “to be” is so good at shining a light within the sentence, that it gives no information on what’s outside.
Now consider this next sentence:
The apple turns red.
In signaling change (action), “turns” gives information on what’s outside the sentence, making pertinent questions straightforward:
- “what was the color beforehand?”,
- “what triggered the change?”, or
- “can an orange turn red too?”—all questions that give you hints on where to drive your narrative.
When and how to jumpstart writing momentum
You’ve made your figures and captions; you’ve agreed with your co-authors on the outline; you’ve just opened the new Word file. This is where you begin the grueling process of figuring out how one sentence idea connects with another to form your narrative—it’s the best time to apply the following dos and don’ts:
- Don’t: use “to be.”
As discussed above, “to be” locks the idea of a sentence in. Trying to connect many to-be sentences requires complex structuring that make paragraphs difficult to understand (see example in following section). - Do: use action verbs.
These are verbs that—instead of connecting the subject with its complement—describe the subject’s action. In so doing, action verbs give information outside the sentence. - Do: replace “to be” with action copulas.
English copulas run a spectrum. At one end you have “to be,” with other static copulas such as “look”, “seem”, “appear”, etc.; and at the other end you have action copulas such as “go”, “come”, “emerge”, or “turn”, etc. If you must use a copula, choose an action copula from this list. - Don’t: use the passive voice.
English uses “to be” as auxiliary to express the passive voice. That’s why the passive voice has the same effect as the copula: it locks the idea of a sentence in. Use the active voice instead.
What can happen when you use “to be” too much?
You can end up with a body of text you can’t make heads or tails of. Compare the following paragraph originally by Baron & Kenny (1986) with my rewrite done according to the above dos and don’ts. Which paragraph is easier to understand?
Original:
“An example of a moderator-type effect in this context is the demonstration of a crossover interaction of the form that the insufficient justification effect holds under public commitment (e.g., attitude change is inversely related to incentive), whereas attitude change is directly related to level of incentive when the counter-attitudinal action occurs in private (cf. Collins & Hoyt, 1972). A moderator-interaction effect also would be said to occur if a relation is substantially reduced instead of being reversed, for example, if we find no difference under the private condition.”
Rewrite:
“Examples of confirmed moderator effects include the reversal of the insufficient justification effects, observed when the experimental settings are switched from public to private, changing the relationship between attitude change and incentive from inverse to direct, respectively (cf. Collins & Hoyt, 1972). We note that the moderator-effect confirmation does not require actual reversal of the insufficient justification effects—a substantial reduction of the relationship suffices.”
Conclusions
Avoid “to be” at the start of your writing process. This verb makes sentences hard to connect—just what you don’t want at this stage. Use action verbs in the active voice instead; action verbs make the path of your narrative easy to trace.
Works consulted
Baron, R.,M. & Kenny, D. A. “The Moderator-Mediator Variable Distinction in Social Psychological Research: Conceptual, Strategic, and Statistical Considerations.” J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. vol. 51, no. 6, 1986, 1173-82.