Writing 101

I keep reading about verbs. “Verbs are the most important of all your tools,” says William Zinsser in On Writing Well.[1] One of Zinsser’s students recalls the adage that “a story should be a verb, not a noun.” He says that a newspaper article shouldn’t just be about a place or an institution. Something should be happening there.[2]

So I went to the Bible to see if its writers observe the rule. Then I realized that it’s the other way around: The Bible is the primary source for good writing; and yes, the Bible’s story is a verb. From the very beginning God was active: He created the heavens and the earth. He spoke everything into existence.

Checking other Bible passages, I noted that Psalm 23 is filled with verbs: The good shepherd makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul. His rod and staff comfort me. The shepherd prepares a table before me and anoints my head with oil. My cup overflows. Goodness and love follow me throughout my life. I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Psalm 100 also is active. It prompts us to shout, worship, come, enter, give thanks, and praise. Why? Because the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Thinking about this made me wonder why we humans are so attracted to verbs—active verbs in particular. Zinsser tells us, “Active verbs push hard; passive verbs tug fitfully. Active verbs also enable us to visualize an activity because they require a pronoun (‘he’), or a noun (‘the boy), or a person (‘Mrs. Scott’) to put them in motion.”[3]

Are we attracted to verbs merely because they energize us, or is something else going on? I think it’s the Imago Dei, God’s image in us; for God is the ultimate verb, the great I Am. So when God created us, he endowed us with language—the ability to verbalize. And God created us to be verbs, to act in his behalf—to cultivate the garden and to manage the animals.

Alas, we misused our endowment by doing that which God told us not to do. In plain language, we sinned against God. So the Bible tells us that God expelled us from the garden. Yet the Imago Dei prompted a desire, a longing, to return to the garden.

Again, God acted: He took the initiative to retrieve us. First he spoke to Abram, to Isaac and to Jacob to establish a nation through which we could return to God. And God continued speaking. In due time, he sent his Word into the world. “God demonstrated his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” “. . . the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.” “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” How about those active verbs?

But what about nouns? Please tell me that nouns are useful! Yes, they have their place observes Zinsser: “After verbs, plain nouns are your strongest tools; they resonate with emotion.”[4] So Jesus put nouns in their place when he promised: “I am going . . . to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

Active verbs first; plain nouns second: That’s Writing 101. The Creator said so.

[1] William Zinsser, On Writing Well (NY: HarperCollins, 2006), 68.
[2] John Tierney, Speaking of Journalism (NY: HarperCollins, 1994), edited by William Zinsser, 1.
[3] Zinsser, 68.
[4] Zinsser, 238.