Describing Action: A Guide for Writers and Speakers

By Robert C. Brenner

An essential reference that lists descriptive terms and expressions used by successful authors, writers, and speakers to make their words come alive. These words break writer’s block and free your efforts to create content that produces mental images in the minds of readers and listeners. The most successful writers and speakers are also the most descriptive. Here’s a tool to help you become one of them.

Imagine clicking over to find multiple ways to describe actions such as eating, drinking, driving, feeling, fighting, laughing, looking, smiling, speaking, and walking.. This book includes bookmarks and hyperlinks to enable easy access to actions and descriptions. .

Describing Action can stimulate the creative side of your brain and let you enjoy a unique ability to make your writing interesting and memorable.

(Our content mining efforts continue as we capture more descriptive terms and expressions. Until we release another edition, all confirmed buyers who send us proof of purchase will be sent a complimentary addendum to this book.)

Give yourself permission to be creative. You’ll be glad you did.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Robert C. Brenner
• Release date: Feb 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9780929535326

Robert C. Brenner

Robert Brenner is an engineer, consultant, college professor, historical genealogist, and professional speaker with extensive experience in research and information publishing. A retired naval officer with distinguished service in both nuclear submarines and microelectronic research and development, he holds a bachelor's degree (BSEE) and two master's degrees (MSEE, MSSM). He was recognized a Very High Speed Integrated Circuit (VHSIC) microelectronics pioneer by the DOD and served four years in R&D at TRW after a 23-year Navy career.He is the author of 56 books including Going Solar: a Homeowner’s Experience, Power Up! The Smart Guide to Home Solar Power: How to Make a Wise Solar Investment, How to Construct (and Use) the 45W Harbor Freight Solar Kit, Supernatural & Strange Happenings in the Bible, and Supernatural & Strange Happenings in the Family. In addition, he has written over 275 articles including over 50 articles for Survival Life.com and Survivorpedia.He taught computer technology and engineering subjects at the community college, university, and graduate school levels and has been a guest speaker at over 50 national conferences and symposiums. He is an avid supporter of solar technology and learns by doing. A futurist, he enjoys the challenge of research and is currently sharing his findings through his writing and public presentations. Professor Brenner can be reached at [e-mail].

Book preview

DESCRIBING ACTION

A Guide for Creating Vivid Mental Images in Your Writing and Speaking

Over 1,200 Action Verbs

An Essential Reference for Those Who Write and Speak for a Living

ISBN 978-0-929535-32-6

©2023 All rights reserved. All contents and information herein are the sole property of Brenner Information Group. Reproduction, translation, or republishing of all or any part of this work is not authorized. Brief quotations of the material in this book may be used provided full prominent credit is given as follows: "From Describing Action: A Guide for Writers and Speakers by Robert C. Brenner." For larger excerpts or reprint rights, contact the publisher ([e-mail]).

Notice: This is book is for your personal enjoyment only. A lot of hard work and substantial expense are behind its creation. If you would like to share this book with another person, please donate for an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please donate for your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author and the financial investment that made this research notebook possible.

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"Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for fair use for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational, research, or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."

Any use of copyrighted material is done for research, comment, or educational purposes. The publisher does not endorse any product, place, or person inferred by creators of copyrighted material presented herein for criticism, comment, research, or educational purposes under the Fair Use allowance quoted above.

SOURCES RESEARCHED FOR ENTRIES

13th Century Italian expression

AFFAIRE ROYALE by Nora Roberts

AGENT TO THE RESCUE by Lisa Childs

Article by George Fuermann in Houston Post

Author

BACKDOOR SURVIVAL PREPPER’S GUIDE

CHANGING TIMES

Comment by Frank Norris

Comment by George Jean Nathan

Comment by L. V. Redman

Comment by William B. Robey

Comments by Anthony Thorne

Comments by W. Somerset Maugham

DEVOTED IN DEATH by J.D. Robb

EVA OS OMSODE JER CAT

FINAL TARGET by Iris Johansen

HIDEAWAY by Nora Roberts

GUIDEPOSTS Magazine Nov90

JEWELS OF THE SUN by Nora Roberts

Metaphor from Christian author, Patrick Morley

OUT TO CANAAN by Jan Karon

PIRATES by John Matthews

POWER PLAYS POLITIKA by Tom Clancy and Martin Greenberg

RECKONING by Catherine Coulter

REAP THE WIND by Iris Johansen

RED STORM RISING by Tom Clancy

SOUTHWEST MAGAZINE, Oct 2018

STRANGERS by Dean R. Koontz

SUCCESS, November 1987

SUNSET MAGAZINE

TARZAN AT THE EARTH’S CORE by Edgar Rice Burroughs

THE AUDUBON SOCIETY FIELD GUIDE TO NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS Eastern Region

THE CAPTAIN FROM CONNECTICUT by C.S. Forrester

THE DEVIL’S TRIANGLE by Catherine Coulter

THE GUNS OF NAVORONE by Alistair Maclean

THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck

THE MYSTERN OF THE SPIRAL BRIDGE by Franklin W. Dixon

THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER by Tom Clancy

THE LIVING REED by Pearl S. Buck

THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA by Ernest Hemingway

THE OTHER SIDE OF DEATH by Gabriel Marguez

THE RADIO BOYS AT MOUNTAIN PASS by Allen Chapman

THE RISE OF MAGICKS by Nora Roberts

THE SANDS OF TIME by Sidney Sheldon

THE SECRET WAYS by Alstair MacLean

THE TARAHUMARA INDIANS by Marjorie Wildcraft

THE WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT by John Steinbeck

THE WOMAN WHO SMASHED CODES by Jason Fagone

Transliterated Chinese phrase from TV series Firefly

TOWARD MORE PICTURESQUE SPEECH - Reader’s Digest

TREASURE ISLAND by Robert Louis Stevenson

WATCHING FOR THE WIND by James G. Edinger

WHITE FANG by Jack London

THE SKY AND THE FOREST by C. S. Forester

THE WHEELS OF IF by L. Sprague de Camp

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X Y Z

SUMMARY

ABOUT THIS AUTHOR

OTHER BOOKS BY THIS AUTHOR

INTRODUCTION

How to Use This Book

This book is for anyone creating or presenting the written word. It’s intended for authors, teachers, reporters, researchers, law enforcement professionals, investigators, copy writers, public speakers, and you.

Good writing comes from good rewriting. And the best writing creates a mental image of what the author is trying to describe. It should involve and capture the attention of the reader.

It started out as an excerpt from Descriptive Language, the full volume. Then subsets were created and enlarged to describe actions we encounter every day. When you read descriptions in this book; you’ll recognize even more ways you can describe actions, and you’ll get ideas how best to do this. Through this process your words will come alive in your content and in the minds of your readers or listeners. You really can create some of the finest prose that will surprise even you.

During research for this book, I avidly consumed the works of writers like Pearl S. Buck, Samuel Clements, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemmingway, Iris Johansen, Jack London, C.S. Lewis, C. S. Forrester, Nora Roberts, J.D. Robb, Tom Clancy, W. Somerset Maugham, and Barbara Cartlin. And less known authors when they had moments of creative writing like Alstair MacLean, Anthony Thorne, Dean R. Koontz, Lisa Childs, John Matthews, L. Sprague de Camp, L. V. Redman, Patrick Morley, H. C. Witwer, Hannah Rothschild, Richard Sherman, and Jan Karon. I even researched magazines like Guideposts, SuccessChanging Times, The Christian Science Monitor, Daily Reckoning, and one of my favorites, The Reader s Digest with their highly successful Towards More Picturesque Speech. I also found some T’s and E’s (terms and expressions) in newspapers like The Wall Street Journal and travel magazines like Southwest Magazine.

No potential source was left out in my research. If it contained descriptions, I sought to find and record them. I was consistently on the lookout for new entries. Some of the entries were created after a flash of my creativity.

For books that I had purchased, I highlighted the words in them that were descriptive. My wife asked me not to highlight in her favorite books, so I cut apart and used strips of Post-It Notes

to tag Ts (terms) and Es (expressions) that I found while examining them. Some books that I scoured ended up having a lot of strip tags sticking out the side marking the pages. Just by looking at a printed book from the side, I could generally tell how descriptive the author was.

I occasionally captured terms expressed by well-known speakers and online commentators. Every written word, every comment, every known source was monitored and scoured, and the nuggets captured to create my database. As of this moment the full book contains over 7,000 entries that represent the most descriptive language used by writers, speakers, and people who earn (or earned) their living with words.

There are a number of ways to describe certain subjects. Here are examples of actions and their descriptive expressions:

feel 92

look 41

move 27

smile 58

speak 25

walk 57

You’ll find details on these and much more here in each of the Describing … books.

On the following pages you’ll find descriptive text captured during hours of research. Today, our research continues, and free addendums will be released periodically to buyers who have registered their purchases with us ([e-mail]) until we produce another complete update. The following should stimulate your mind to create even better content. Go for it! Have a descriptive future!

Words, Phrases, and Expressions that Describe

A

[Subjects with multiple entries include quantity.]

ACCEPT:

ACKNOWLEDGE:

ADOPT:

ANGER:

APPROACH:

ARREST:

ASK: 2

ASTOUND:

ATTACK: 3

ATTAIN:

ATTEMPT:

ATTEND:

ATTRACT: 2

ATTRIBUTE:

AUDIT:

AUTHOR:

AUTHORIZE:

AVOW:

AWAKEN: 8

ABBREVIATE: abbreviating: abbreviated

abscond, absconding: absconded

ABSOLVE: absolving: absolved

ABSTAIN: abstaining: abstained

ACCELERATE::accelerating: accelerated

ACCEPT: accepting: acceptance: accepted

ACCEPT: … taking everything with a grain of salt and trying to find a reasonable explanation for it. (Source: FINAL TARGET by Iris Johansen)

ACCESS: accessing: accessed

ACCOMPANY: accompanying: accompanied

ACCUMULATE: accumulating: accumulated

ACCUSE: accusing: accused

ACHIEVE:: achieving: achieved

ACKNOWLEDGE: acknowledging: acknowledged

ACKNOWLEDGE: He acknowledged who he was and touched the tips of his fingers on both hands to his breast. (Source: THE DAY CHRIST DIED by Jim Bishop)

ACQUIRE: acquiring: acquired

ACT: acting: acted

ACTIVATE: activating: activated

ADD: adding: added

ADDRESS: addressing: addressed

ADJUDICATE: adjudicating: adjudicated

ADMINISTER: administering: administered

ADMIRE: admiring: admired

ADMIT: admitting: admittance: admitted

ADOPT: adopting: adopted

ADOPT: He took to it like a duck takes to water. (Source: THE BECOMING by Nora Roberts)

ADORE: adoring: adored

ADVANCE: advancing: advanced

ADVERTISE: advertising: advertised

ADVISE: advising: advised

ADVOCATE: advocating: advocated

AFFIRM: affirming: affirmed

AGREE: agreeing: agreed

ALIGN: aligning: aligned

ALLOW: allowing: allowance: allowed

AMEND: amending: amended

AMPLIFY: amplifying: amplified

ANALYZE: analyzing: analyzed

ANGER: angering: angered

ANGER: ANGRY: … tried to patch up the shredded rage of his dignity. (Source: THE GUNS OF NAVORONE by Alistair Maclean)

ANNIHILATE: annihilating: annihilated

ANNOUNCE: announcing: announced

ANNUL: annulling: annulled

ANSWER: answering: answered

ANTICIPATE: anticipating: anticipated

APOLOGIZE: apologizing: apologized

APPEAL: appealing: appealed

APPEAR: appearing: appeared

APPLY: applying: applied

APPOINT: appointing: appointed

APPRAISE: appraising: appraised

APPREHEND: apprehending: apprehended

APPROACH: approaching: approached

APPROACH: …snail-like, relentlessness, the inevitability of the approach of … (Source: THE GUNS OF NAVORONE by Alistair Maclean)

APPROVE: approving: approved

APPROPRIATE: appropriating: appropriated

ACQUIRE: acquiring: acquired

ARGUE: arguing: argued

ARM: arming: armed

ARRANGE: arranging: arranged

ARREST: arresting: arrested

ARREST: Not figuring the perp for a rabbit, the detective took him down and got a hole in the knee of her trousers for the effort. The perp was flopping around like a landed trout, and crying like a baby. (Source: MIDNIGHT SHADOWS by Nora Roberts)

ARRIVE: arriving: arrived

ARTICULATE: articulating: articulated

ASCERTAIN: ascertaining: ascertained

ASK: asking: asked

ASK: For pure telling, which is another way of saying asking, my mute and articulate canned and bottled goods in the grocery serve very well. (Source: THE WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT by John Steinbeck)

ASK: In the dark with the red spots swimming in my eyes, I inquired of myself concerting what they used to call matters of conscience, and I could find no wound. (Source: THE WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT by John Steinbeck)

ASSEMBLE: assembling: assembled

ASSEND: ascending: ascended

ASSERT: asserting: asserted

ASSESS: assessing: assessed

ASSIGN: assigning: assigned

ASSIST: assisting: assisted

ASSOCIATE: associating: associated

ASTOUND: astounding: astounded

ASTOUND: She did a search and found many people stupid. She couldn’t understand what was wrong with them. She closed the search before her eye started to twitch. (Source: ABANDONED IN DEATH by J. D. Robb)

ASSUME: assuming: assumed

ASSURE: assuring: assured

ATTACH: attaching: attached