Powerful Verbs: Decken's sifaka
The Grammar Bit!
Read the three scintillating sentences opposite. They each contain one (or more) powerful verbs (bold).
A verb is a word that indicates action or a state of being.
Some sentences contain verbs that are just a little boring! They don’t give lots of information about the action or make the text very exciting. Instead, we can use powerful verbs to describe precise actions so that the reader is able to visualise an image in their mind’s eye.
With your talk partners, discuss the effectiveness of each powerful verb. Do they help you visualise precisely what is happening?
Scintillating Sentences
1) Remaining upright, the brave youngster leapt from tree to tree.
2) Tentatively, the adventurous sifaka scaled the 100-metre-tall shard of limestone.
3) Safely across, the mother and son claimed their reward.
Did you know?
Sadly, all sifakas are threatened by the destruction of their Madagascan forest habitat. In addition to being the favourite prey animal of the fossa – a cat-like carnivore – some sifaka species are caught and eaten by humans.