Free The Super Hero Within. Remove Fake Verbs From Your Messages.
If you’ve heard feedback this year that your writing and oral communication need some love, explore whether an overuse of camouflaged verbs might become a cause. With camouflaged verbs we convert verbs to nouns which often create wordy, pompous-sounding constructions — a tone often unpopular at work. This week’s article defines camouflaged verbs, demystifies why we use them, and offers tips to replace them.
Defining Camouflaged Verbs
The Plain Language Institute describes camouflaged verbs (also known as ‘hidden or fake verbs’) as a verb we’ve converted into a noun. Hidden verbs require extra verbs and other words to make sense. Two forms exist including:
-Nouns ending with -ment, -tion, -sion, and ance.
-Nouns linked with verbs like achieve, effect, give, have, make, reach, and take.
Some examples follow (and I’ve italicized the fake verbs):
- Please make a consideration for this applicant vs. consider this applicant.
- I am making an assumption here: We don’t have your team’s cooperation for this task vs. I assume your team won’t cooperate…
- I do not grant you permission to apply for this job vs. you’re not permitted to…(Or, I forbid you to…)
- I place a lot of importance on driving solutions for management vs. I value solving X for those who manage me.
What results here? We become briefer, less wishy-washy and more specific in places, but also the tone changes. In some cases, we sound a little powerful, even bossy sounding. Which leads to the next point: When to use fake vs. real verbs?
Analyzing When to Convert Fake to Real
In some cases, converting a hidden verb back to a real one makes no sense and may add more words. (Brevity always must rule, as I showed in the last example.)
Also, certain camouflaged verbs must remain that way for a sentence to make sense. Examples include: Management, operations, or, any other technical term your team/audience might miss. And culturally, real verbs vs. fake ones might come across as too bolshie, too direct, and not the vibe you’re going for.
Other instances feel worth tackling, in my view, because with the hidden/camouflaged verb prevailing over the real one, we risk sounding unclear, pompous, formal, and vague.
Anyone who’s worked with me or asked for my edits knows I challenge the popular camouflaged verb “solutions.” Solutions vs. solve resembles a marketing brochure and fails to define what problem your service or product solves or how your skills differ from mine or someone elses.
Bravely change “solutions” to “solve” and then tell us in plain, clear language how the world changes from your work and approach. You’ll sound much more strident and clever. You’ll also stand out.
Weeding the Garden
So how to fix the camouflaged verbs prevailing in your messages? A few short steps can turn the ship around:
-Block off time for a line edit to discover those endings (-ment, -tion, -sion, and -ance) in your words. See if a customized spell check via Word can help. Consider creating a cheat sheet of the popular camouflaged verbs you use.
-Determine the real verb. (E.G. Solutions vs. solve, cooperation vs. cooperate, resolution vs. resolve, performance vs. perform, etc.)
-Re-write the sentence using the real vs. the hidden verb. Stand back and marvel at your fine work and how different, more confident, pithy, and clearer you’ve become.
With this new tool in your tool kit for warming up your tone and driving clarity, you’ve reduced the risk of losing your audience. As the Western calendar year comes to an end, good luck with replacing fake verbs with real ones — and with all endeavors to communicate in a clear, brave way. Please share this wisdom with your team and you’ll look (and sound) like a star.
Debbi coaches and trains immigrant leaders to become more confident and authentic communicators, and with that, more concise, too. From Wisconsin, she owns and runs Hanging Rock Coaching and proudly serves as a communication effectiveness fellow coach with BetterUp.