A hugely entertaining and useful guide to the promise, power, and poetry of verbs, from a Pulitzer Prize-winning critic and writing teacher at Harvard Verbs are the underrated stars of the English language. They hold it all together. A complete sentence cannot exist without one, yet a single verb can create complete meaning. (See?) In this glittering exploration of language, grammar, and style, Sarah L. Kaufman illuminates how all of us, professional writers and enthusiasts alike, can master the art of the verb. When she was the dance critic at The Washington Post, Kaufman was challenged to translate the dynamic language of movement into words. Verbs showed her the way. Good verbs power great storytelling; they leap off the page, fire our senses, and transform our perceptions. Verb Your Enthusiasm is a clarion call for all of us to get back to basics: to mean what we say and say what we mean. Kaufman proves how strong verbs can make your own writing -- be it an email, a text, a report, or an ad - more efficient and effective, and she investigates theories of language that will change how you read and write. But this isn't a grammar guide, and it surely isn't a set of rules. Great writing comes from a mix of inspiration, passion, and intelligence-from your unique discernment and imagination. You'll refine your voice in the company of literary greats, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Virginia Woolf and George Orwell. In the end, your quest for the right verb might even reveal something true about yourself. All that in a word. So go. Write. Breathe life into your world.

Details

ISBN13: 9780241827826
Format: Hardback
Number of Pages: 224
Edition:
Publication Date: 28 Jul 2026
Publisher:
Publication City, Country: London, United Kingdom
Dimensions (cm): 22.2(H)x14.5(L)x2.5(W)330
Weight (gm): 330

Author Biography

Sarah L. Kaufman was the Pulitzer Prize-winning dance critic of the Washington Post, where she wrote for 27 years. She is the author of The Art of Grace: On Moving Well Through Life, and writes about the arts, entertainment, and society for the Wall Street Journal and the New York Review of Books, among others. Kaufman has taught writing courses at Harvard, American University, the National Critics Institute and Princeton, where she was a McGraw Professor of Writing. She has received journalism fellowships from the Nieman Foundation and French-American Foundation. She has three children and lives in Asheville, North Carolina, in the Appalachian mountains.

Reviews

Hurrah! Let’s brush up on our verbs, people! Sarah Kaufman is the perfect writer for this important subject … Anyone who cares about writing should tickertape this book’s publication. -- Lynne Truss
Like all first-rate writing on language, it’s also a meditation on existence … an almost shockingly adroit guide to how to make every word count. Writers – fledgling and expert – will find much here that’s practically useful, stimulating, and enlightening; All readers, I think, will benefit from Kaufman’s graceful exhortation to wield language effectively and – in an era of confounding obfuscation – honestly. -- Benjamin Dreyer
Thoroughly enjoyable ... genuinely, wholeheartedly entertaining ... Fascinatingly, Verb Your Enthusiasm has its style recommendations backed up with science. It's strong evidence of how verbs 'shape our memories and imagination.' As a keen new member of Kaufman's verb fan club, though, I needed no convincing. -- Ceci Browning * The Sunday Times *
This is a manifesto I can really get behind. * Evening Standard *