Picking up the pen or using the keyboard for stating your ideas can be compared to an artist's use of the paint brush to splash a variety of colours in a number of shades to express the mood of the creative artist. Just as the test of the artist's talent lies in his ability to select the right colour in its right shade to paint an image, a careful selection of the right verb to describe an action also requires the same kind of expertise from a writer.

Therefore, when you need to describe an action your aim should be to recreate the image that is in your mind, as accurately as possible, in your writing. An important step towards achieving this aim is to select verbs that suit a situation like the proverbial glove. Consider the following examples

 (1) The small child walked across the playroom.
 (2) The girls walked along the Clifton beach.
 (3) The drug addict walked along the street.
 (4) The injured batsman walked off the pitch.
 (5) The old woman walked into her hutment.
 (6) The boy walked towards the waiting school bus.

The above sentences make sense and the verb walk conveys the movement made by each character reasonably well. However, there are other verbs that can be used to replace the word walk in each sentence to produce a clearer picture of the action taking place in each situation. Let us study the improved version

 (1) The small child toddled across the playroom.
 (2) The girls strolled along the Clifton beach.
 (3) The drug addict staggered along the street.
 (4) The injured batsman limped off the pitch.
 (5) The old woman hobbled into her hut.
 (6) The boy ran towards the waiting school bus.

You must have noticed that the variety of verbs introduced to specify the actions add a different shade of meaning to each sentence with each verb picking up an important detail thus bringing the reader closer to what the writer wishes to convey.

In the context of making a careful selection of verbs most suitable and helpful in drawing a vivid word picture here is another example Yasmin leaned back in her chair and saw the new girls waiting at the classroom door smiling nervously. One of them was biting her lips, which made Yasmin remember herself just one and a half week ago. She was angered by the rest of the students who were giggling and whispering into each other's ears. Yasmin knew they were already discussing tricks to play on the new girls.

The verbs in the above paragraph certainly help in creating an effective and expressive comment on the critical situation of new students in a school. Suitable to the occasion selection of verbs brings about a world of difference, so make a big effort in this direction and make your readers see the word images created by you through the lens of your eye.

A careful selection of action verbs helps the readers to visualise and, therefore, understand exactly what you wish to transfer to them. What follows are five different versions of the same action because of the use of a different verb in each case, whereas the rest of the wordings remain the same.

 (1) He moved across the hall.
 (2) He strolled across the hall.
 (3) He zigzagged across the hall.
 (4) He hurried across the hall.
 (5) He crept across the hall.

It is evident that the role of the action verbs in each of the above examples is to specify the action taking place in each sentence. Actually the words we select are important as they enable our readers to 'see' more clearly not only what is happening but also how it is happening. For example if we say, 'He entered the room' it does not explain the situation as clearly as when we say 'He burst into the room' or 'He edged his way into the room'. Therefore the important tip is to give a most accurate picture of what we wish to convey to our readers, through a most careful selection of action verbs available in our vocabulary.

In your spare time try to rephrase the sentences in your previously written work, making a conscious effort to replace the verbs used to describe movements and actions. Bring in a more focused and a more suitable choice of verbs for a more vivid and clear effect. Finally. I would like to treat you to a few selections of the choicest examples from To the Lighthouse, written by Virginia Wolfe, one of the choicest writers of English fiction

 'a thin rain drumming on the roof';
 'how bones bleach or burn far away in Indian sands';
 'a rock rends itself from the mountain and hurtles crashing into the valley'.