Fiction Course: Anglo-Saxon VS Latin Verbs
A Verb Supremacy Poll
There is an old argument that for fiction writing, Old English verbs are better than their Latin counterparts, but it is rarely shared anymore. George Orwell said
"Bad writers, and especially scientific, political, and sociological writers, are nearly always haunted by the notion that Latin or Greek words are grander than Saxon ones."
Anglo-Saxon verbs, a lot of the time, are strong and monosyllabic and serve as an anchor for your sentence/story. They have a more natural rhythm in English, evoke archetypal patterns in our thoughts, and deliver clarity and force.
If you look at some of the most important scenes of Hemingway, McCarthy, Shakespeare, and others, they use Anglo-Saxon verbs when they want to pack a punch with their work.
That isn’t to say you shouldn’t use Latin verbs, which can be a direct way to create nuance, irony, contrast, layers, or an elevated tone.
So, let's put it to the test. Below, I want you to find a paragraph from your fiction that you love, which has a lot of verbs.
In the first revision, change all your verbs to Anglo-Saxon verbs. In the second revision, only use Latin verbs.
Then, objectively read your revised paragraphs and vote below which classification of verbs worked better!
Post your paragraphs below.
For reference, for those who aren’t going to do this, on the now defunct writing school, 80% of those who did the exercise (over 50) found that Anglo-Saxon verbs worked better.
Ian, with every video and post you put here, the more I learn to improve my writing. I'm a short story writer writer, high school junior in AP Lang. I share some of your advice with my teacher.
Original Paragraph:
Within the walls of this stone tower lives a silent gnome named Mr. Wortle, who, way back in the beginning, following the completion of this primordial tower, witnessed a man toiling away at the folding of paper. The man would ignore every knock that came to his door. Mr. Wortle found the man's dedication and created figures awe-inspiring, manifesting deep curiosities in Mr. Wortle to discover their meaning.
Verbs:
lives,
following,
witnessed, ~
toiling,
folding,
ignore,
knock,
created,
manifesting,
discover
Anglo-Saxon verbs, a lot of the time, are strong and monosyllabic
This will be how I will try to modify the above sentence.
Anglo-Saxton:
Within the walls of this stone tower lives a silent gnome named Mr. Wortle, who, way back at the start, found a newly built primordial tower in which a man toiled with paper. The man would ignore every knock that came to his door. Mr. Wortle was ecstatic at the man's passion and made figures, which dug deep curiosities in Mr. Wortle to find their meaning.
I'm assuming that the Latin words are all longer than one syllable:
Within the walls of this stone tower there is a living a silent gnome named Mr. Wortle, who, way back in the beginning, following the completion of this primordial tower, had the pleasure of witnessing a man toiling away at the folding of paper. The man actively ignoring every knock that came to his door. Mr. Wortle, finding an awe-inspiring curiosity he began to go a finding the man's meaning behind the paper figures
This was a good exercise. I put so much more thought into decreasing verb syllables. I liked the simplicity of the end result and it made me realize how much stock I put into the length of words just because they are long.
The Anglo-saxton version sounded more like how I talked. adding -ing to the end of thigns and hoping that the action shows.
Thanks! Hope all is well for you and the fam!