The verb is the workhorse of any sentence. Without a verb, nouns would just sit around doing nothing. adjectives may be able to tell you how wonderful the noun is, but it's still sitting on its backside (actually, it's not even doing that, as `to sit' is a verb). Chuck in a verb, however, and your sentence is jumping, skipping, singing, dancing and even racing across the page (or just sitting on its backside . . .). This section will look at: names of words ­ a grammar refresher; activating passive verbs; freeing nominalised nouns. Verbs equal Vigour Remember ­ if following a rule makes your writing less persuasive, break it.