Don’t Use a Noun When There’s a Verb

Too often, we hide verbs by turning them into nouns. This makes our words less effective and our sentences longer.

A “hidden verb” is thus a verb converted into a noun. A few examples:

Noun	Verb
conducting surveillance on	surveiling
is an extension of	extends
is a testament	testifies
is dependent	depends
make a recommendation	recommend
make a decision	decide
to be expanded	expand
raise an objection	object
express resentment	resent
arrive at a conclusion	conclusion
are in agreement	agree
make a suggestion	suggest
exercise conformity	conform
find a solution	solve
make a revision	revise
provide clarification	clarify
provide subsidies to	subsidize
provide justification for	justify
give encouragement	encourage
cause a delay	delay
have an intuition	intuit
put a squeeze on	squeeze