Analysis of Verb-Style Writing.

The following is an article that discusses the finding of “a clue to life” in a comet. Kenneth Chang, the author of the article, cautiously uses verb style to facilitate information that would otherwise be indigestible to an uninformed reader.

“For the first time, a building block of proteins — and hence of life as we know it — has been found in a comet.

That adds to the prevailing notion that many of the ingredients for the origin of life showered down on the early Earth when asteroids (interplanetary rocks orbiting the inner solar system) and comets (dirty ice balls that generally congregate in the outer solar system beyond Neptune) made impact with the planet.”

Chang’s hyphenated first sentence indicates eagerness on his part in sharing the information. The way the sentence is structured makes it clear that this is big news.

“and hence life as we know it” interrupts what would otherwise be a bland sentence to underline what is so important about it. The wording of the fragment is familiar and borders on science fiction cliché, but it nevertheless succeeds in pointing out what may get lost in duller writing. The reader, who is likely no expert in real science, recognizes the urgency in the words. Part of why “life as we know it” is so engaging, and its wording so popular, is that fact it’s written in verb style. Something in noun form, like “compatible with the current definition of life”, lacks the necessary punch. Verb form provides that inclusive “we”.

The following paragraph also uses verb form- proteins are found, ingredients shower and dirty ice balls congregate. These are not captivating nouns all by themselves, but in this context, and via the use of verb style, Chang conveys relevance to them without romanticizing the facts or flirting with a distracted personal fascination for the subject. Verb style in this case manages to highlight without poeticizing, to efficiently inform without overstating.

Verb style, despite its subtlety through most of the article, serves to make the information more reader-friendly. A scientist is quoted in the article-

“That means production of amino acids is fairly common,”

This noun-style phrase from someone in the field has the stoic tone attributed to the sciences, proving Chang’s verb style is a facilitator of information.

Chang, Kenneth. “From a Distant Comet, a Clue to Life.” The New York Times 18 Aug. 2009. NYTIMES.com. August 31, 2009 /

Analysis of Noun-Style Writing

Noun style writing tends to disassociate an action from its authors- it turns action into noun and strips it of accountability. In explaining the difference between noun and verb styles, Lanhaman points out that bureaucrats prefer the former.

The effect of anonymity, however, is opposite to the intentions of Brooks Barnes and Michael Cieply, who wrote an article about Disney’s latest move in the New York Times.

Typical of business sections, companies are attributed personalities through the use of verb form. Disney acts a certain way, it has a certain behavior and it is normally portrayed in these circles as powerful, ambitious and aggressive. This article is no exception, it’s title reads “Disney Swoops into Action, Buying Marvel for $4 Billion.”

The writing plays with the notion of a company having a psyche and at the same time hints on words that evoke super-heroes, like “swoop” and “action”.

The article then makes use of noun style writing. In these instances, the writing doesn’t shy away from its initial “all cards on the table” approach, but rather moves further in the rout of personifying.

“The acquisition points to the film industry’s biggest issue at the moment: access to capital. Those who have it are finding opportunity; those who do not may be left behind.”

Disney and Marvel seize to become the protagonists of the article as the business venture itself becomes a noun (albeit one without an official name) and not merely an action of the companies. Disney doesn’t point out through acquiring, the acquisition itself does.

“The deal is not without risk. Questions include whether Marvel’s lesser-known characters can be effectively groomed into stars and to what degree the most valuable and heavily exploited assets (Spider-Man, the X-Men) have weakened in box-office power.”

The hand shakers become less relevant as “the deal” itself steals the spotlight. The article started out by talking about the companies, then delved into discussing their actions and ended up analyzing “the deal” as something that “is” as opposed to something that happened. The use of noun style in this case, as in other writing that discuss a pact or agreement allow for the action to become a noun, reflecting the fact that it will have a lasting and significant effect.

Barnes, Brooks and Cieply, Michael. “Disney Swoops into Action, buying Marvel for $4 Million.” The New York Times 18 Aug. 2009. NYTIMES.com. August 31, 2009 /