Subject+Action Verb=Good Lead
From English Essay vs. News Story by Dennis Jerz:
“The revision begins with the subject and an active verb, a sure fire way of emphasizing the main idea.”
This tip is very straight forward in both its directions and its form. It is as close as one will ever get in English to a math formula. (Some days I miss plugging numbers in to the good old quadratic equation and coming out with a definite right or wrong answer. Sad…I know for an English geek.) A good example of this kind of writing would be “The college student labored over her homework until she literally worked herself to death.” Lol. (Don’t worry Dr. Jerz. This time I’m not referring to your class.) This sentence gets to the point. It has an action that is not accompanied by a simple linking verb like is or was and a clearly defined (yet unnamed) subject. I heard the press didn’t want to release her name yet.
Can anyone else come up with a good example of this?
I like how you incorporated an education approach to the comparison chart that Dr. Jerz posted. You are talking about an interdisciplinary lesson that uses both English and Math at the same time. If the reader/writer uses the appropriate action words, then the reader/viewer will understand the main idea very quickly.
Example: The athletic football player lifted weights until he fainted, holding the weights, after enduring all night of Calculus homework.
Hope it works!