1. To be verbs
GHS-2011

2. Not to be… Am
Are Is
Was
Were Be
Being
Been
Become
Became

3. Eliminating “to be” Verbs
Using the Five Brush Strokes
Adjectives shifted out of order
Participles-A participle is a verbal that is used as an adjective and most often ends in -ing or -ed
Appositives-An appositive is a noun or pronoun — often with modifiers — set beside another noun or pronoun to explain or identify it.
Absolutes-a word group that modifies an entire sentence
Action Verbs

4. Eliminating “to be” Verbs
Sometimes you can simply replace the “be” verb with an action verb

5. Eliminating “to be” Verbs
Sometimes you can simply replace the “be” verb with an action verb
The girl was running down the road.

6. Eliminating “to be” Verbs
Sometimes you can simply replace the “be” verb with an action verb
The girl was running down the road.
The girl ran down the road.

7. Eliminating “to be” Verbs
Sometimes you can simply replace the “be” verb with an action verb
The girl was running down the road.
The girl ran down the road.
But this oftentimes does not produce a better sentence.

8. Eliminating “to be” Verbs
Most often we need to tear the sentence out and rewrite it completely. This is when your Five Brush Strokes will help you.

9. Eliminating “to be” Verbs
The house was green and red, and I will never forget the last time I saw it.

10. Eliminating “to be” Verbs
The house was green and red, and I will never forget the last time I saw it.
The house, green and red, impressed on me so much that I could never forget its sight.

11. Eliminating “to be” Verbs
When I was sixteen, I remember my grandfather teaching me how to play the guitar.

12. Eliminating “to be” Verbs
When I was sixteen, I remember my grandfather teaching me how to play the guitar.
My grandfather, an accomplished guitar player, found pleasure in teaching me, a young man of sixteen, how to play his beloved instrument.

13. Eliminating “to be” Verbs
Jack and Jill had been going out for almost a year and nobody wanted them to break up.

14. Eliminating “to be” Verbs
Jack and Jill had been going out for almost a year and nobody wanted them to break up.
Having dated for almost a year, nobody wanted Jack and Jill to break up.

15. Eliminating “to be” Verbs
It feels like I am being stabbed in the heart.

16. Eliminating “to be” Verbs
It feels like I am being stabbed in the heart.
Gasping for breath, clinging to life, the pain feels like a knife to my heart.

17. Eliminating “to be” Verbs
I was ten years old, and I was afraid of the people.

18. Eliminating “to be” Verbs
I was ten years old, and I was afraid of the people.
At the tender age of ten, the simple sight of the people filled my heart with fear.

19. Eliminating “to be” Verbs
These places I’ve been – no man can go.

20. Eliminating “to be” Verbs
These places I’ve been – no man can go.
Mind racing, imagination wondering, I have traveled to places no man can go.

21. Eliminating “to be” Verbs
He was riding it down the street at 90 mph.

22. Eliminating “to be” Verbs
He was riding it down the street at 90 mph.
Unaware of the dangers ahead, he raced down the street in a flash of 90 mph.