To be or Not to be in Writing

This isn't a career or lifestyle discussion. It's about abusing forms of the verb "to be" in your writing. When I wrote Editors' Bugaboos in Writing, alert author Mary Anna Clemons asked me to elaborate on this topic. She told me it took her years to understand what the advice meant. In short, it is to avoid these words: am, is, are, was, were, will, be, being, been (and the helper verb that form conditional states of the verb to be). Don't use them unless absolutely necessary. Why? Because they are what I call "empty" verbs and using them is wasting words. Remember the call to use action verbs and the active voice. Passive sentences often use forms of to be.

Passive: The field was littered with broken columns.
Wordy: There were broken columns in the field.
Better: Broken columns littered the field.

Wordy: Susan is hit with a two-by-four.
Better: A two-by-four smacks Susan up the side of the head.

Wordy: James had been being an ass.
Better : James made an ass of himself.

Often sentences need rewriting to rid them of to be forms. This is your opportunity to strengthen the sentence with movement and more colorful writing.