What are action verbs?
When you are given a writing task, the instructions will mostly include verbs to let you know what kind of text you are supposed to write. These verbs are called action verbs. Some action verbs in English are to reflect, to compare, to describe, to explain, to apply, to explore, and to discuss. Understanding the use of these verbs is important, but what do they really mean?
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Reflect
When you are asked to reflect on a given topic, it means to think carefully about the topic, and study it from different sides. You need to test your own thoughts and beliefs to get greater insight and understanding on the topic. The nice thing is that these are also one of the few academic writing tasks where you can “speak” in the first person (use “I/me/my”) in your text.
You may be asked to write a text where you reflect on different kinds of topics such as specific actions, beliefs, and ideas, along with case studies, common practices, and your own learning.
For example, you may be given a task in English class asking you to reflect on racism in the United States. You need to find information on what people think and feel about racism, what the situation is like in the United States, and why it is so. There are no right or wrong answers in this type of task. The goal is to help you develop a better understanding of your own thoughts and beliefs.
Basic reflection skills are gained at a very young age. For example, if you touch a hot stove, it will hurt. Touching the stove would have immediately made you reflect on why it hurt so much. The answer would be that you had touched a hot stove, and after that you know not to do that again.
Another example is in friendships. If your friend gets angry at you one day, you try to find out (reflect on) what happened. Your reflection will then help you see how the situation developed.
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