Comments are welcome.
Some writers try to avoid all verbs of being, favoring the more forceful action verbs in their place. So a book written in E-Prime includes no occurrences of to be in any of its forms. Overuse of verbs of being makes writing lifeless, and no one should object to more action verbs. In fact, beginning writers may profit from the exercise of removing all the verbs of being from their writing, since it forces them to find more forceful means of expression. Inflexibly applying any rule , though, savors of pedantry, and your fear of bugbears should never lead you into gracelessness .