I’m reading a book, “Revising Prose” by Richard A. Lanham, in which he writes about the imbalance of nouns and verbs in the Official Style, a formal language used to sound more professional.
He writes:
...they all build on the same imbalance: a dominance of nouns and an atrophy of verbs. They enshrine the triumph, worshipped in every bureaucracy, of stasis over action.
The verb "is" takes the stage in the book as a commonly used part of speech, rather than active verbs. Read the following sentence for example:
This sentence is in need of an active verb.
As opposed to the more active:
This sentence needs an active verb.
Similarly, "Killing it" has littered our communication as a lazy cover-all for doing something well. It does have some impact, but the punch is lost with frequent use, so I’ve decided to provide some alternatives.
Adjectives
- Impressive
- Astonishing
- Beautiful
- Breathtaking
- Magnificent
- Stunning
- Wonderful
- Moving
- Mind-blowing
- Fascinating
- Marvelous
- Prodigious
- Fantastic
- Tremendous
- Monumental
- Stupendous
- Inordinate
- Unbelievable
- Remarkable
- Solid
I’ll stop there, but the list could go on and on.
Nouns
- Presentation
- Product
- Layout
- Design
- Work
- Skills
- Talent
- Person
- Speaker
- Conversation
Combinations
- Impressive presentation
- Astonishing product
- Beautiful layout
- Breathtaking design
- Magnificent work
- Stunning skills
- Mind-blowing talent
- Marvelous person
- Prodigious speaker
- Remarkable conversation
Compare any of those combinations to "killing it" and you may discover they more accurately express your thoughts.