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When a TV news anchor recently told viewers that technicians were having trouble airing a correspondent's story, he said, "We are efforting her report."

Efforting? Can the noun "effort" be used as a verb?

Some say yes. One strength of our English language is its flexibility. And that includes its uncanny ability to turn caterpillar nouns into butterfly verbs. Few people, for instance, would object to these nouns that now flutter freely as verbs: "handle," "function," "room," "weather."

But that doesn't stop traditionalists in pith helmets and khaki shorts from efforting ... er, trying to catch these verbs with their butterfly nets.

Why? Because when we first hear nouns used as verbs, they often sound clunky and contrived. Readers regularly send me specimens from their butterfly collections: "I office in the next building"; "Please reference my book for further details"; "Let's task the committee with a new assignment."

Oddly enough, many verbs we now use without a second thought were highly controversial when they first appeared decades ago. But now we're able to "host" a party, "contact" a friend, "experience" a city, "progress" toward a goal, "head" a committee, or "chair" a meeting without raising any eyebrows or butterfly nets.

William Shakespeare, in fact, loved to liberate verbs from their nouny cocoons. He coined the verbs "refuge," "privilege," "dog," "beggar," "season" and "channel," and created the famous imperative "Uncle me no uncle" in his play "Richard II."

Often we convert nouns to verbs simply to avoid awkward and lengthy constructions. Instead of "making an appeal," "giving someone a reward," "bringing a room to silence" and "conducting a survey," we now simply "appeal," "reward," "silence" and "survey."

But other would-be butterflies seem more like ugly moths, e.g., "guest a talk show," "helm a movie." Other conversions reek of jargon and bureaucratese: "mainstreaming children," "partnering with employees," "transitioning senior citizens."

And other verbings are simply unnecessary. Why "calendar" a meeting when you can "schedule" it, or "gift" a bottle of wine when you can "give" it?

During the past few years, we seem to have verbed almost every aspect of our interpersonal relationships, e.g., at first I "friended" and "hearted" him, but he never learned how to "adult," so I "ghosted" him.

It works both ways, of course. We also turn verbs into nouns. But that's a big "reveal" for another day.

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Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Conn., invites your language sightings. His book, "Mark My Words," is available for $9.99 on Amazon.com. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via e-mail to Wordguy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254.

Copyright 2026 Creators Syndicate Inc.