Verbs. Action words. No sentences without them. This is how Wikipedia sums up verbs, the most common parts of speech – using verbs, of course.
It seems that the Apple Watch has many features – just not verbs:
The largest Apple Watch display yet. New electrical heart sensor. Re-engineered Digital Crown with haptic feedback. Low and high heart rate notifications. Fall detection and Emergency SOS. New Breathe watch faces. Automatic workout detection. New yoga and hiking workouts. Advanced features for runners like cadence and pace alerts.
But what’s the value of the “Emergency SOS” function, the “New Breath watch face” (whatever that is), or even the watch’s ability to share data with friends, if there are no verbs to perform the activity?
These actionless phrases are from Apple’s own site. Apple is, of course, in that happy situation where the products it launches are almost ripped from stores. Trendy consumers always want to own the latest technology, regardless of the marketing materials. But does this indifference to verbs suit a sports watch? Does it create the desired image to consumers?
This week’s guest writer, Sanna Stenberg, is a Finnish language student who participated in the Language Consulting Course at the University of Tampere.