Weak Verb & Filter Word Checker

Writing teachers and editors have a list of habits that drain energy from prose: too many forms of “to be”, filter words that keep readers at a distance, passive sentences that hide who did what, empty openings like “there were”, and adverbs propping up weak verbs. None of them is a mistake on its own. Together they make text flat. This checker finds them all in one pass so you can decide where to revise.

Forms of “to be”

Is, was, were, been and their contractions are the most common verbs in English. They are essential, but sentences built on them describe states rather than actions: “The room was cold” versus “Cold seeped through the walls.” The checker highlights every form and shows the rate per 100 words, a useful number when comparing a revised chapter with the old one.

Filter words

Filter words put a character’s perception between the reader and the event: she saw, he heard, they felt, she noticed, he realised, it seemed. In close point-of-view fiction, cutting them makes scenes more immediate — “She heard the door slam” becomes “The door slammed.” The list also includes “began to” and “started to”, which usually add nothing.

Passive voice

A passive sentence makes the receiver of an action the subject: “The letter was written by her brother.” The checker finds the usual pattern, a form of “be” or “get” followed by a past participle, optionally with an adverb in between. Common adjectives that look like participles, such as tired, worried, married and located, are excluded. Passive voice is right when the actor is unknown or unimportant; the highlights help you make that choice on purpose.

Empty openings and adverbs

Sentences starting with “There is”, “There were” or “It is clear that” delay the real subject. -ly adverbs are marked because a precise verb often replaces verb plus adverb: “ran quickly” is “sprinted”. Words that end in -ly but are not adverbs, such as family, early or daily, are skipped.

Reading the results

Each category has its own colour and can be switched off to focus on one habit at a time. Where categories overlap, the more specific one wins, so “was written” shows as passive rather than as a form of “to be”. The table lists every flagged word with its count and downloads as CSV.

A worked example

In the sample paragraph, “She felt that the room was cold” shows a filter word and a “to be” verb, “There were three windows” an empty opening, and “The letter was written by her brother and was found on the desk” two passives. A revision — “Cold air filled the room. Of the three windows, one stood open… Her brother had written the letter and left it on the desk” — removes most highlights while keeping the meaning.

A focused revision pass

Pick one category per pass rather than everything at once: filter words first in fiction, passive voice first in reports. Rewrite the sentences where two or more highlights cluster, then re-run the check. Leaving some “to be” verbs is normal; the goal is variety, not zero.

Related tools

Remove clichés and buzzwords with the Cliché Finder, cut hedging with the Hedging Word Checker, vary sentence rhythm with the Sentence Length Analyzer, or measure difficulty with the Readability Checker.