Published on
February 18, 2025
by
Tom Challenger, BA
Revised on
March 27, 2025
In the context of resumes, cover letters, and letters of interest, action verbs are words that help you to create impactful descriptions of work experience, skills, and professional achievements because:
They are verbs that describe a dynamic action—rather than nouns that describe a duty or task or stative verbs like “was” or “became.”
They typically replace overused words (e.g., “supported” or “facilitated,” instead of “helped”).
They often imply that you can work independently and under your own initiative (e.g., “executed” or “implemented” instead of “tasked with”).
Action verbs are also sometimes referred to as power verbs or active verbs.
Action verbs for resume examples
Strong description using action verb(s)
Weaker alternative
Supported, guided, and reviewed the work of a three-person team
Supervisor of a team of three people
Operated the reception desk
Reception duties
Planned, coordinated, and executed customer events
Responsible for organizing events
Collaborated on a wide range of marketing projects
Your resume should showcase the skills that are most relevant to the job, internship, scholarship, or program you’re applying for. So, when selecting the skills for a resume, you need to analyze the posting or application documentation carefully to determine the skills they’re looking for and edit your resume to prioritize the ones you have.
Make sure you put a mix of hard and soft skills on your resume.
Hard skills are specific abilities that you can learn to do on a course or by doing a particular job (e.g., using Microsoft Word or bookkeeping tasks).
Soft skills are more difficult to acquire through formal education and training because they’re to do with your personality and how you interact with other people (e.g., staying calm under pressure or attention to detail).
If your resume format has a separate skills section, the skills can be listed in categories, like “technical skills” (e.g., proficiency in using specific software, IT tools, or equipment), “languages,” and “soft skills.”
Edit the list so the most relevant skills are at the top.
If you’re listing over 15 items, it’s probably too many—some experts recommend as few as five. Limiting the number of items will also help you to keep your resume to a suitable length.
The list in the skills section can be key words and phrases (e.g., “MS Word & Excel”) or extended bullet points (e.g., “Proficient in Microsoft Word & Excel for document creation, data analysis, and office automation”), depending on the resume format you’ve chosen.
Don’t forget to provide concrete evidence of the most important skills in your cover letter, letter of interest, or in the work experience or education sections of your resume—tangible examples such as descriptions of duties that required these skills.
Resume skills section exampleTechnical skills
MS Word and Excel
Mailchimp
HTML
Basic Python
Soft skills
Adaptability
Conflict resolution
Problem solving
Languages
English – Advanced (TOEFL score: 116/120)
Spanish – Native speaker
TipMake sure your resume is typo-free by checking it with a grammar tool such as QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker.
Function words like “in,” “on,” “at,” and for (prepositions)—which are typically covered in grammar rather than vocabulary lessons when you’re learning a language—convey meaning by helping to show relationships between different parts of a sentence. Content words, on the other hand, like “definition” (a noun) or “define” (a verb), which we think of as “vocabulary,” carry a lot of meaning on their own.
Because for typically doesn’t mean very much as an individual word, knowing how it functions in terms of its part of speech is key to understanding what it communicates. “For” almost always functions as a preposition, helping to express ideas such as “intention,” “purpose,” “reason,” and “duration.”
For (preposition) in a sentence examplesI bought this shirt for Clive.
The simple past tense of spread is spread. “Spread” is also the past participle of the verb “spread,” which means “distribute, expand, or extend over a wide area.”
Spread past tense in a sentence examples
Simple past tense of spread
Past participle of spread
He spread the frosting as evenly as he could and then added the birthday candles.
You haven’t spread it very evenly, have you?
The wildfire spread rapidly across the dry forest.
When I returned, she had spread out a map of the city across the table.
She spread her arms, inviting the child to jump down from the wall.
Experts now believe that the disease was spread by humans, not rats.
The past tense of troubleshoot is troubleshot. “Troubleshot” is both the simple past tense form and past participle form of the verb “troubleshoot,” which means to “find the cause of a problem and solve it” or “perform the role of a troubleshooter.”
Past tense of troubleshoot in a sentence examplesI built the computers and troubleshot any issues with the operations systems.
I troubleshot for the implementation team last week.
I have troubleshot everything on the list.
NoteYou may see or hear “troubleshooted” rather than “troubleshot” used as the past participle or past simple form of the verb “troubleshoot.” However, “troubleshot” is the best choice for formal writing such as essays, as it is the more commonly used form and only a few dictionaries list “troubleshooted” as an alternative.
If you adapt something, you change it for a new purpose, while if you adopt something, you begin using it or “accept it as your own.”
The verbadapt means “change in order to deal with new circumstances” (e.g., “The needs of our customers changed, so we had to adapt”) or “change for a new purpose” (e.g.,“We adapted the labeling machine so it would work with the new bottle size”).
The verb adopt means “begin to use” or “implement” (e.g., “The new policy was adopted last year”). It can also mean “legally become the parent of a child who was not born to you” (e.g., “We adopted Daniela when she was two years old”).
Adapt vs adopt in a sentence examples
She has adapted very quickly to her new school.
The school has adopted a new cell-phone policy in line with the board’s recommendations.
You don’t need to write a new plan; just adapt the old one.
Companies are being encouraged to adopt this new technology.
The minibus has been adapted for wheelchair users.
Deciding to adopt a child is the biggest decision we have ever made.
TipYou can adapt to something, but you can’t adopt to something.
Published on
January 23, 2025
by
Tom Challenger, BA
Revised on
March 14, 2025
Alternate and alternative are interchangeable when used as adjectives to describe something as a “different option or choice” (e.g., “an alternate/alternative plan”).
Use the adjective “alternative” to mean the opposite of mainstream (e.g., “alternative music,” “alternative medicine”).
Use the adjective “alternate” to mean changing between two things (e.g., “alternate red and blue stripes”) or one out of every two (e.g., “alternate weeks”).
You can use “alternate” (but not “alternative”) as a verb (e.g., “We alternate between the two locations”).
Use the noun “alternative” to mean “a different option” (e.g., “That is a good alternative”). If “alternate” is used as a noun, it means a person fulfilling a substitute function (e.g., “An alternate on the gymnastics team”).
Alternate vs alternative examples
Alternate in a sentence
Alternative in a sentence
We need to schedule an alternate date for the picnic in case it rains. [Adjective]
We need to schedule an alternative date for the picnic in case it rains. [Adjective]
Initially held annually, the film festival now takes place in alternate years. [Adjective]
The film festival focuses on independent, alternative cinema. [Adjective]
He planted alternate rows of petunias and hydrangeas. [Adjective]
Petunias are a good alternative. [Noun]
I like to alternate between petunias and hydrangeas along this path. [Verb]
Alternatives to cow’s milk include plant-based beverages such as oat milk. [Noun]
NoteSome usage guides recommend using the adjective “alternative” (not “alternate”) to describe something as a different option or to mean “another,” but “alternate” is frequently used with these meanings. For instance the word combinations “alternate route,” “alternate universe,” “alternate reality,” “alternate explanation,” and “alternate version” are very common, even in formal writing such as essays.
Published on
January 20, 2025
by
Tom Challenger, BA
Revised on
February 28, 2025
The nounspallet, palette, and palate are pronounced in the same way (
) but have different meanings (i.e., they are homophones).
A pallet is a platform for storing and transporting things, which can be moved using a special vehicle, and is usually made of wood.
A palette is a board on which artists arrange and mix paints of different colors while painting. It can also refer to the set of colors used in a painting or design.
Your palate is the top of the inside of your mouth or means your “sense of taste.”
Pallet vs palette vs palate examples
Pallet in a sentence
Palette in a sentence
Palate in a sentence
The bricks were delivered on a pallet.
This is the palette and set of brushes used by the artist to paint her most famous picture.
He burned his palate eating hot pizza.
Can you order another pallet of cinder blocks?
The limited palette of blues and whites suggests a cold and isolated environment.
Kimchi will appeal to your palate if you like tangy, savory flavors.
We can fit 20 bags of flour on each pallet.
Which of these color palettes would you prefer for the bathroom?
