Getting familiar with signal verbs used in technical writing on Artificial Intelligence: An reading exercise with word search puzzle
- Lalit Kishore
- Apr 30
- 2 min read
Signal verbs are crucial in technical writing to clearly and precisely indicate how information in summarizing, paraphrasing, or quoting. Signal verbs provide context to information, allowing the reader to follow the connection between the writer's ideas and those of the source. Part of the skill of using active verbs lies in choosing the verbs that precisely describes the action the writer wants to convey.
Read the following passages adapted from AI Overview on Artificial Intelligence to identify signal verbs in technical language.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a form of man-made intelligence built into machines - a type of smart technology and related field of study with theory and practice. AI theory encompasses the foundational principles and methodologies used in developing intelligent or smart computer systems in the form of machines and algorithmic software that can perform or mimic tasks traditionally requiring human intelligence. It includes areas like machine learning, deep learning, and natural language processing, which enable machines to learn from data, recognize patterns, and make decisions.
AI practices encompass the responsible and ethical development and deployment of artificial intelligence systems. This includes principles like fairness, privacy, security, transparency, accountability, and safety. These practices are crucial for mitigating risks, promoting ethical behaviour, and maximizing the benefits of AI for society. Here, AI ethics pertains to the considerations about fairness, bias, and accountability in AI systems. While, AI safety focuses on ensuring AI systems do not cause harm or pose unintended risks.
There are other terms with qualifying words used with term AI. first is the 'Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)' which is the hypothetical concept of AI with human-level intelligence. Second is the 'Strong AI' that refers to AI capable of understanding and performing tasks like humans. Third is the 'Weak AI' that consists of systems designed for specific tasks and do not possess general intelligence. For determining the the level of the levels these three types of AI intelligences the 'Turing Test' is used for machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behaviour equivalent to, or indistinguishable from, that of a human
Signal verbs:
List-1: ENCOMPASS, DEVELOP, PERFORM, REQUIRE, DEPLOY, MITIGATE, ENABLE, MIMIC, FOCUS, CAUSE, POSE, REFER,

List-2: PERTAIN, CONSIST, DESIGN, POSSESS, DETERMINE, QUALIFY, EXHIBIT, DISTINGUISH, MAXIMISE
Here is word search created to find and the verbs from list 1
Activity:
Create yourself the puzzle from list 2
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