All good tips, and not just for lawyers. They're all things I try to do.
Calling them "zinger verbs" is really underselling. The general principle is to use words with impact, be they nouns, adjectives, adverbs, or whatever. In the example, "feed" and "sap" and "vault over" are just much more exciting and evocative than "sustain" and "undermine," which are something a bureaucrat would write. "Shuffling along" gives you a mental picture of some old person moving slowly.
I do find The Economist tedious and boring, but that's a problem of its outlook, which aims to never say anything that contradicts conventional wisdom.
Calling them "zinger verbs" is really underselling. The general principle is to use words with impact, be they nouns, adjectives, adverbs, or whatever. In the example, "feed" and "sap" and "vault over" are just much more exciting and evocative than "sustain" and "undermine," which are something a bureaucrat would write. "Shuffling along" gives you a mental picture of some old person moving slowly.
I do find The Economist tedious and boring, but that's a problem of its outlook, which aims to never say anything that contradicts conventional wisdom.