FROM ROGUE MUTT
I think telling people they shouldn't use verbs like "saw" is going to make them reach for a thesaurus and come up with ridiculous sentence constructions.
RESPONSE
I think it is good thing to make writers reach for a thesaurus...great habit to develop.
I don't say they shouldn't use verbs like “saw”. I say they should try to avoid using them as much as possible. Replacing "saw" in a sentence is not difficult, creates no awkwardness, and sharpens meaning. So many other more interesting verbs directly mean or imply "seeing". Consider this sentence: He saw the thing.
Now, off the top of my head, I could replace "saw" with one of the verb or verb phrases below. No awkwardness, much more meaning conveyed, and a heckuva lot more efficient.
examined
studied
inspected
stared at
glimpsed
glanced at
squinted at
furrowed his brow at
dropped his jaw at the sight of
sneered at
scowled at
frowned at
smiled at
laughed at
shook his fist at
scratched his head at the sight of
There's a million ways to replace "saw" with no awkwardness. It just requires a little more effort; writing "saw" is a heckuva lot easier. My principles are easy to understand, but difficult to implement, at least at first. It gets easier with practice.