Writing Exercise Five

(Adjectives)

Write your account of your journey, but add additional adjectives that portray your account in a more vivid manner and help set the tone of your trip.

Let's say that you write that your car is red.

Ex.— I got into my red, two-door sedan.

Ask yourself whether or not it is very important to use the adjectives "red" and "two-door"? The adjectives do provide some additional information which enables your reader to better visualize you in your car. But just because it does that, is that enough of a reason to add them? Ideally, what you add should do more than allow your reader to form a picture; adjectives should reveal something important.

Let's say that you write that your car is faded red with splotches of gray primer that only sometimes cover the rusted areas. That information seems to provide not only a means for the reader to visualize your car, but it also makes a statement about you and your decision to go to college — that is, it is implied that you are going to school to better your chances at getting a job to provide you with a higher standard of living. It is important to be aware that it does not necessarily mean that because you are riding in a beat-up old car that this is the reason—the only reason or even the main reason—but descriptive adjectives can signify such a connection if you use them selectively.

Meta-Narrative Five: Write a paragraph describing what two of these adjectives do for your paragraph. Remember, once again, you must use quotes from your story to tell exactly what you mean to a reader who has not read your story or perhaps has not read it very carefully.

Go to Examples from Edwin Way Teale

Go to Exercise Six

Return to Joe Napora's Homepage

Return to Style Manual