Adjectives

Adjectives (descriptive words) can lift your writing and speaking by taking your audience (reader, listener, viewer) deep into your story. Adjectives can paint pictures for the audience, but beware: adjectives can also clutter or confuse the audience. So, try to use adjectives that suit what you are writing or speaking about. Sometimes, you’ll be spot-on with your descriptions, and sometimes you won’t. That’s just the way it is when we communicate. So, the best thing you can do is…

Yes, it comes back to that word you may have read elsewhere on this site:

EXPERIMENT!

In this exercise, have a look at the pictures and write a sentence or two, or maybe a whole paragraph if you want to. Describe what you see. Your audience, though, can’t see what you see. They only have your words to paint the pictures for them.

Here’s an example for the photo of the man carrying the box up the steps. Oh, and by the way, the adjectives are underlined.

It was exhausting work in the savage heat. Sweat glistened on the man’s muscular back. The heavy load dug into his shoulder. Finally, and thankfully, he reached the top step. But he still had a long way to go.

That’s a lot of adjectives! So, here’s where experimenting is important. Do you think there are too many adjectives in that description? Or are there too few? Or would you have used different adjectives? Here’s a different version of the above:

It was exhausting work in the  heat. Sweat glistened on the man’s muscular back. The load dug into his shoulder. Finally, and thankfully, he reached the top step. But he still had a long way to go.

What do you think is the more appropriate description? There is  no correct or incorrect answer. It all comes down to your personal view. Or how about this one:

It was back-breaking, energy-sapping work in the  scorching heat. Sweat glistened on the man’s rippling, muscular back. The mountainous load dug into his aching shoulder. Finally, and thankfully, he reached the top step. But he still had a long way to go.

See the difference? 

Now, it’s your turn. Try writing descriptions for as many pictures as you like. Then, you might like to share and discuss your work with your classmates. Good luck!

PS: There is another exercise like this one, but it’s for verbs. Have a look