Using Concrete and Descriptive Words in your Writing :Using Concrete and Descriptive Words in your Writing A Review of Nouns, Active Verbs, and Adjectives Kristi Reyes MiraCosta College


By using concrete nouns, active verbs, and descriptive adjectives … :By using concrete nouns, active verbs, and descriptive adjectives … Your writing will be vivid enough for the reader (or, in the case of digital stories, the viewer) to form a picture in his or mind. … like painting a picture.


Nouns are naming words :Nouns are naming words Do you remember? They name a P___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ P ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ T ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ L ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ C __ __ __ __ __ __ __


Answers :Answers Person / people Place Thing Living creature


Note: :Note: Nouns can also name a concept or idea, such as happiness, desperation, fear, love. However, these are not concrete nouns, so you should avoid these types of words in writing your digital story scripts (except, perhaps, as a title or subtitle). Instead, you can use images, sound, and colors to represent these abstract nouns in your digital story. You will learn more about this in the class.


Common and Proper Nouns :Common and Proper Nouns Nouns can be common Examples: teenager, computer, school, city Or proper (note capital letters) Examples: Roxanne, IBM, MiraCosta College, Los Angeles


Active Verbs :Active Verbs The verb “to be” and state of being verbs (looks, appears, seems…) are not active To make your writing more descriptive, use active verbs (verbs that show action!) Examples: fight, run, jump, fall, kick, shuffle, pull, tickle, shake, scratch, squirm, wiggle, break, etc.


Verb Tenses :Verb Tenses Do you remember? Change each verb to match the time in the sentence. I (write) a letter at the moment. I (go) to school Monday through Thursday. Yesterday I (study) at home. Tomorrow I (come) early to finish my project. Last night I (watch) TV when my friend came by to visit. I (work) at the company since 2001.


Answers :Answers I am writing a letter at the moment. (present continuous: in-progress actions or actions happening these days) I go to school Monday through Thursday. (simple present: general truths and routines/habits) Yesterday I studied at home. (simple past: completed past actions) Tomorrow I am going to come / will come early to finish my project. (future: plans, intentions, promises, scheduled events) Last night I was watching TV when my friend came by to visit. (past continuous: past in-progess actions that were interrupted) I have worked at the company since 2001. (present perfect: actions that started in past and continue now or repeated past actions or actions that happened in past at unknown or unstated time)


Adjectives :Adjectives Do you remember? They describe a n __ __ __ or a p __ __ __ __ __ __


Answers :Answers Noun For example: MiraCosta College is a great school! A pronoun (I, you, he, she, it, we, they) For example: I am hungry!


Adjectives and Examples :Adjectives and Examples Number: one, two, ten, 20,000 … Personal opinions about quality, appearance, emotion, value: wonderful, excellent, horrible, ugly, repulsive, thrilling, sad, expensive, important … Size / dimension: gigantic, miniscule, petite, enormous … Form / shape: round, circular, square … Age: ancient, young, brand-new … Color: ROYGBIV (colors of the rainbow and more) Origin: American, British, Asian… Material: denim, plastic, polyester, wooden, metal… Nouns as adjectives (qualifiers): baseball hat, speed boat, sports car …


Where to place an adjective :Where to place an adjective Adjectives typically are located 1. in front of the noun they describe An interesting person 2. after verb “to be” She is delighted. 3. or after a state of being verb (seem, appear, looks, sound, feel, taste, smell…) The soup smells wonderful.


Adjective Order :Adjective Order More than one adjective can be placed in front of a noun Test yourself. Put these adjectives in order: A (old Italian wonderful) clock. A (square blue big) box. A (pink disgusting plastic) ornament. Some (slim French new) trousers.


Answers :Answers A wonderful old Italian clock. (opinion - age - origin) A big square blue box. (dimension - shape - color) A disgusting pink plastic ornament. (opinion - color - material) Some slim new French trousers. (dimension - age - origin) Notice that the adjectives are not separated by commas. Source: http://esl.about.com/library/grammar/blgr_adjective_order.htm


Adjective Order :Adjective Order Source: http://depts.gallaudet.edu/englishworks/grammar/partsofspeech.html#adjectives


That’s it for now! :That’s it for now! Ask if you have questions. Go on to the assignment.


Don’t forget to write! :Don’t forget to write!