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The Professor Strong and simple

Use strong nouns, verbs and sound words. Show, don't tell.
When you read a good story, write down some of the vivid sentences you find. What makes them so good? Probably the words the author uses AND the pictures he creates with his sentences.
Find a few "boring" words or sentences in your writing and change them so that they really SHOW us what you mean!

(Back)

ShowSHOW

TellDON'T TELL

"Aahh!" screamed the teacher.
(The words are the same; the sentence makes the difference)

The teacher screamed.

Beads of sweat trickled down my face.
(The descriptive sentence shows the image. An interesting verb, "trickle", makes it even better..)

I was very hot.

She snatched her purse off the table and raced out the door.
(The verbs make the difference.)

She picked up her purse and went out the door.

"Hiss," whispered the snake as it slithered through the grass.

The snake hissed as it moved through the grass
BORING VERBS
VIVID VERBS
said, went, got, came.
(A thesaurus is a great place to find vivid words to replace the boring ones.)		 screamed, trotted, discovered, whispered, stole, limped, counterfeited, hiked, yelled, earned, biked, drove, biked, walked, earned, skated, skipped, shouted.

Tell us about your favourite vivid words. We'll include your contributions here. Send your email to chief-inspector@qesnrecit.qc.ca

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