Lesson I Sensory Details
Scrounnch. I bit into my apple and juices flowed everywhere.
At the same time, I felt some gooey brown caramel stick to my
chin. I tried not to drool as I detached the bite of apple and got it
all the way into my mouth. I had no napkin, wouldn't you know it,
and had to fight the urge to wipe the sticky mess off on my white
sleeve. I kept my head down so that no one would see the caramel
hanging on my chin. I chewed quickly, though what I really
wanted to do was savor the rich, sweet caramel blending with the
tartness of the apple.
In a description, a writer's goal is to help readers see, hear, smell, feel, or taste what is
being .described. They use sensory details, or details that appeal to readers' senses, in
their description. For example, in the paragraph above, scruunnch helps you hear the
person biting the apple. The phrase "juices flowed everywhere" helps you feel what it's
like to bite into the apple. What other sensory details does the paragraph contain? List
them here, according to whether the detail helps you see, hear, smell, touc h, or taste
the caramel apple. Some details might fit into more than one category.
apple
See: --------Hear:
--------Sme 11: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
Touch: - - - - - - - - Taste:
---------
Think about the last time you ate an apple. Was it covered in caramel? Maybe it was
sliced up in a salad. How did it taste? What did it feel like? List the sensory details.
See:
----------
Hear:
- -- - - - - - -
Sme 11: - - -- - - - - Touch: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
Taste: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
Lesson I Sensory Details
Think of a food that you like. What is it like to eat that food? Imagine yourself eating
and enjoying the food. Can you describe the experience so that a reader feels as if he
or she is right there?
First, record the sights, sounds, smells, textures, and flavors you experience when you
eat the food.
Sights: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
Sounds: - - - - - - - Sm e 11s: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Textures: - - - - - - - Flavors: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
Now, put your words to work. Describe what it is like to eat this food. Appeal to all five
of your readers' senses. Remember to indent the first sentence of your paragraph.
Lesson 2 Adjectives and Adverbs
To make a sentence, you need a noun and a verb. It takes just one of each to make a
complete sentence.
Trucks rumble.
Adjectives and adverbs add description to a sentence.
•An adjective is a word that describes a noun or proaoun. Adjectives ten what
kind, how much or how many, and which ones. In other words, adjectives tell
how things look, sound, smell, feet and taste.
• An adverb is a word that describes a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.
Adverbs tell how, when, where, or to what degree. Many adverbs end in ly,
but some do not such as not never, and very.
Adjectives at Work
Begin with a basic sentence and then notice how a few adjectives make it more
interesting.
The trucks rumble down the street.
What kind of trucks are they? They are huge trucks.
How many trucks are there? There are ten of them.
What kind of street is it? It is a bumpy street.
Which trucks? It is those trucks.
Here is the new sentence. Notice that the adjectives go right before the nouns that
they describe. This is almost always true. Doesn't this sentence make a more vivid
image in your mind?
Those ten huge trucks rumble down the bumpy street.
Now, it is your turn. Look at the sentence below. Think of at least two adjectives to add
to it then write the new sentence. Remember, an adjective tells more about a noun or
pronoun.
A driver blew his horn.
Lesson 2 Adjectives and Adverbs
Adverbs at Work
Start with the same basic sentence and see how some adverbs liven it up.
The trucks rumble down the street.
When do the trucks rumble? They rumble every day.
How do they rumble? They rumble noisily.
Where do they rumble? They rumble down the middle of the street.
Here is the new sentence. Notice that one adverb comes several words before the
verb it describes. The other falls right after the verb.
Every day, the trucks rumble noisily down the middle of the street.
Look at each sentence below. Ask yourself whether you can add information about
how, when, where, or to what degree with an adverb. Write your new sentence on the
line.
A driver blows his horn.
The trucks roll to a stop at the corner.
Look at how both adjectives and adverbs work in this sentence.
_younq
proudly
shiny, new
l'he,..crriver stood,..next to hrs,..truck.
Improve each sentence by adding one adjective and one
adverb to make the sentences more vivid.
The cab of a truck can be comfortable.
Trucks move goods across the country.