Show or Tell?
Is “He checked the lock three times” showing or telling?
Showing
“The fire completely destroyed the entire building.” Find both redundancies.
completely, entire
A diary from 1915
Primary
Recipe
Explain
“Stop!” Give its structure and purpose.
Simple; imperative.
Name the emotion: “He laughed at the joke a second too late.”
Distraction or discomfort: he wasn’t really listening.
“There were many students who made a complaint about the exam.” Fix two problems.
Many students complained about the exam.
A scientific article presenting a new experiment
Primary
A horror film trailer
Persuade
“I stayed home because it rained, and I read all day.” What is its structure?
Compound-complex
Name the emotion and the detail that shows it: “He read the acceptance letter, then read it again, then called his mother.”
Joy or disbelief. Reading the letter a second time shows he can’t quite believe it.
“The samples were analysed.” Should this sentence be made active? Defend your answer.
No, in a scientific report, who did the analysis rarely matters.
A podcast where historians discuss the French Revolution.
Secondary
An obituary
Inform
“Run, or you’ll miss the train.” Give its structure and purpose.
Compound and imperative.
Rewrite “The teacher was exhausted” by showing it.
“The teacher marked the last essay with her eyes closed for longer than they were open.”
Cut to 10 words or fewer without losing meaning: “Due to the fact that it was raining, a decision was made by the organisers to move the event inside.”
Because of rain, the organisers moved the event inside.
A film “based on a true story.”
Secondary
A real estate listing. What is its stated purpose and what is its real one?
It describes the property, but its real purpose is to persuade you to buy or rent.
Turn “The house was dark” into a complex interrogative sentence.
“Why was the house dark when we arrived?”
Show “the family was poor” in one sentence without mentioning money, prices or the word “poor.”
“Every winter, the children took turns wearing the one good coat.”
Name every problem, then fix the sentence: “It should be mentioned that in my personal opinion, the final conclusion that was reached by the committee was made without giving consideration to the past history of the project.”
Empty opening, unnecessary “in my personal opinion,” “final conclusion,” passive, “giving consideration to,” “past history.” - The committee reached its conclusion without considering the project’s history.
Give one example each of a primary, secondary and tertiary source on the topic “sleep.”
Primary: a sleep diary you kept for two weeks
Secondary: a review article comparing several studies on sleep
Tertiary: Wikipedia’s article on insomnia
Rewrite “The library opens at 9” twice: once to persuade, once to entertain.
“Doors open at 9, so come early and claim the best desk by the window.”
“The library opens at 9, but the pigeon outside has been queuing since 7.”
Combine into one compound-complex sentence: “The power went out. Everyone screamed. The teacher laughed.”
“When the power went out, everyone screamed, but the teacher laughed.”