Adjectives, as everyone knows, are words which describe things, adding colour and tone to a piece of writing. But the overuse of adjectives can lead to writing which reads like sludge.

So it is quite a challenge, as an exercise in writing, to produce a piece of work without adjectives in it at all. You find that the mind has to work creatively, reaching after words that can otherwise waste away. Sentences need recasting as you search for the verbs and nouns that have to do the adjective’s work.

Perhaps the result of the reworking only serves to prove the value of adjectives, but it is still an exercise that deserves an outing from time to time. Setting yourself a topic first adds spice to the task. Aim for a hundred words at first. Then two hundred. Or perhaps you will settle for something in the middle.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, 5th July, 2005 at 11:53 pm and is filed under Not Apple Mail. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.