1,000 Example Sentences to Help You 'Show' Not 'Tell' in Writing: Covers 50 Emotions to Help You Create Impact! The Ultimate Secret Weapon for Anyone Wanting to ACE their Writing Test!

By Exam Success

'Show, Don't Tell' is arguably one of the hardest writing techniques because it means you have to think carefully about how a certain feeling is expressed and then put it into words.  

But...where do you even start and how? Most times, when showing sentences are attempted, they sound awkward, unsuitable or over-flower

• Language: English
• Publisher: Exam Success Writing
• Release date: May 3, 2020
• ISBN: 9781922339003

Exam Success

Exam Success' mission is to help students ace their exam! Since 2011, we have been helping students prepare for tests like IELTS, high school selective schools and scholarships, career aptitude tests, armed services, defence force, police exam and more! Visit us at www.examsuccess.com.au where you'll find on-to-go access to effective, affordable and easy-to-understand online courses, test banks and writing aid materials to conquer their competitive test and achieve their dream job or get into their ideal school.

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1,000 Example Sentences to Help You ‘Show’ Not ‘Tell’ in Writing

Covers 50 Emotions to Help You Create Impact!

The ultimate secret weapon for anyone wanting to ACE their writing test!

Exam Success

Copyright & Disclaimer

© 2020 12Descartes Pty Ltd t/a Exam Success

ISBN: 978-1-922339-00-3

Cover design © 12Descartes Pty Ltd

Author: 12Descartes Pty Ltd

Editor: Vi Nguyen

Published May 2020

Imprint: Exam Success Writing

The Exam Success website address is: www.examsuccess.com.au

Version: 2020-04-28

This publication is copyright. No part may be reproduced by any process except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968.

Disclaimer

This publication may be of assistance to you but 12Descartes Pty Ltd

and its employees do not guarantee that the publication is without

flaw of any kind or is wholly appropriate for your particular purposes

and therefore disclaims all liability for any error, loss or other

consequence which may arise from you relying on any information

in this publication.

Acknowledgements

Other Authors/Contributors: Nguyen, Vi., and Reilly, K.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to all the children and

adults who make an effort to develop their writing skills. 

I hope this book is helpful to you and makes it easier for you

to write with impact.

Crafting a story takes patience and time.

Kudos to you, the storyteller.

Table of Contents

CHAPTER ONE

Introduction - The Easy Way to ‘Show’

‘Showing’ your writing was hard, now it’s easy

How to use this book - Start ‘Showing’ in 4 Steps!

Finding Sentences

How to improve your writing before your exam

CHAPTER TWO

Anger

Contempt

Fury

Irritation

Jealousy

Provocation

Resentment

Sarcasm

Violation

CHAPTER THREE

Anticipation

Confidence

Courage

Eagerness

Energy

Hope

Inspiration

CHAPTER FOUR

Disgust

Aversion

Boredom

Conceit

Loathing

Revulsion

CHAPTER FIVE

Fear

Alienation

Fright

Inadequacy

Overwhelm

Worry

Worthlessness

CHAPTER SIX

Happiness

Amusement

Ecstasy

Fulfillment

Liberation

Love

Playfulness

CHAPTER SEVEN

Mistrust

Hesitancy

Skepticism

Suspicion

CHAPTER EIGHT

Pride

Self-importance

Ridicule

Self-righteousness

CHAPTER NINE

Sadness

Abandonment

Depression

Despair

Disillusionment

Embarrassment

Guilt

Loneliness

Pity

Withdrawal

CHAPTER TEN

Surprise

Astonishment

Confusion

Shock

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Emotion Perception

Sensitivity

CHAPTER TWELVE

Create Impact!

CHAPTER ONE

Introduction - The Easy Way to ‘Show’

‘Showing’ your writing was hard, now it’s easy

Writing a narrative should be quite simple, right? 

Well… it depends on what kind of narrative you want. 

Writing an average story is easy—you just come up with a story and tell the story. 

But, writing an A+ scoring, top-notch story is really hard.

What separates the A+ story from the average one?

The magic ingredient is ‘showing’.

‘Showing’ the story is about creating a ‘feeling’ - making the story memorable and making people feel an emotion when they read it.

When someone tells you a story, it’s as if you were hearing a news report—there is little emotion and you’re told what happens. 

‘Showing’ brings the story to life, just as if you were watching a movie, and people not only imagine your story, they see it visually in their mind’s eye.  Through your story, they are transported into another world.

‘Showing’ makes your story memorable.  And this is what gets you the marks (if you’re doing an exam) or your reader’s attention!

This book was created because ‘showing’ is hard. 

There are so many emotions that you can show and showing requires you to be very selective with the words you include. 

Use the wrong word and your ‘showing’ sentence loses its impact, or worse, creates confusion. 

Additionally,  there are certain situations or symbols that can represent specific emotions.

For example, you wouldn’t use an old rickety chair when trying to convey an emotion of confidence or when someone is extremely happy.  Instead, an old rickety chair would be a perfect symbol to show the feelings of abandonment, loneliness and pity. 

Knowing what symbols and situations to use in ‘showing’ certain emotions helps take your writing to the next level.

This book was created to help your writing go from average to incredible.

‘Showing’ in fiction writing is what boosts your written expression score to an A+, but many students and writers don’t do it or don’t know how to do it.

This is because the process of ‘showing’ your writing is hard.

You have to come up with a situation, then select the right words and finally put it together nicely. 

This book helps to make the work of ‘showing’ easier for you with 1,000 sample sentences to ‘show’ your story.

This book is your secret-weapon so that when you’re writing, you’ll be able to ‘show’ your story easily and with incredible impact.

How to use this book - Start ‘Showing’ in 4 Steps!

You can use this book to start writing amazing ‘showing’ stories, in just 4 simple and easy steps:

Write your story.

Underline a few sentences in each paragraph of your story that ‘tell’.  Telling sentences are often short sentences that tell you what happened.  Examples of telling sentences are: ‘I was sad that day’ or ‘I was happy that I won’.  Remember, you don’t want to underline all telling sentences in your paragraph because you want to keep a balance of ‘showing’ sentences and ‘telling’ sentences.  When every sentence in a paragraph is a ‘showing’ sentence, a writing piece can appear ‘overdecorated’ to the reader.  Only underline a few sentences that ‘tell’ so that you can change them to ‘show’ the story.

Select a replacement sentence in the book that best suits your needs.This book outlines 50 emotions or states of being and this has been grouped in larger areas like ‘happiness’ and ‘sadness’.  Go through the table of contents to find out which of these areas best suit and then select your replacement ‘showing’ sentence.

Modify the replacement sentence and insert it where the original ‘telling’ sentence was.  This part is really important.  When you have selected your sentence, it is important to modify it so that it will fit your story.  Do not use the replacement sentence word for word because your story will likely appear mismatched.

Let’s see this in action.

This is an edited paragraph taken from examsuccess.com.au.

I didn't even notice my mother coming into my room. She comforted me and told me there was going to be another competition! I was so excited. I decided that I was going to put in my best effort and win the contest once and for all.

Let’s do Steps 2 to 4. 

Step 2: Underline a few telling sentences.

I didn't even notice my mother coming into my room. She comforted me and told me there was going to be another competition! I was so excited. I decided that I was going to put in my best effort and win the contest once and for all.

Step 3: Select a replacement sentence in the book that best suits your needs.

Step 4: Modify the replacement sentence and insert it where the original ‘telling’ sentence was.

Now that we have our new sentences, let’s put these back into our paragraph and compare both paragraphs.

You’ll see that the original paragraph was shorter and tells the reader what happens.  The second paragraph shows excitement.

Now… go forth and write amazing showing sentences—the kind that enhances your writing and helps you get top writing scores!

Finding Sentences

This book is set up in a way where you can find ‘showing’ sentences based on a feeling or emotion that you are trying to create in your writing piece.

The book is set up in the following way:

Emotion & Perception—there are 10 major areas in this book so that you can better pinpoint what you need.  These areas are arranged in alphabetical order and are: anger, anticipation, disgust, fear, happiness, mistrust, pride, sadness, surprise and emotion perception.

Individual Feeling —Within each of the 10 major areas, there are a number of feelings that show different levels of intensity for that particular area.  For example, ecstatic and amusement all fall under happiness even though one is a strong form of happiness and the other, a mild form.

Surroundings, Appearance and Action—You’ll further be able to find the exact sentence you’re after by looking under ‘surroundings’, ‘appearance’ or ‘action’.  For example, you may want to show your reader that someone is conceited by how they look, that is, through their appearance.  You may want to show depression through the surroundings and you may want to show playfulness through someone’s actions.

How to improve your writing before your exam

You won’t have this book with you at the exam (unless you sneak it in somehow—and I wouldn’t recommend doing that!), so how can you improve your writing before your exam?

One word—practice.

After you write your essay, complete steps 2 to 4 in How to use this book multiple times.

Try it with different sentences and see what kind of impact it creates.

By doing this repeatedly, you’re going to build up your arsenal of ‘showing’ sentences that you’ll be able to use and change up for your writing pieces.

Let’s get started on each of the emotions, feelings and showing sentences.

CHAPTER TWO

Anger

We’ve all felt angry and the feeling is part of