The English language would be very dull without adjectives. They dress up our nouns whenever we need to punch things up a notch. So, that heartache you're feeling is no longer heartache, it's crippling heartache, or debilitating heartache that is tearing you apart, or maybe just a small heartache that you'll get over quickly.
Whenever you're speaking or writing, you may want to get your point across with a little extra oomph. When it's time to do so, call in the big dogs, the adjectives.
Adjectives help express the tone, feelings, and emotions of our words by accentuating the point. Let's take our example of heartache above. It would be difficult to quickly ascertain how severe (or minor) that heartache is, without the use of those adjectives.
Of course, context clues would eventually reveal more, but adjectives allow us to succinctly describe a situation so we can continue along in our story, essay, or speech.
Through tone, a reader is able to gain an overall sense about a character's personality or disposition. It can even shape an entire piece of writing, making it feel serious, funny, dramatic, or upsetting.
Without the adjectives in these examples, we wouldn't know if this was going to be a story about sadness or hope:
Emotions and feelings are very similar. In fact, the definition of feeling is to have an emotion. The only difference is that emotions tend to refer to that which isn't tangible, while feelings are something you can kind of put your finger on. But, that's really splitting hairs. Let's take a closer look.
Emotions can't be easily seen. We can guess that someone is either sad or happy but emotions aren't always expressed. Rather, it's something we sense:
Often, feelings are something we can more visibly see or experience. Whether someone's sad, mad, happy, or ecstatic, feelings tend to house our emotions, amplifying a particular situation. For example:
To Describe a Positive Tone | |||
fresh | open | animated | devoted |
loving | sympathetic | encouraging | supportive |
kind | clever | warm | hopeful |
To Describe a Negative Tone | |||
sarcastic | narcissistic | heavy | bitter |
obnoxious | foolish | disgruntled | hurtful |
disgusted | irritated | nasty | oppressive |
anxious | horrified | annoyed | resentful |
sick | guilty | downcast | overbearing |
To Describe Other Tones | |||
involved | sardonic | intelligent | religious |
political | secular | bashful | democratic |
republican | mysterious | conservative | bright |
cautious | liberal | quizzical | secretive |
To Describe a Positive Feeling | |||
happy | amazed | free | wonderful |
clean | strong | beautiful | excited |
great | bold | gorgeous | attractive |
better | agreeable | brave | calm |
delightful | festive | gentle | jolly |
proud | shy | optimistic | cheerful |
To Describe a Negative Feeling | |||
angry | sadistic | moody | cold |
pessimistic | sad | chilly | thirsty |
nervous | tired | weak | evil |
terrible | dreadful | dirty | ugly |
dreary | awful | stupid | dumb |
To Describe a Positive Emotion | |||
upbeat | joyful | sweet | serene |
respectful | appreciative | contented | jubilant |
To Describe a Negative Emotion | |||
aggravated | miserable | mad | grumpy |
tearful | selfish | depressed | sour |
It can be difficult to find just the right word to describe a tone or feeling being experienced by someone. You never want to come across sounding trite, or use an adjective that's too weak to express the gravity of a particular situation.
It's a bit like building your vocabulary. The more you read, the more you'll discover new words and meanings, including adjectives, and how they are used to highlight emotions.
That said, like anything else that's good in life, keep it in moderation. Don't douse every noun in sugar. Instead, sprinkle a little sweetness on the situations or words that will truly benefit from a tasty addition.
Here are three things to remember when describing tone, feelings or emotions:
Hopefully, these tips will help you not only use adjectives in your own writing but also teach them to your children or students. Much like their cousin, the adverb, they add so much to our writing when used properly.
For a quick cheat sheet, refer to our printable list of adjectives. This is only a selection of the thousands of adjectives available in the English language, but it should be enough to shift the writer's block you or your students may be feeling the next time you need to convey a certain tone, feeling, or emotion!
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