The Writing Wizard: The Arsenal of Adjectives

English expository writing

writing tutor

Happy New Year from the Writing Wizard! Today’s short post will introduce you to an important concept for all sorts of writing projects: The Arsenal of Adjectives.

Don’t be put off by the intimidating title; you won’t need a background in military strategy or nuclear arms proliferation theory to master this simple idea: have lots and lots of precise descriptive adjectives at your disposal when you sit down to write.

In the kind of snappy, snazzy writing we see on blogs, in magazines, and across other major media, illustrative adjectives abound, directing our attention to the density of their description, and making everyday language seem sexy and fresh. 

The beauty of the high-impact modifier – what I like to call the “luscious adjective” – is that it packs a punch in a small package.  It is perfect for photo captions, sound-bites, and headlines.  But it also works wonders in block text.  Here’s why: without taking three lines and adding too many syllables or beats to your prose, the luscious adjective delivers a wallop, evoking the sensory contours of whatever it is you’re describing in a single word.  Think of it as an awesome condiment for your prose sandwich – a few shakes of Tabasco, perhaps, for your three-day-old tuna melt. 

The image is apt, because when we sit down to write admissions essays, term papers, lab reports, etc., we have a tendency to generate three-day-old tuna sandwiches—soggy, tired writing. We choke our prose with filler, adding adverbs to sound smarter and duplicating hackneyed descriptors instead of zeroing in on the smaller, spicier words we really need for zing and zest.  Here’s where the Arsenal of Adjectives comes in.

Just as a good cook has a full rack of spices and a fridge packed with sauces, condiments, glazes, and spreads, a good writer has a deep store of luscious adjectives, ready for deployment on the tuna sandwiches of the literary world.

Now, you might be questioning my choice of title, wondering: “If the Writing Wizard is just going to talk about food all day, why didn’t he call this trick the Spice Rack of Adjectives? The Condiment Aisle of Adjectives? The Salad Bar of Adjectives? What’s with this Arsenal business?” The answer demands some more metaphor, so bear with me. If we want to think of our writing as bold, we need to feel courageous as craftspeople, bravely confronting the task at hand with the precision and resolve of a warrior. Not so in the kitchen, where adding heat is admirable but not required. So although the food analogy is useful, it lacks the force of what good writers do every day: dramatically command attention in a vast sea of noise. Take Rachel Ray and multiply by Rambo, and you’ll get what good writers really are: flavor ninjas.

The first step in flavor ninja training is to radically expand your vocabulary, and learn the ins and outs of connotation and denotation. 

  • Buy a real dictionary and keep it close at hand. 
  • Buy a great thesaurus and learn how to use it quickly and effectively. 
  • Consider purchasing GRE and SAT-II flashcard sets for vocabulary building.
  • And most importantly, read. Read everything and anything that features rich, illustrative writing.  The more contact you have with great prose, the more sensitive you will become to style and voice. As you hone your writing, you’ll develop your storehouse of adjectives, collecting words that add sensory data to basic semantic information. 

The trick here is to learn and master the shades of meaning that similar adjectives convey—understanding how “luscious”, “juicy,” “lip-smacking,” “abundant”, and “flavorful” all do different descriptive work in a text, for example.  Ultimately, you should have four or five options at hand for every adjective you wish to use in your writing. Then, the art involves deciding which to apply to achieve the desired effect.

All good flavor ninjas work sedulously on expanding their Arsenals. So go forth, young grasshopper, and start building your own – it’s the recipe for delectable and dynamic prose.  

Comments

topicTopics
academics study skills MCAT medical school admissions SAT expository writing college admissions English MD/PhD admissions strategy writing LSAT GMAT GRE physics chemistry math biology graduate admissions academic advice ACT interview prep law school admissions test anxiety language learning premed MBA admissions career advice personal statements homework help AP exams creative writing MD study schedules test prep computer science Common Application summer activities history mathematics philosophy organic chemistry secondary applications economics supplements research 1L PSAT admissions coaching grammar law psychology statistics & probability legal studies ESL CARS SSAT covid-19 dental admissions logic games reading comprehension engineering USMLE calculus PhD admissions Spanish mentorship parents Latin biochemistry case coaching verbal reasoning DAT English literature STEM excel medical school political science skills AMCAS French Linguistics MBA coursework Tutoring Approaches academic integrity chinese letters of recommendation Anki DO Social Advocacy admissions advice algebra art history artificial intelligence astrophysics business cell biology classics diversity statement gap year genetics geometry kinematics linear algebra mechanical engineering mental health presentations quantitative reasoning study abroad technical interviews time management work and activities 2L DMD IB exams ISEE MD/PhD programs Sentence Correction adjusting to college algorithms amino acids analysis essay athletics business skills careers cold emails data science dental school finance first generation student functions graphing information sessions international students internships logic networking poetry resume revising science social sciences software engineering tech industry trigonometry writer's block 3L AAMC Academic Interest EMT FlexMed Fourier Series Greek Health Professional Shortage Area Italian Lagrange multipliers London MD vs PhD MMI Montessori National Health Service Corps Pythagorean Theorem Python Shakespeare Step 2 TMDSAS Taylor Series Truss Analysis Zoom acids and bases active learning architecture argumentative writing art art and design schools art portfolios bacteriology bibliographies biomedicine brain teaser campus visits cantonese capacitors capital markets central limit theorem centrifugal force chemical engineering chess chromatography class participation climate change clinical experience community service constitutional law consulting cover letters curriculum dementia demonstrated interest dimensional analysis distance learning econometrics electric engineering electricity and magnetism escape velocity evolution executive function freewriting genomics harmonics health policy history of medicine history of science hybrid vehicles hydrophobic effect ideal gas law immunology induction infinite institutional actions integrated reasoning intermolecular forces intern investing investment banking lab reports linear maps mandarin chinese matrices mba medical physics meiosis microeconomics mitosis mnemonics music music theory nervous system neurology neuroscience object-oriented programming office hours operating systems