Adding style with adjective interrupters

Turn and Talk: WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE ADJECTIVE IN WRITING?

Adjectives: You already know… describe nouns and pronouns answer “which one?”, “what kind?”, and “how many?” go right before the word it’s describing  pretty  petite  big  slobbery  snarling  rosy-cheeked  plump

But did you know? When paired together, adjectives can interrupt sentences to provide more description:  Her doll wore scarlet shoes, pretty and petite.  The dog, big, slobbery, and snarling, bounded down the stairs.  Rosy-cheeked and plump, the infant sat smiling on his mother’s lap This called an adjective interrupter.

Adjective Interrupters AKA: adjective strings or adjective pile-ups A group of adjectives joined by the conjunction “and” Slow down the reading of the sentence to call attention to description. Example: Words were exchanged. Example: Words were exchanged, brief and hushed. - The Kite Runner What kind of words?

Placement: Adjective interrupters can be used in the beginning, middle, or end of a sentence. This helps add sentence variety.  BEGINNING: Bright, hot, and unrelenting, the sun came up as it had every day since the end of May.  MIDDLE: Not only were there a dozen frost-covered Christmas trees and thick streamers of holly and mistletoe, but enchanted snow was falling, warm and dry, from the ceiling.  END: Her eyes opened, closed, opened again, pale and opaque.

Comma Rule:  BEGINNING: Bright, hot, and unrelenting, the sun came up as it had every day since the end of May.  MIDDLE: Not only were there a dozen frost-covered Christmas trees and thick streamers of holly and mistletoe, but enchanted snow was falling, warm and dry, from the ceiling.  END: Her eyes opened, closed, opened again, pale and opaque. Use comma(s) to off-set the adjective interrupter from the rest of the sentence.

She served creamy, layered, and rich cupcakes to the partygoers. VS. She served cupcakes, creamy, layered and rich, to the partygoers.

Independent Work Time:  Return to your imagery paragraph and add more style and description by using adjective interrupters.  Pull out three sentences to add to.  Add an adjective interrupter.  _________ and _______  __________, __________, and ________  Don’t forget to use comma(s) to separate the interrupter.