Revising the “Abandoned Farmhouse” Mimic Poem

Check the Syntax Highlight the assumption in yellow. Highlight say/says in blue. Highlight the subject in pink. Highlight the prepositional phrase in orange. Leave added detail alone.

Remove Meaningless Words Scratch the following words from the poem: very really

Words That Grind in my Ear Read each sentence. Lightly box with pencil any word that is used more than once within one sentence. Use a thesaurus. Be careful: Not all synonyms carry the same connotations

Get Rid of 1 st Grade Words This includes any version of these words with their various suffixes. Lightly circle with pencil any of the following: fun happy sad mad great good many hot got put cold excellent sitting running walking important saw wanted bad love like

Imagery Read each sentence. Put an * next to each sentence that puts a specific image in your mind. The poet will then go and add more detail, vivid verbs, and more descriptive words to the sentences that don’t contain an *.

Give poem back to the poet.

Adjectives Out of Order Find nouns in the poem and add in adjectives out of order Regular Sentence: She was protective of her secrets says the locked and hidden diary under her mattress. Adjectives-Out-of-Order Sentence She was a protective of her secrets says the diary, hidden and locked, under her mattress.

Poet’s To-Do List Your sentences should be in this order: yellow, blue pink orange If they are not, you have some rewriting to do. Boxed words: leave one of these repeated words, use a thesaurus on the other Circled words: use a thesaurus on these words No*: add more detail, vivid verbs, and more descriptive words to the sentences Rewrite a 2 nd draft