Now let’s look at judgments. Another word we can use to describe this is opinion—the writer of the memoir gives their opinion of a person, place, or event.
Again, let’s read a snippet with and without the judgment. What does it add to the passage?
This is an Expansion exercise - please identity the expansions in this snippet.
When night came, we balanced our rocket, looking wicked and sleek, on top of my mother’s rose-garden fence.
It’s not a big change. The snippet still makes sense without the judgment. But adding Homer’s opinion of his rocket shifts it beyond a recount. It shows he’s proud of his efforts—he may also think the launch will be successful. So, planting his positive opinion before the launch gives the negative outcome (spoiler: it won’t be successful) more emphasis.
Here are some examples, using the same pattern.
That night, we snuck out of the house, looking dodgy and dangerous, and followed the shadows to McKenzie’s ex-home.
After holding out at the loo for as long as I could, I trudged, sad and forlorn, back to Ms Finch’s office.
