Setting Basics Activity 03: Change over time

About Standards

Describing the Physical World

World changing over time

Sometimes we want to describe the way the world changes just by itself.

In this snippet, Tomi Adeyemi describes a village going quiet with the setting sun.

Coconut boats pull against their anchors, sheets fall over the dome of ahéré entrances. The village sets with the sun, making way for a calm night’s sleep.

Children of Blood and BoneTomi AdeyemiSource

Adeyemi describes three distinct changes in the environment (boats anchoring, sheets being pulled across doorways, the village setting), and then looks ahead to suggest what will happen next (the village will sleep).

Notice how the snippet doesn't focus on any particular characters. It describes the world without getting personal.

Advanced Techniques

Here are a couple of variations using the same approach, describing a world as it changes over time.

Clouds chased the sun from the sky. The air and water cooled. The leaves of the jungle turned a deep blue, masking the route back home.

The clock tower rang, announcing the late hour. Parents cajoled sleepy children into carriages or motorcars to head home. One by one, chimneys went cold, houses warm enough to sleep through the night.

Your turn

Like what you see?

You’re not logged in!

If you want to save your writing, login and either assign this lesson to yourself or access it via your group.