Valuing & judging

Evaluating with adjectives and noun groups

How does this narrator feel about growing up with younger brothers?

Having younger brothers, we spent much of our time outside, playing games, riding our bikes, swimming in the river.

Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia(2018)

What do they think?

We don't know: they don't tell us their opinion, they only tell us what happened.

We can guess their opinion from our own experience: if you liked playing outside, then this description probably sounds good to you, but we don't know for sure.

But let's look at the same snippet with more context:

It was great fun having younger brothers: we spent so much of our time outside, playing games, riding our bikes, swimming in the river. The camaraderie we had with each other was great.

Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia(2018)

Now we know, because the narrator tells us—it was great.

(Also, you might notice that the snippet feels more alive because we're more directly in touch with the narrator's feelings.)

If you look carefully you'll see both adjectives and noun groups can be used to evaluate something:

  • Adjectives: it was great (or good, bad, trash, extravagant, rotten, meh, fun).
  • Noun groups: it was great fun (or a drudge, the worst, the best, too much, a good start).

What does this narrator think of their clothes?

We were so pleased to receive the new gowns: de Vries had used the plushest fabrics and stuffed them with pleats and folds. The pose we struck in our sitting room was majesterial.

What does this narrator think of the skating at number 68?

The best skateboarding was in the empty pool at 68: smooth concrete, high sides, varied curves, and a lip that wouldn't cut you off. Any time I could get alone in there was the best.

  • Write a simple first person snippet where the narrator judges or evaluates something.
  • Try use a combination of adjectives and nouns.
Write a first person snippet in which the narrator evaluates something with adjective/noun combos.

So a character can like or not like something.

But what causes them to feel that way?

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