Lesson Two

You have learned two types of strategies to use in persuasive writing -- action verbs and descriptive adjectives.  

Review: Action verbs express physical or mental action. Descriptive adjectives modify nouns or pronouns and add detail and richness to your writing. Both will help you to convince your readers to join your side on an issue. The strategies also help to make your writing richer and clearer to the audience. 

In Lesson Two, you will learn two more strategies. As you learn new ways to increase the richness and clarity of your writing, you will also enjoy writing more because you will see your influence widen as people pay more attention to your points of view. 

The two new persuasion strategies that you will learn in this Lesson are: 

(1) adding detail by appealing to the five senses 

(2) adding richness to your writing by using adverbs to modify verbs,  adjectives, or other adverbs. 

FIRST PERSUASION STRATEGY IN THIS LESSON 

Sensory words appeal to a person's senses - seeing, hearing, touching,  tasting, and smelling. These details and impressions also appeal to the readers’ emotions (e.g., the warm feeling which sweeps over you when you smell the aroma of fresh-baked bread). Words that appeal to the senses help to drive your writing into the readers’ imagination and mind so that they can really see, hear, feel, taste, touch, and smell what you are saying by envisioning it in their minds. 

Below are some words that appeal to the five senses:

Words that appeal to the sense of taste: sweet, sour, spicy, salty, bitter

These foods offer a variety of tastes: sweet, spicy, hot, bitter, smooth 

Words that appeal to the sense of smell: awful, delicious, fresh, burnt, fresh 

Words that appeal to the sense of sight: colorful, brilliant, sparkling, striped, wide 

Words that appeal to the sense of touch: soft, fuzzy, smooth, jagged, rough 

Soft, smooth, sandy, rough, and gritty are words that appeal to the sense of touch.

Words that appeal to the sense of sound: loud, soft, rumble, whisper, shout.

Now read the following paragraph and notice the bolded words that are used  to appeal to the five senses. 

"I need money." That is what I communicated to my father  last night. A donut store opened a few months ago right down the  street from our house, and I crave the opportunity to get a part-time  job there. Each day our family can smell the delicious, sweet donuts as  they cook. I have visited the store before to observe the delectable little morsels of dough bob around in the deep fat fryer just before  they emerge to get their "winter" coating of buttery-soft, snow-white frosting. The donut store is close, and I could easily walk there to go  to work. For years I have assisted my mother to prepare meals for  our family, and I am confident of my abilities in the kitchen. I also  am a very responsible student who gets A's in school. I am no Super  Woman, but I would be a hard-working and capable employee. The  store is nearby; I am an avid cook; and I know how to manage my  time well. My parents will be overjoyed when they say "yes" to my  working part-time at the donut store.  

SECOND PERSUASION STRATEGY IN THIS LESSON 

The second persuasion strategy in this Lesson has to do with using adverbs to  add details, to appeal to the reader's emotions, to help your arguments to be  more logical, to add richness to your sentences, and to get your point across.  From your studies in earlier grades, you learned that an adverb is a word that modifies a verb. 

An adverb answers the following questions: where? how? when? to what  extent?  

Here is a list of common adverbs: 

there, away, here - These answer the question “where?” 

quietly, softly, neatly, quickly - These answer the question” how?” 

then, soon, later, now, always, never, forever - These answer the question  “when?” 

very, quite, terribly, too, usually, almost, quite - These answer the question” to  what extent?” 

Read the following pairs of sentences. You will find that the sentence (A) in  each pair is dull and not very detailed or informative. Then notice how the  second sentence (B) is rich, descriptive, and communicates ideas better to  the reader.  

The artist drew. 

The artist drew brilliantly. 

My brother is a fast runner. 

My brother is an extremely fast runner. 

Tom said goodbye. 

Tom said a very sad goodbye. 

My friend and I exercise together.

My friend and I periodically exercise together. 

I see what you are doing. 

I clearly see what you are doing. 

Remember that an adverb is a word that modifies a verb, adjective, or another  verb. An adverb answers the following questions: where? how? when? to  what extent?  

Read the following sentences and notice how the bolded word answers some of the questions listed above: 

The artist drew quickly. 

(Quickly is an adverb that modifies the verb drew and answers the  question how.) 

She sang too loudly for us to hear the instrument. 

(Too is an adverb that modifies the adverb loudly and tells to what  extent.) 

It is extremely hard to learn how to rock climb. 

(The adverb extremely modifies the adjective hard.) 

Rock climbing is extremely hard to do, but it is well worth the effort.

In this sentence, the adverb extremely modifies the adjective hard.

In persuasive writing, you should state your views and opinions; but for them  to be believable and to convince others, you must support your views/opinions  with reasonable support ideas. Giving your readers more information and  details will give depth to your arguments.  

Without adding more details to give your readers a better understanding, a person's writing can be very dull, not believable, and can even keep the reader from understanding fully what you are saying. 

Please read the following paragraph and see how dull and confusing this  example is. 

DULL PARAGRAPH 

"I need money." That is what I told my father. A donut store  opened by my house, and I decided I wanted to work part-time  there. Our family can smell the donuts as they cook. I have visited  the store before to see how the donuts are made. I have assisted my  mother to fix meals. I am a good student at school. I would be a  good employee. My parents will like my working at the store. 

It is hard to imagine what the writer is saying in the previous paragraph, and  it does not even seem to tie together. The reader does not want to read  more or learn more about the topic.  

Now read the improved paragraph as strong verbs, precise adjectives/adverbs,  and sensory words have been added to the paragraph. Notice how the writer  uses various persuasion strategies to make you want to read more and to  see the writer's position on the topic. Please especially notice the bolded  adverbs and how they are used to help get the writer's point across. 

IMPROVED PARAGRAPH 

"I need money." That is what I clearly communicated to my  father last night. A donut store opened a few months ago right down  the street from our house, and I definitely crave the opportunity to get  a part-time job there. Normally our family can smell the delicious,  sweet donuts as they cook. I have visited the store before to  observe the delectable little morsels of dough bob around in the deep  fat fryer just before they emerge to get their "winter" coating of buttery-soft, snow-white frosting. The donut store is close, and I  could easily walk there to go to work. For years I have assisted my  mother to prepare meals for our family, and I am confident of my  abilities in the kitchen. I also am a very responsible student who  gets A's in school. I am no Super Woman, but I would be a hard working and capable employee. The store is nearby; I am an avid  cook; and I know how to manage my time well. My parents will  definitely be overjoyed when they say "yes" to my working part-time  at the donut store.  

Whether you are looking for a part-time job, needing some money, or  wanting to share your thoughts and ideas, persuasion strategies are  very helpful. 

An adverb answers the following questions: where? how? when? to what  extent? 

Here is a list of common adverbs: 

there, away, here - These answer the question where?

quietly, softly, neatly, quickly, - These answer the question how? then, soon, later, now - These answer the question when? 

very, quite, terribly, too, usually, almost, quite - These answer the question to  what extent?