Show Don’t Tell

There are two types of sentences, showing sentences and telling sentences. Telling sentences tell your reader something you want them to know. Showing sentences describe something for your readers instead of telling them something too obvious.

Showing vs. Telling Telling The boy was very frightened. Showing The boy screeched in terror and threw his hands up to protect himself. Even though his legs felt like they had turned to jelly, he jumped to his feet and tried to get out of the monster’s reach.

Showing vs. Telling Telling The baby was crying really hard. Showing The baby let out a howl that could wake the dead. Tears poured from her eyes and her face turned beet red. She pounded her little fists on the floor and threw her toys across the room. I knew we were in for a long, long afternoon.

Showing vs. Telling Telling The kids were disrespectful to the teacher. Showing The kids continued to whisper and pass notes during the teachers lessons. They rudely talked loudly even when they were asked not too. Several students made faces to her back when she wasn’t looking. The teacher knew this was going to be a hard year.

Showing vs. Telling Excerpt from Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo pg 8 & 9 At first, I didn’t see a dog. There were just a lot of vegetables rolling around on the floor, tomatoes and onions and green peppers. And there was what seemed like a whole army of Winn-Dixie employees running around waving their arms just the same way the store manager was waving his. And then the dog came running around the corner. He was a big dog. And ugly. And he looked like he was having a real good time. His tongue was hanging out and he was wagging his tail. He skidded to a stop and smiled right at me. I had never before in my life seen a dog smile, but that is what he did. He pulled back his lips and showed me all his teeth. Then he wagged his tail so hard that he knocked some oranges off a display, and they went rolling everywhere, mixing in with the tomatoes and onions and green peppers.