Year 10 English Show Don’t Tell Exercises:

In each of the following replace the description with a paragraph in which you use the characters’ actions and words to convey the same message:

1. The hero was strong and handsome. He was admired by the townspeople. He was brave and wished to help those in need.

A girl was staring up at a tree, teardrops running down the side of her face. She knew she would never get back the one thing that she long for; that had made her so previously happy, her kite. Before she could completely collapse in her sorrows, her saviour came along. As he walked down the street people smiled and cheered. “ I will get it,” he said with a charming smooth voice. He only had to reach up to grab the kite, and he gave it to the little girl, who was jumping up and down. Everyone in the street cheered as the man brought glee to the town.

2. The wizard was ugly and evil. The people of the town were terrified of him. He enjoyed threatening them, especially the children. He was cruel and greedy.

I was walking down the street as I saw a rush of school children, running, crying and screaming. It was a disaster suddenly everyone was running around me a cluster or chaos and despair. Then I saw him, his face was teaming with horror. He had a devilish and cunning smirk on is face that played with your mind. He walked with a stance that was heavy and thudded on the ground and it sent a shiver up my spine. The children were running around trying to find their parents. Everything was a mess there were cars stopped in the middle of the street with broken glass and people robbing stores.

3. The Knight was arrogant and greedy. He did not want to help others. He only wanted to be viewed as the most handsome and talented warrior in the land.

The knight stared into the mirror and admired himself in his shiny, expensive armour suit. People were following him asking him to help them as he walked down the hallways of the castle, but he ignored everyone in his path. He was flinging around his sword and tensing his muscles.

4. The peasants were kind and helpful. They were hard working and honest people. They were scared to drawing the attention of the wizard.

The peasants would work in the fields all day and provide food for everyone else in the town. They would run errands and do all kinds of jobs for people for free. The peasants would never complain, because if they did the wizard would punish them for complaining and the peasants did not want this. When the wizard would walk around the fields looking for someone who wasn't doing the work effectively he would grab them and beat them with his stick that he carried around. All the peasants kept working even though they were watching their friend getting punished but they just kept working so that they wouldn't draw the attention of the wizard.