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Exercise #28

Exercise #28: Craft
Posted 11/7/03

We all know word choice is important in writing. Sometimes we may forget exactly how important.

Today's exercise is to rewrite one of these short pieces, using different words. Be as descriptive as you can in as few words as possible. Extra credit for not using any more words than in the original piece, which is 60.

Example: "The man fed his cat its dinner." could be rewritten as "He threw his tiger a raw chicken." (Anybody see that news article about the guy in New York with a tiger in his apartment? Quite different from my SO feeding our tabby, eh?)

The pieces to be rewritten:

Brother and Sister went to the same school. They learned math and reading and history. She liked the teacher, but he didn't. Sister said the teacher was a nice person. Brother said the teacher didn't like him and kept making him change seats. Sister said Brother just talked too much in class. Mother thinks Brother might just have a problem.
or
The wind blew hard, shaking leaves from trees. The first storm of fall, it was not unexpected but still people were unprepared. Lightning lit up the sky. Day-bright for an instant, then dark. Thunder boomed. Rain fell in torrents. Flash flood warnings were in the news. Car accidents were frequent, and power was lost in many sections of the city.

Word limit: 100 or 60
Please use the subject line:
             SUB: Exercise #28/yourname

 

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