Adjectives Shifted Out Of Order

4th Brushstroke (Last Brushstroke)

ASOOO

Usually when describing an object the adjectives come before the the noun. The dry and stale bagel was only 50 cents. 

In this brushstroke, the adjectives come after the noun. The bagel, dry and stale, was only 50 cents.

There are three ways to use ASOOO. 

1) simple sentence/adj/adj/adj

2) adj/simple sentence/adj/adj

3) simple sentence/adj/adj.

1: Our teacher, cruel, unfair, and strict, assigned us a three page paper due the next day.

2: Our cruel teacher, unfair and strict, assigned us a three page paper due the next day.
3: Our teacher, unfair and strict, assigned us a three page paper due the next day.
~ASOOO is easy to use and is more creative then the regular way of writing a sentence with adjs in the correct order.
~Make sure when you use this brushstroke, it's very clear which noun you are describing and it makes sense.

Appositive Brushstrokes

3rd Brushstroke

  An appositive is zooming in on a noun, using a, an, or the. 

Simple Sentence: The man walked up the stairs. 

Here, man and stairs would be the two nouns we could potentially zoom in on. The man, a tired accountant, walked up the stairs. The brushstroke describes the man, so it's a clearer picture. Instead of describing the man, I could also talk about the stairs. 

The man walked up the stairs, a tight space located in the side of the building. You could go either way, which ever is easier. 

The first example, that described the man, was a simpler version of an appositive, but usually if you want to add a little more background or detail, you would use the appositive the way I did in the second sentence/example.

Also, I could use the appositive with a "the".
For example, Jack walked up to Dan.
Jack, the faithful captain of the Knights team, walked up to Dan.
**Additional note: separate the brushstroke and the simple sentence with two commas. One after the noun that is being described and then one after the appositive. If the appositive is at the end of the sentence, then just put the comma after the noun, and a period at the end of the appositive.

Absolute Brushstroke

 2nd Brushstroke

  

 An absolute is where you describing a noun with a verb ending in -ING (or a participle).

For example, eyes widening, hands shaking,..ect.

Let's start with a simple sentence; John stood at the free throw line. Now we take a noun, its sometimes easier to pick a noun that's on your body...like a leg.

Legs shaking, John stood at the free throw line. 

~Again we separate the absolute and the simple sentence with a comma.

To add more detail, we can add two absolutes. Legs shaking and hands trembling, John stood at the free throw line.

Our final, more detailed step is called a ABSOLUTE PHRASE. In this, you just basically describe your absolutes in more detail. 

Legs shaking with fear and hands trembling, John stood at the free throw line. 
Eyes widening at the sight of the crowd and hands twitching nervously, I walked on to the stage. 
She walked out of the water, teeth clenched and arms shivering. 

~In a participle, instead of ending in -ING, -ED is also a possible option. 

Participles

1st Brushstroke

    A participle is  a verb, ending in -ING (like, writing, drawing, thinking, running, ect). There are different ways you can use a participle. One is the normal, less descriptive way. 

~If you have a simple sentence; She sat on the bench, you can add a participle in the beginning of the sentence or at the end. For example, you could do: 

Thinking, she sat on the bench or She sat on the bench, thinking. 

You separate the participle and the simple sentence with a comma. 

~The harder, more creative way to write with a participle, is to describe the verb ending in ING (usually described with an adj. ending in -ly [an adverb]). 

So you would do; She sat on the bench, thinking quietly. Thinking quietly, she sat on the bench. This is still quite easy, so lets take it a step further. 

~Basically, what you are doing here is adding more detail to the participle and the adverb.She sat on the bench, thinking quietly about the drab day she had.  You could also add the "participle phrase" at the beginning of the simple sentence. 

~ While learning this in class, I found it hard to find participles to add to my simple sentence. So what my teacher would do, is he would give us the simple sentence and then underneath, he'd write a couple of different participles that we could use. 

The man walked into the store.

-Strolling          -Roaming           -Wondering

-Thinking         -Hoping             -Carrying (bags)

Now, I choose the one I like the best. In this case I'm going to pick "hoping". Hoping to find the perfect gift for his wife, the man walked into the store.

Additionally, in a simple sentence you can add more than one participle. 

She observed the office, sitting quietly and watching busy workers. 

~ Participles can be used commonly and once you get the hang of it, it's very easy and you'll find yourself doing it all the time. 

~If you would like to practice, you can use these simple sentences;

*She sat in the audience.
*Rebecca looked out the window.
*It was cold outside.

POSSIBLE ANSWERS
-Watching the actors run around the stage and noticing the man in the back, she sat in the audience.
(watching, noticing, observing, thinking, gaping, )
-Wondering what to wear, Rebecca looked out the window.
(wondering, thinking, hoping, laughing,)
-Shivering beneath her jacket and shaking violently, it was cold outside.
(shivering, shaking, breathing, blowing, snowing).

~~~~
A brushstroke helps you paint a picture with your words. 

Writing Tips

Writing is not always the easiest subject. For me, at one point, it was my worst subject. Looking back at my work in Elementary School, I can honestly say I was not that good. In fact, my writing was pretty horrible. Luckily, my 5th grade teacher is an amazing writer, and it was the year that I actually enjoyed letting the pencil dance across the page to create a paragraph. I'm not a pro at writing or anything now, but I'm 100 times better than I was through 2nd-4th grade. In school, I continue to learn different techniques that will make my essays, stories, and descriptions better. Right now, we are learning about "Brushstroke," there are four different types: Participle (pronounced as part-ic-ible), Appositive, Absolute, and Adjectives Shifted Out of Order (ASOOO). 

Desert

  The desert was a long vacant piece of dry land, lifeless and humid. The sun was beating down on my back, burning my hair and leaving me dying for water. My throat was screaming at me now because of thirst and my stomach growling with hunger. Each step caused pain to travel through me, it made me exhausted. But I continued to stagger across the desert, it was a mission and I knew giving up wouldn't be an option, albeit I wanted to. Night warned to come in a few hours, although it would be great to get away from the sun, the moon invited vicious creatures and from experience I already knew what would happen. 

Warning

 The door swung open, inviting the unwanted guests. But one by one, they poured in filtering the dark room, now swimming with curiosity. The visitors looked at each other, questioning everyone's moves. Each knew that they shouldn't be here, but each wanted answers. Clues had been left for them, strange notes had wandered into their homes, and it was scary. However, they already knew why this has been happening, for they were given a warning. And now they're here to bear the consequences.