What is the difference between showing and telling?

Telling names a feeling or fact, such as The kitchen was crowded. Showing gives sensory details that let the reader see it. Slow Motion Moments in a Thanksgiving Kitchen rewrites four telling sentences.

How do you slow down a moment in a story?

Stretch one short moment over several sentences with sight, sound, smell and touch details. A comparison with like or as can help, as the oven door scene on the Thanksgiving sheet asks.

8th Grade Characters, Settings and Dialogue Worksheets

Ages 13-14 · Free previews · Print-ready PDFs

Written by Adi Ackerman, Head Teacher

Characters come alive through the way a narrator talks and the details a scene shows. There are 2 sheets for 8th grade here, both with answer keys. Shape a Narrator's Voice Through Diction compares a nervous server and a calm chef telling one power outage, and Slow Motion Moments in a Thanksgiving Kitchen turns telling sentences into showing ones. The sheets practice W.8.3.B and W.8.3.D.

8th Grade Grammar & Writing Narrative Writing Characters, settings and dialogue Clear All

Shape a Narrator's Voice Through Diction

Grade8th Grade

TopicNarrative Writing

Slow Motion Moments in a Thanksgiving Kitchen

Grade8th Grade

TopicNarrative Writing

More narrative writing worksheets

Explore all of our 8th grade narrative writing worksheets, covering characters, settings and dialogue, descriptive writing, personal narrative writing, character traits, and more.

Descriptive writing Personal narrative writing Character traits Creative writing

Frequently Asked Questions

Voice comes from diction, which is word choice, plus sentence length and the narrator's attitude toward events. Shape a Narrator's Voice Through Diction shows one event told by two very different narrators.

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