ADJECTIVES FOR WRITING REVIEWS

The Author

Cultured, intellectual, well-read, erudite.
Sage, sensible, rational.
Philosophic, analytical, imaginative, perspective, visionary, prophetic.
Optimistic, broad-minded, idealistic, religious, orthodox, sympathetic.
Sophisticated, unsophisticated.
Original, clever, witty, humorous, whimsical.
Conservative, progressive, radical, reactionary, unprejudiced, realistic, romantic.
Uncultured, unintellectual, shallow, superficial.
Bigoted, opinionated, intolerant, critical, fanatical.
Provincial, narrow-minded, pessimistic, cynical, egotistical, sentimental.

General

Lucid, graphic, intelligible.
Explicit, precise, exact.
Concise, succinct, condensed, pithy.
Poetic, plain, simple. homely, pure.
Vigorous, forceful, eloquent, fluent, clean, clear.
Natural, restrained.
Smooth, polished, classical, artistic.
Bombastic, extravagant, pompous, grandiose, obscure, vague.
Diffuse, verbose.
Ungraceful, harsh, abrupt, awkward, unpolished, crude, vulgar.
Formal, artificial.

The Diction

Precise, exact, concrete.
Plain, simple, homespun.
Learned, cultured, literal, figurative.
Connotative, symbolic, picturesque, sensuous.
Literary, provincial, colloquial, slangy.
Inexact, non-specific.
Bombastic, trite, artificial, obscure, grotesque, vulgar.

The Sentences

Loose, periodic, balanced, antithetical.
Long, short.
Euphonic, rhythmical.
Forceful, emphatic.
Varied.
Ungrammatical, un-unified, incoherent.
Involved, rambling, awkward, jerky.
Cacophonic.
Monotonous, dull.

 

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These pages are from various handouts and excersises that I've collected from school over the years - I did not write them myself. If anyone ever finds the original teachers who wrote these (probably at some point in the 70s or early 80s), please let me know so I can credit them! If you wish to copy, print, link to or use these pages in any way, you do not need to ask me for permission.