Sensory Words

One of the foundations of writing is the ability to describe in words things that are observed with our senses. Whether something is seen, heard, felt, tasted, or smelled, your students must be able to describe them clearly so the reader can understand what the text is attempting to tell them. There are a special set of adjectives for this purpose: sensory words.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, sensory words cover the pallete your students will use. These words are used by writers to give the reader a sense of things that cannot be simply conveyed with written words. These words can be broken up logically using our five senses:

• Sight - These words describe how something looks. Sight sensory words are the simplest because we have many words that describe things visually. Some examples include bright, dark, and shiny.
• Sound - These words describe something that is heard. Many of the sound sensory words are also onomatopoeias. These are words that whose phonetic pronunciation mimics the sound it is describing. Some examples include bang, boom, and clang.
• Taste - These describe how something tastes. For example: sweet or sour.
• Smell- These describe how something smells. For example: fruity or cheesy.
• Feel - These words are used to, not only describe how something feels on our skin, but also how things can feel emotionally. Examples include cold, hot and soft.

Working with students on their use and understanding of sensory words using the resources provided above by Education.com may help with their reading comprehension and composition moving forward.