Smiley Face Tricks

#7: Hyphenated Modifiers

• Sometimes a new way of saying things can make all the difference; hyphenated adjectives often cause the reader to “sit up” and take notice.

Examples• My mother gave her famous you-better-get-to-your-room-now-and-make-it-shine-before-I-get-to-your-behind look.

• She’s got this blonde hair, with dark highlights, parted in the middle, down past her shoulders, and straight as a preacher. She’s got big green eyes that all the guys admire and all the girls envy, and this I’m-so-beautiful-and-I-know-it body, you know, like every other super model.

• Little did I know that when Mom asked if I liked the new neighborhood in town that that one innocent question would be the the beginning of the destruction of my life. I was going to choose “yes” as my answer, but I had one of those I-don’t-want-to-lose-my-friends looks.

Spot the Trick• Using excerpts from renowned,

published authors, write down the Magic Three trick on your paper:

•“Don’t give me any of your lip today, Foaly, because today is not one of those Oh-I’m-so-impressed-with-the-pony’s-technology days. Tell me what you found on the human.”– E. Colfer, Artemis Fowl, 123

•“Don’t give me any of your lip today, Foaly, because today is not one of those Oh-I’m-so-impressed-with-the-pony’s-technology days. Tell me what you found on the human.”– E. Colfer, Artemis Fowl, 123

• If they lost by a hundred points they would be third behind Hufflepuff and if they lost by more than a hundred, they would be in fourth place and nobody, Harry thought, would ever, ever let him forget that it had been he who had captained Gryffindor to their first bottom-of-the-table defeat in two centuries.– J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the HBP, 520

• If they lost by a hundred points they would be third behind Hufflepuff and if they lost by more than a hundred, they would be in fourth place and nobody, Harry thought, would ever, ever let him forget that it had been he who had captained Gryffindor to their first bottom-of-the-table defeat in two centuries.– J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the HBP, 520

•The family would be taken care of. Beth bit her lip, but cried louder. The seasoned, hardened, tough-as-nails negotiators of the great Bendini firm swallowed rapidly and avoided looking at each other.– J. Grisham, The Firm, 108

•The family would be taken care of. Beth bit her lip, but cried louder. The seasoned, hardened, tough-as-nails negotiators of the great Bendini firm swallowed rapidly and avoided looking at each other.– J. Grisham, The Firm, 108

• Prince Humperdinck raised his right hand: “I swear on the grave of my soon-to-be-dead father and the soul of my already-dead mother that I shall not hurt this man, and if I do, may I never hunt again, though I live a thousand years.”– W. Goldman, The Princess Bride, 188

• Prince Humperdinck raised his right hand: “I swear on the grave of my soon-to-be-dead father and the soul of my already-dead mother that I shall not hurt this man, and if I do, may I never hunt again, though I live a thousand years.”– W. Goldman, The Princess Bride, 188

• “Once we have the artifact, we can all escape and look down Fablehaven, trapping Olloch inside until your grandparents and their not-so-secret friend figure out what to do with him. Everybody wins, and we keep the artifact out of evil hands.”– B. Mull, Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star,

222

• “Once we have the artifact, we can all escape and look down Fablehaven, trapping Olloch inside until your grandparents and their not-so-secret friend figure out what to do with him. Everybody wins, and we keep the artifact out of evil hands.”– B. Mull, Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star, 222

Your Turn!

• Use the following prompt to write 5 sentences. Use at least one Hyphenated Modifier in your piece.

• Prompt: Describe something that happened (just once incident) on your last vacation, whether it be a trip you took, or just a school vacation.