The Cognitive Impact of Sensory Adjectives
Thursday, December 6th, 2012
Writers that use specific adjectives that vividly invoke our senses sell more books. At least that is the result from research at Purdue. The finding holds for children and adult books as well as classic works and contemporary best sellers. The title of the study playfully attempts to illustrate the finding - A Ridiculously Unbelievably Preposterous Conclusion: Use of Adjectives in Best-Selling Book.
Sensory adjectives are those that are directly connected to taste, touch, smell, hearing or seeing. For example, grubby, tart, musty and immense are sensory adjectives. The study found for example, that Mark Twain used approximately 17 adjectives in every 100 words written!
Source of image: EducationWorld
