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Year 8 · English · Short stories · Lesson 2

Character: show, don't tell

How writers reveal character in short stories: show, don't tell, through actions, speech, appearance and thoughts, with model extracts.

Whiteboard video lesson: Character: show, don't tell

19-minute video lesson

Teaching, worked examples and 20 practice questions solved step by step.

Watch free for a month

What your child will learn

  • Explain show, don't tell
  • Identify methods of characterisation
  • Infer character from details
  • Rewrite telling sentences as showing
  • Use protagonist, antagonist, dynamic and static

The method

  1. Choose an adjective for the character.
  2. Quote an action, speech or detail.
  3. Name the method or technique.
  4. Explain what we infer.

Key words: characterisation, show, don't tell, inference, protagonist, antagonist, dynamic, static.

Worked examples

The first three practice questions from the lesson, with every step.

Question 1

Is ‘Mr Hale was a mean, angry man’ showing or telling?

  1. Step 1: It states his character directly

Answer: Telling

Question 2

Why is showing better than telling?

  1. Step 1: More vivid
  2. Step 2: Reader works it out: more involved

Answer: It's vivid and involves the reader

Question 3

What does ‘hissed flat’ add?

  1. Step 1: Sound (onomatopoeia)
  2. Step 2: Shows the ball is destroyed: cruelty

Answer: Sound that shows the ball being destroyed