***English text below. Remove this message when translating, otherwise the page may be overwritten:*** You've probably always heard that great public speakers use very vivid language. Painting an image (or further - a complete sensory experience) in your audience's minds is a way to guarantee that your speech will be remembered. Sensory experiences are the first step to eliciting emotions in the public. There's solid scientific research behind this often-repeated advice: A study published in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology showed that sensory words are processed faster by the brain. Another study published in Brain and Language showed that the brain's sensory areas were activated upon hearing sensory words in a similar way as if they were actually experiencing that feeling. Note, however, that the above findings are related mainly to oral speech. In written language, the effect may well prove to be the opposite. Sensory words Here are some examples of sensory words. Note that not all of them are adjectives - there are nouns and verbs as well. Sight bleary blurred brilliant colorless colorful dazzling dim dingy faded foggy faint flashy gaudy glance gleaming glimpse glittering gloomy glossy golden glowing hazy shadowy shimmering sparkling shiny streaked striped contoured fancy Smell aroma fragrance odor scent perfume flavor fetid smoky sting tang musky flowery putrid polluted odorless Hearing loud quiet shriek yell bang bang buzz drip sputter crackle blast wail hum chirp growl hiss howl murmur ring roar Touch abrasive balmy bumpy coarse cottony damp dry elastic cold fluffy gooey glassy smooth furry leathery oily pulpy powdery sharp spongy Taste acid appetizing bitter bittersweet crispy creamy juicy delicious tasty salted ripe savory buttery charred peppery sugary sweet stale putrid savory Motion stillness vibrating flickering pounding jumping pulsating quietude rhythmic restless slow dizzy rotating swift measured languid Sensory Words Exercise This exercise has several purposes: Enhances the richness of your language. Trains your creativity Makes you think in terms of sensory words and allows you to practice creating vivid descriptions. The leader of the section presents a picture of an environment that is rich in detail. It may be urban or rural, or it may be an uninhabited place. It may be a drawing or a photograph. Here are some examples of the kinds of pictures that may be suitable (click on the images to enlarge): The exercise participants are asked to imagine themselves in that environment and describe in a few sentences a full sensory experience. This is not a speech improvisation exercise. Unless all members are native speakers, the leader should give them around 5 minutes of silence after presenting the picture so that they can come up with a speech fragment. It's ok if they read the fragment - it's not a memorization exercise either. It's important to resist the temptation to turn this exercise into a story writing exercise. The goal is actually the opposite - being able to freeze time and describe a scene fully without developing it. If a participant is not very fluid in English, a hint could be using the following pattern: "I see ... I smell... I hear ... I can feel ... I taste ... " The pattern itself is not as important as providing the full set of senses. The participant may refer to elements that are not in the picture but can be reasonably presumed to be appropriate for the environment or related in some way to it. Here's what a sample description could look like for the first picture: "I'm barefoot in the magical forest. My feet feel the soft moss, mushy under my weight. The morning dew has painted everything in a glittery green, with golden sparkles here and there. The forest has just awoken, and there's a feeling of stillness and quietude. A silence that is only pierced by the occasional chirps of the robins. The air is cold, but not in an unpleasant, icy, and painful way. It's fresh and pure. It carries the fragrance of the berries for which this forest is famous. The pleasant flavor evokes memories of my childhood, looking eagerly at my granma as she prepared her delicious berry pie. Not even the ambrosia of the gods could beat its sweetness." In a more sophisticated version of the exercise (and more demanding for the grammarian), the density of sensory words can be reported at the end of the meeting. For this purpose, the participants hand over to the grammarian their written fragments. Every speaker should take no more than 1-2 minutes to read their fragment so that the activity leader can pick ask at least 3-4 members to share their composition.