Question on Showing Verses Telling

Along with understanding how to use point of view (POV) effectively, showing rather than telling is another difficult craft technique to learn. Both appropriate use of POV and showing scenes enhance the emotion of the story, create word pictures in which the reader can immerse himself, and brings life to a book. Showing makes a story three-dimensional rather than flat. Think of the difference between a Harry Potter story and a fairytale. In the Potter books, the reader is drawn into the excitement and experiences the story's action. A fairytale tells about a sleeping beauty or an orphan named Ella who cleans up cinders, but readers do not feel the excitement or pain of the sadness, fear, anxiety or joy of these characters.

Author Debra Ullrick asked this questions:
Could you please tell me if the list below are telling? And if they are, are they okay to use sometimes?

He amended.
A wicked grin curled his lips.
She sent him a saucy smile.
He lamented.
He warned.
His curious grin.

Notice she asked can an author use these phrases sometimes. The answer is yes. While those statements are telling rather than showing, occasionally they work when the statement isn't as significant as what's coming next, but that occasion would be rare, because it leaves the reader flat---especially the last three examples above.

These examples are showing:

A wicked grin curled his lips.
She sent him a saucy smile.
His curious grin...

The first three are descriptive and the last two use active verbs---curled and sent. Each gives an image of character. Authors can lighten up occasionally when other things are more important and not deepen characterization at every turn, b ut keeping the characterization vivid is important.

These three sentences are telling---He lamented, He warned, and He amended. We are told the emotion or the action but we don't see it. Notice the difference when the statement is expended into action.

He lamented.
Showing:
His face lowered to his hands while the past opportunities he'd ignored piled in the pit of his stomach.

He warned.
Showing:
His index finger shot upward and wagged in her face. "Stop it. That's enough."

He amended.
First, He amended is not a good choice since most authorities on writing ficition encourage authors to stick with asked and said as tags. If an author said: John amended his statement, technically nothing is wrong with that, but let's show it.

Showing: He shook his head, his expression knotted with tension. "Let's change that idea. It's wrong. If we go ahead as it's planned, we'll have a mess."

Can you see the difference ? Rather than just telling the reader, the example shows the reader without even mentioning the words: lamented, warned or amended. The reader doesn't need to be told since he has seen it and understands. I think you'll agree showing is far more effective than telling.