Descriptive writing

WRITING

DESCRIPTIONS

English for Academic Purposes

Prepared by Maria Ahmad

What is happening in this

picture


What could you see?


How are the son and the father

sleeping?


Despite the deplorable conditions, the children

of the area learn to read and write under small

cloth tents and find recreation in mud, bricks and

dirty water…


Living amidst filth, deprived of the

basic amenities of life, facing a

new challenge each day….


Read the Model Description

A THOUGHT-PROVOKING VISIT: THE SLUMS

OF LAHORE

By Danish Mughal


Descriptive Writing

Descriptive writing provides an illustration of

people, places, events, situations, thoughts,

and feelings. Description presents sensory

information that makes writing come alive. It

expresses an experience that the reader can

actively participate in by using imagination.

Descriptive details aid in developing the overall

dominant impression


The Dominant Impression

The dominant impression is a basic idea or

theme that the writer wants to express from

the complexity of the story’s construction.

A city, for example, can be described as

exciting or scary depending on carefully

chosen words, or from a subtly crafted mood.


Characteristics of good

descriptive writing

1. Vivid sensory details

2. Precise language ( Use specific adjectives, nouns

and strong action verbs )

3. Order (spatial order, Climactic order, topical

order)

4. Figurative language (Analogies, Similes )


Sensory Details

1. Sight: colors, shapes, sizes, patterns

2. Sound: loud or soft; harmonious or harsh;

pleasant or unpleasant

3. Smell: sweet or sour, pleasant or unpleasant,

aromatic or stinky

4. Taste: sweet, bitter, burning, spicy, bland

5. Touch (feel or emotion): hard, soft, rough,

smooth, hot, cold, dry, oily, sticky, sandpapery


Order of organization

Spatial order

Climactic order (order of importance)

Topical order


Write a phrase that describes each of the following

words in sensory terms. Then note whether you are

describing the word through sight, hearing, smell,

touch, or taste.

1. Mountains

______________________________________________________

____

2. Fire

______________________________________________________

____

3. Smoke

______________________________________________________

____

4. Dress

______________________________________________________

____

5. Biscuits

______________________________________________________

____


Using Figurative Language

Simile

Analogies


Simile

A simile uses the words “like” or “as” to

compare one object or idea with another to

suggest they are alike.

Example: busy as a bee


Analogy

An analogy is a comparison between one

thing and another, typically for the purpose

of explanation or clarification.

Example : I feel like a fish out of water


Activity…

Similes

Analogies


Sample Description

It was very early in the morning. The eastern mountains were blue-black, but behind them the light stood up faintly colored at the mountain rims with a washed red, growing colder, grayer and darker as it went up and overhead until, at a place near the west, it was merged with pure night. And it was cold, not painfully so, but cold enough so that I rubbed my hands and shoved them deep into my pockets, and I hunched my shoulders up and scuffled my feet in the ground. Down in the valley where I was, the earth was that lavender gray of dawn. I walked along a country road and ahead of me I saw a tent that was only a little lighter gray than the ground. Beside the tent there was a flash of orange fire seeping out of the cracks of an old rusty iron stove. Gray smoke spurted up and out of the stubby stovepipe, spurted up a long way before it spread out and dispersed.


Sample Description

Then the tent flap jerked up and a young man came out and an older man followed him. They were dressed in new blue dungarees and in new dungaree coats with the brass buttons shining. They were sharp-faced men, and they looked much alike. The younger had a dark stubble beard and the older had a gray stubble beard. Their heads and faces were wet, their hair dripped with water, and water stood on their stiff beards and their cheeks shone with water.


Sample Description

Microcredit involves lending small amounts of money to

very poor people who have a plan for a small business.

Here are only a few types of small businesses that poor

people have started with the help of microcredit: husking

rice, making ice-cream sticks, repairing radios, making

mustard oil, cultivating jackfruit, weaving, opening a small

store, raising a few animals such as cows, chickens, or

pigs, sewing or mending clothes for people, and brewing

beer. Perhaps the greatest thing about microcredit is that it

allows people to immediately use skills that they already

have.


Descriptive Assignment

Write a 300 words long description of ‘ Life

in slums of Pakistan”. You may use the

following words in your assignment:

hole

hovel

joint

mess

shack

shanty

slum

sty

abject

avaricious

base

black

calculated

corrupt

covetous

degenerate

degraded


Good Luck with Writing

Description


Descriptive writing

Education

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