Matakuliah
Tahun
Versi
: Writing I
: 2006-2007
:6
Pertemuan 5
Describing a place
1
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this session the students would be
able to:
• To use adjectives in a sentence
• To write sentences which describe a place
2
Topics to be discussed
• Adjectives
– The position
– The form
• Adjectives related to places
3
Adjectives
• Adjectives are words to give more information on
a noun
e.g. This book is interesting.
Venice is a beautiful city.
I am tired
• It answers the questions: “How is it?” “What is
(subject) like?”
– How is the weather in HK now? …hot and humid
– What is Sam like? … He is a diligent worker
– What is it like living in Auckland? … wonderful!
4
The position of adjectives
An adjective comes
• before a noun OR after ‘to be’:
– Venice is a city in Italy.
– Venice is a beautiful city in Italy.
– Venice is beautiful.
• After the verb ‘feel’
– I feel sad
– She feels exhausted
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Forms of adjectives
• Simple : angry, pretty, lazy, fast, hot, etc.
• Ending with ‘–ful’: beautiful, playful, wonderful,
harmful etc.
• Ending with ’-ous’: famous, dangerous, anxious,
etc.
• Ending with ‘-ing’ : boring, interesting,
• Ending with ‘-al’: national, personal, annual, etc.
• Ending with 3rd verbs: a talented person, spoken
English, written text;
• Ending with ‘-able’: capable, durable, etc.
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Describing a Place
• To describe a place you can describe:
– The size
– The surrounding/atmosphere
• You can use present tense or past tense,
depending on context:
– Jakarta is a busy city.
– The house was flooded when we arrived.
– The campus’ canteen has become a popular
hang-out place for students.
7
• When you describe a place, use sensory
details, that is
– What do you see?
– What do you smell?
– What do you hear?
– What do you feel?
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Conclusions
• When describing something in writing, you
need to be as clear as possible.
• Adjectives are useful and important to
describe things.
• The place of adjectives in a sentence can
be after the verb “be” or in front of a noun.
• There are several endings that mark
adjectives.
9