Matakuliah
Tahun
Versi
: Writing III
: 2006-2007
:3
Pertemuan 3
Descriptive Paragraph
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Learning Outcomes
• By the end of this session the students are
expected to be able to
– Write a descriptive paragraph
– Use sensory details in their supporting
sentences
– Use adjectives and noun modifiers
– Use coordinating conjunctions
2
Outline
• Sensory details
• Adjectives and noun modifiers
• Coordinating conjunctions
3
Sensory details
• Sensory details are specific information on
how something looks, sounds, smells,
tastes, or feels.
• Instead of writing:
– The house was big and beautiful.
You can write:
The house was like a mansion, with high
ceilings and large veranda.
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Adjectives and Noun Modifiers
• Adjectives and noun modifiers can be
used to specify a noun
– a cup
(article + noun)
– a blue cup
(article + adjective + noun)
– a blue coffee cup (art +adj+noun mod.+ noun)
• Coffee is a noun. Here it is used to modify
a noun (what kind of cup is it?). Note that
noun modifiers are never plurals
– a key chain
not a keys chain
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Order of modifiers
• More than one modifier can be used in front of a
noun.
• There is a certain way of listing them
e.g. Three large red and yellow American polyester
baseball hats.
The order is: number, condition/size, color, origin,
material, purpose,
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Coordinating conjunctions
• Conjunctions are words used to combine
short sentences, such as ‘and’, ‘but’, and
‘so’.
• e.g.
– I have a good-looking car, and it drives very
smoothly.
– I have a good-looking car, but it has
mechanical problem.
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Conclusions
• To describe something we need to be as
specific as possible so the readers will
know exactly what we describe
• Sensory details -- what we see, feel/touch,
hear, taste, and smell -- are effective to
describe things
• Adjectives and modifiers are also useful in
describing things.
• Adjectives and modifiers have a certain
order
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