Describe
Paint Your Words
What is Descritpive Writing?
Use of imageries
Use of five senses
Zoom in /Zoom out
360 Degrees
Figurative Language
Emotive Language
Show, Don’t Tell
Problem Areas
What goes wrong?
01
02
03
TONE
STRUCTURE
LANGUAGE
The tone changes
from
Descritpive to
Narrative
An account
and no
Imageries
Hardly any figurative or
emotive language
used.
DESCRIPTION vs. NARRATION
The week before Christmas my family piled in
to the car bundled in our warmest jackets and
On Christmas morning we all tip-toed down stairs and tucked under our fuzzy hats and scarves.
anxiously waited until it was time to dive in to the
shreds of wrapping paper and find out what Santa had
left
For Christmas my family went to Grandma’s house.
We were all sad to say goodbye, so we leaned out the
car window in to the frosty air for one last wave to our
family before we were on our way home.
We saw snow on the way there
I had a lot of fun seeing all of my family.
On Christmas morning we opened presents
We drove through the vast country side where
the snow acted like a giant, soft, white blanket,
tucking the ground in for winter
Avoid cliches- forget the sun was as bright as or as big as…
Instead, why don't you try...
The quality of the sun's light
The sun's fading light was like a
dimming lamp.
How the sun made people feel
The sun threw out a warmth, as
comforting as a favourite blanket.
Relate it to its surroundings
The sun was like a throned king,
seated on top of the mountains.
How the sun changes the look of
the setting
Personify the sun
Sunlight broke through the trees
The sun climbed down from the sky,
onto the grass, like patches of spilt like a weary traveller ready for his bed.
gold.
Task 1
Let’s Create...
A Picture Is
Worth a
Thousand
Words
Start with a sentence saying the time of day and
where it is.
Describe a sound using personification.
Describe the source of the sound using an embedded
clause.
Morning playtime in the park. Laughter raced
around the playground, banging off the swing frame
and echoing over the fields. The little girl shrieked
as she called to go higher on the swings, her voice
half laughing, half demanding
Pick one thing and describe the colour of it.
Describe the smell using a simile.
Describe the texture of the thing using a list.
Put it into context and say where it is.
Leaves were a pale golden brown with white veins
crisscrossing their five points. There was a faint
mossy smell, like damp compost bins. The leaves
were crisp, paper thin, and fragile. They lay on the
floor of the park, small children trampling them to
get to the swings
Begin by picking out three things you see and list
them, then use a colon and say what is happening.
Use a simile to describe the sound.
Describe a movement starting with a verb.
Behind...
Swing, child, bear: it was playtime in the park.
Children's laughter rang across the playground
like happy jangling bells. Swinging rhythmically,
the girl and her teddy bear sat on the swings,
hands holding on to the bar tightly. Behind her
the sun streamed through the trees, the start of
a bright spring day.
Task 2
Scaffold and
describe...
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One word sentence about the time/location/event.
Use a triple to describe three things in the picture that are
there or may be appearing/leaving.
Use a simile to describe the light/weather
Describe the light/weather with a clause.
Landing. The passengers had gone, the crew had
gone, the baggage had gone, and all that was left was
the aeroplane. Only a little light was left from the
slowly setting sun. Long shadows stretched out on
the floor as the ground around the aeroplane turned
dark.
Quiet and still, the plane sat on the tarmac in the
early evening. In the background the sound of
beeping trucks could be heard as they carried
Double adjective to describe the setting
suitcases in to the terminal. The plane's engine had
(weather/time)
turned off, but as it cooled down there was
Describe a sound and its source.
whirring, humming, hissing and popping. The
Triple to describe another source of sound
tarmac floor was dusty, hot and freshly painted with
List the textures of an object/thing in the picture. lines and boxes to direct the pilots. Everywhere
was deserted, there was nobody to be seen.
Everything/nothing sentence.
An onomatopoeic word to describe
the noise.
Describe the source of the noise
with an embedded clause.
A sentence to describe the whole
image (time/event/setting)
Describe movement using a list of
verbs to describe the type of
movement.
Onomatopoeic word to describe the
noise.
An onomatopoeic word to describe
the noise.
Describe the source of the noise
with an embedded clause.
One word sentence to describe the
whole image (time/event/setting)
Describe movement using a list of
verbs to describe the type of
movement.
Onomatopoeic word to describe the
noise.
Crackle. The ice shifted
uneasily as it splintered and
weakened in the morning sun,
melting as the warmth slowly
split the thick ice. Sunrise on
the lake. Swirling, murmuring,
shivering: thick clouds of
frosty mist shrouded the
buildings on the Island.
Crackle.
Task 3
Question :
Write a descriptive essay in 350-450 words
on any ONE of the following:
1. Describe what you see, hear and feel as you board a crowded bus.
2. Write a description with the title, ‘Downhill’.
Thanks