Writing Description (4/16)
Basic English Composition for 105
Instructor：賴亦歆老師
Writing Description—My Bedroom
Goal: You will describe what your bedroom looks like.
I.
When description? Or why description?
We might find it difficult to imagine a purely descriptive essay. But description
can in fact strengthen an essay considerably. In a narrative, for example, description
can make characters more vivid; in an analysis, description can help us highlight the
essential differences between two items we are discussing; in a process paper,
description can ensure the audience understands the finished product.
II.
Something about descriptions…
1.
A descriptive essay has one, clear dominant impression. If, for example, you
are describing a snowfall, it is important for you to decide and to let your
reader know if it is threatening or lovely; in order to have one dominant
impression it cannot be both.
2.
A descriptive essay can be objective or subjective. (Which one is better?)
For example, an objective description of one’s dog would mention such
facts as height, weight, coloring, and so forth. A subjective description
might include the above details, but would mostly stress the author’s feeling
toward the dog, as well as its personality and habits.
3.
The purpose of a purely descriptive essay is to involve the reader enough so
s/he can actually visualize things being described. Therefore, it is important
to use specific and concrete details.
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Writing Description (4/16)
Basic English Composition for 105
Instructor：賴亦歆老師
III.
Tips on writing description
1.
Create a dominant impression. You can point it out in the first sentence, the
topic sentence; or you can give details first, let them accumulate in readers’
minds, and let the readers come to see the dominant impression eventually.
(Think of a mosaic here or a jig-saw puzzle.) BE SUBTLE!
2.
Select details that support the dominant impression. Omit the details that do
not go with the dominant impression, unless the dominant impression is one
that points out the discrepancies. BE CONSISTENT!
Practice:
Which of the following details does not go with the dominant impression?
(․ Topic—My friends’ room. ․ The dominant impression—Very comfortable.)
1) Pink curtains tied with lovely red ribbons.
2) Cracks on the ceiling caused by the earthquake.
3) A big window that invites the warm sunlight in.
4) A bed as soft as a cloud with beautiful bed sheets.
5) A pile of old dusty textbooks in the corner.
6) A Panasonic CD player that plays romantic pop music.
7) Dirty shoes at the doorway.
3.
Move your readers through space and time with an order. BE
SYSTEMTATIC!
4.
Use a then-and-now approach to show decay, change, or improvement. BE
AWARE OF CHANGES!
5.
Convey an emotion. Incorporate all the senses to help create the atmosphere,
including sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. And, use similes or
metaphors. BE EMOTIONAL!
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Writing Description (4/16)
Basic English Composition for 105
Instructor：賴亦歆老師
IV.
Example Description—the Diamond Necklace by Maupassant
……
Mathilde suffered ceaselessly, feeling herself born to enjoy all the
delicacies and all luxuries. She was distressed at the poverty of her place,
at the bareness of the walls, at the shabby chairs, and the ugliness of the
curtains. All those things, which another woman of her rank would never
even have been conscious of, tortured her and made her angry. The sight
of the little peasant who did her humble housework appeared in her
despairing regrets and bewildering dreams. She thought of silent
antechambers hung with Oriental tapestry, illuminated by tall bronze
candelabra, and of two great footmen in knee breeches who sleep in the
big armchairs, made drowsy by the heat of the stove. She thought of long
reception halls hung with ancient silk, of the dainty cabinets containing
priceless curiosities, and of the little perfumed reception rooms made for
chatting at five o’clock with intimate friends, with men famous and
sought after, whom all women envy and whose attention they all desire.
When Mathilde sat down to dinner, before the round table covered
with a tablecloth in use three days, opposite her husband, who uncovered
the soup bowl and declared with a delighted air, “Ah, the good soup! I
don’t know anything better than that,” she thought of dainty dinners, of
shining silverware, of tapestry that decorated the walls with ancient
personages and with strange birds flying in the middle of a fairy forest.
And she thought of delicious dishes served on marvelous plates and of
the whispered gallantries to which she would listen with a smile while
eating the pink meat of a trout.
She had no gowns, no jewels, nothing. And she loved nothing but
that. She felt made for that. She would have liked so much to be pleased,
to be envied, to be charming, and to be sought after.
……
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