English 10- Descriptive Writing
Descriptive Writing
Assignment: Write a one page (approx.. 300-500
words) that describes an image OR choose a
subject that appeals to you. DOUBLE SPACE.

Use outline provided to guide your writing
What is a descriptive piece of writing?
A. Descriptive paragraphs include details that appeal to the five senses: sight, taste,
touch, smell, and hearing. In a descriptive paragraph, the writer must convey
information that appeals to all the senses, in order to give the best possible description
to the reader.
B. It must have a purpose. What is the message you are trying to convey?
C. It has precise language. Eg. Tulip instead of flower; mansion instead of home.
D. Strong verbs (He slammed the book down)
E. Comparisons and literary devices such as similes (speaks like a queen) and hyperboles
(strong as an ox)
To do before writing:
1. Find examples of descriptive writing in your silent reading book. Record the precise
language, the strong verbs and the literary devices.
2. Using photography to describe with a purpose (powerpoint)
3. Read examples from “Essay Essentials”
4. Do the outline for your paragraph
Don’t forget the structure of a paragraph
Topic sentence
Supporting details are presented in a logical order (time, importance etc.)
Concluding sentence
English 10- Descriptive Writing
Examples descriptive writing
The kitchen held our lives together. My mother worked in it all day long, we ate in it almost all meals except the
Passover Seder, I did my homework and first writing at the kitchen table, and in winter I often had a bed made up for me
on three kitchen chairs near the stove. On the wall just over the table hung a long horizontal mirror that sloped to a
ship's prow at each end and was lined in cherry wood. It took up the whole wall, and drew every object in the kitchen to
itself. The walls were a fiercely stippled whitewash, so often rewhitened by my father in slack seasons that the paint
looked as if it had been squeezed and cracked into the walls. A large electric bulb hung down the center of the kitchen at
the end of a chain that had been hooked into the ceiling; the old gas ring and key still jutted out of the wall like antlers.
In the corner next to the toilet was the sink at which we washed, and the square tub in which my mother did our
clothes. Above it, tacked to the shelf on which were pleasantly ranged square, blue-bordered white sugar and spice jars,
hung calendars from the Public National Bank on Pitkin Avenue and the Minsker Progressive Branch of the Workmen's
Circle; receipts for the payment of insurance premiums, and household bills on a spindle; two little boxes engraved with
Hebrew letters. One of these was for the poor, the other to buy back the Land of Israel. Each spring a bearded little man
would suddenly appear in our kitchen, salute us with a hurried Hebrew blessing, empty the boxes (sometimes with a
sidelong look of disdain if they were not full), hurriedly bless us again for remembering our less fortunate Jewish
brothers and sisters, and so take his departure until the next spring, after vainly trying to persuade my mother to take
still another box. We did occasionally remember to drop coins in the boxes, but this was usually only on the dreaded
morning of "midterms" and final examinations, because my mother thought it would bring me luck. Our kitchen was my
home. (370 words)
English 10- Descriptive Writing
Descriptive Paragraph
10 /9
Purpose and
Meaning
Tone/
Language
6.5/6/5.5
Meaning/purpose is
implied but clear.
Mature subject and
writing.
Meaning/purpose
is clear. May be
explicit. Subject is
interesting but may
be simple.
Meaning/purpose is
unclear and/or explicit.
Subject may be too
simple or not properly
described.
Chooses words that are
clear, descriptive and
accurate. Senses are
engaged and vocabulary
is sophisticated.
Adequately chooses
words that are clear
and descriptive.
Senses are engaged
and vocabulary is
usually sophisticated.
Tone is consistent.
Chooses some
words that are
clear and
descriptive but may
be simple.
Language and tone of
letter is unclear and
lacks description.
Simple words with little
risk.
Sentence structure is
generally correct.
Sentence structure
is generally correct.
Simple sentences
and/or
Writing flows but
sentences could be
more complex and
varied.
Writing does not
flow due to
confusing ideas OR
sentences are
simple.
confusing to read.
Mistakes and
mechanics and
conventions are
minimal
Mistakes in
mechanics and
conventions are
evident but don’t
impede meaning.
Mistakes and mechanics
stall reading and
impede meaning.
Sentences are complete,
well written and
complex.
Writing flows with
minimal interruptions for
clarification of ideas
Mechanics
and
Grammar
7
Paragraph is powerful
and the meaning/purpose
is implied but clear.
Mature subject that is
communicated creatively.
Tone is consistent.
Sentence
Structure
8.5/8/7.5
Mechanics and
conventions are flawless.
Rules in academic writing
are followed
Rules in academic
writing are followed.
Tone is uneven.
Some mistakes in
academic writing.
Mistakes in academic
writing.