DESCRIPTION
PATTERNS OF
DEVELOPMEMTS IN
WRITING
DIANNE M. PRON
What is
• A method of developing a
Description?
paragraph or essay that uses
information from the five senses:
sight, hearing, touch, smell, and
taste to explain the nature or
people, places, or things
(McGraw-Hill Higher Education,
How to
Modifiers like Adjectives
Describe?
and Imagery can be
used to describe.
Example:
• A method of developing a paragraph or
essay that uses information from the five
senses: sight, hearing, touch, smell, and
taste to explain the nature or people,
places, or things (McGraw-Hill Higher
Education, 2003)
• Modifiers like Adjectives and Imagery can
be used to describe.
Mt. Tapyas in Coron, Palawan | Photo by RVG
Using Adjectives as Using Imagery
Modifi ers Standing five feet on
There is one big white top the steep
cross on top of Mt. mountain of Tapyas is
Tapyas in Coron, a cross which reminds
Palawan. people of the great
It is magnificently glory of God.
Vision 2
standing as if to serve Presentation are communication
as a sign of protection At dusk, the darkness
tools that can be used as
among the people of seems to threaten it,
demontrations, lectures, reports,
and more.
Coron. but its whiteness
proves mightier than
At night it is studded what surrounds it.
with lights.
Points to
As presented, literal descriptions
Ponder
can be done like describing the
physical characteristics of what is
seen, but for those who are more
creative in the use of language,
the students may explore on using
Imagery.
ACTIVITY
Instructions: Let’s try to put in all our
imagination. Put in necessary details to
make the readers see, hear, taste,
smell or feel how you describe the
following situations shown in the pictures.
You may use adjectives or adverbs; you may
use imagery.
Describe the
following:Leadership
Empathy Communication
Negotiation
Describe the
following:Leadership
Empathy Communication
Negotiation
Describe the
following:Leadership
Empathy Communication
Negotiation
Identifying the
Instructions: You will be
descriptors
presented with a sample
Descriptive Text. Identify the
descriptors in this text by
circling each.
In the following paragraph from “Knoxville: Summer 1915,” James Agee
uses sight, sound, and touch to recreate a scene for his audience:
It is not of games children play in the evening that I want to
speak now, it is of a contemporaneous atmosphere that has little to
do with them; that of fathers and families, each in his space of
lawn, his skirt fishlike pale in the unnatural light and his face nearly
anonymous, hosing their lawns. The hoses were attached to spigots
that stood out of the brick foundations of the houses. The nozzles
were variously set but usually so there was a long sweet stream of
spray, the nozzle wet in the hand, the water trickling the right
forearm and the peeled-back cuff, and the water whishing out a
long loose and low-curved cone, and so gentle a sound. First an
insane noise of violence in the nozzle, then the still irregular sound
of adjustment, then the smoothing into steadiness and a pitch as
accurately tuned to the size and style of stream as any violin. So
many qualities of sound out of one hose: so many choral
In the following paragraph from “Knoxville: Summer 1915,” James Agee
uses sight, sound, and touch to recreate a scene for his audience:
It is not of games children play in the evening that I want
to speak now, it is of a contemporaneous atmosphere that
Topic Sentence
has little to do with them; that of fathers and families, each
in his space of lawn, his skirt fishlike pale in the unnatural
Description light and his face nearly anonymous, hosing their lawns. The
using sight hoses were attached to spigots that stood out of the brick
foundations of the houses. The nozzles were variously set but
Description usually so there was a long sweet stream of spray, the nozzle
using touch wet in the hand, the water trickling the right forearm and the
Description peeled-back cuff, and the water whishing out a long loose
using sound and low-curved cone, and so gentle a sound. First an insane
noise of violence in the nozzle, then the still irregular sound
of adjustment, then the smoothing into steadiness and a
pitch as accurately tuned to the size and style of stream as
any violin. So many qualities of sound out of one hose: so
Output #2
Instructions: Below is a missing
bag. Help the owner find this bag
by giving descriptions of it. You
will have to do provide these
descriptions on an Announcement
Paper which will be placed all over
the school.
MISSING!!!
PERSONAL
ABILITIES
NARRATIVE VS.
Narrative essay presents a series of
DESCRIPTION?
events; it tells a story. A
narrative may depend heavily on
good
descriptive details. A narrative
however, always presents events in
time in chronological order, whereas
description presents things in
spatial order.
NARRATIVE VS.
A descriptive essay tells something
looksDESCRIPTION?
like or what it feels like,
sounds like, smells like, or tastes
like. Description often goes beyond
personal sense impressions.
•
Example:
Novelist can create
imaginary landscapes.
• Historians can paint word
pictures of historical figures.
• Scientist can describe
physical phenomena they
have never seen.
Points to
When you write description,
you usePonder:
language to create
a vivid impression for your
readers.
How important is
Before we make judgements about
the DESCRIPTION?
world, before we compare or
contrast or classify our experiences,
we describe.
Scientists describe their
observations whenever they
conduct experiments, and you use
description whenever you write a
How important is
Through description, you communicate
your view of the world to your readers.
DESCRIPTION?
If your readers come to understand or
share your view, they are more likely to
accept your observations, judgements,
and your conclusions. Therefore, in
almost every essay you write, knowing
how to write effective description is
important.
-
DOMINANT
The mood or quality that is emphasized
in the piece of writing – subtly through
IMPRESSION?
the selection and arrangement of
details.
- When description is use to support a
particular point, many writer prefers to
use explicitly stated thesis. This
strategy eliminates ambiguity by letting
the readers see immediately what point
•
Example:
The sculptures that adorn
Philadelphia’s City Hall are
catalog of nineteenth-century
artistic styles.
•
Points to
Whether you state or imply
your thesis, the details of your
Ponder:
descriptive essay must work
together to create a single
dominant impression. In many
cases your thesis may just be a
statement of the dominant
impression.
Objective and Subjective
Objective Description – you
focus onDescriptions
the object itself
rather than on your personal
reactions to it. Your purpose
is to present a precise, literal
picture of your subject.
•
Example:
A biologist describing what he
sees through a microscope.
• A historian describing a Civil
War battlefield would both
write objectively.
Objective and Subjective
Subjective Description – conveys
your personal response to your
Descriptions
subject and tries to get your readers
to share it. Your subjective response
is not necessarily expresses directly,
through a straightforward statement
of your opinion or perspective.
•
Example:
Your teacher asks you to
describe a place that has
special meaning to you, you
could give a subjective reaction
to your topic by selecting and
emphasizing details that show
your feelings about the place.
•
Example:
You could write a subjective
description of your room by
focusing on a particular objects
– your desk, your window, and
your bookshelves – and
explaining the meanings these
things have for you.
