Descriptive Paragraph

What is a descriptive paragraph?

Describes how something or someone looks or feels

Include how the writer feels, i.e. writers impression

Creates a sensory image on the readers mind. That
s, it paints a picture with words.
Descriptive paragraphs let the reader touch, taste,
see, hear and smell what you are describing.
A successful description uses vivid vocabulary,
including colorful adjectives and a lot of descriptive
details.

We divide Ddescriptive Pparagraphs into 3 types:

Imagery: Mental Picture

Imagery is the use of
words to create images, or
mental pictures.
Imagery helps you
picture how something:
* looks
* sounds
* smells
* tastes
* feels

dark
dry
exciting
fragrant

Look

friendly
green
humid
loud

music
relaxed
sharp
quiet

Sound

Smell

soft
spicy
sweet
warm

Feel

Relaxing at the Beach

The beach is the perfect place for me.
The air is hot, but the water is cool and
fresh. I enjoy swimming and surfing in the
ocean. When I am tired, I come out and lie
on the beach. The sand is soft and white.
The beach is noisy with seagulls and
children laughing, but it is a pleasant noise.
I even like the beach smells. The air smells
salty from the sea. I feel relaxed and
peaceful. When I want to relax in summer,
I go to the beach.

Adding Specific Details

General Language
1.I bought a car.

Specific Language
1.I bought a 2005 Japanese
Toyota.
2.We heard the sound of
2.We heard a noise
breaking glass.
3.Suddenly, I smelled steak
3.Suddenly, I smelled
and onion.
food.
4.I bought a wooden chair
4.I bought some
and a set of utensils.
furniture

Activity 1: Adding Specific Details to the Following:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Maria found some jewelry in the basement.

My friend bought me a book for my birthday.
My father enjoyed making things.
We always have vegetables with dinner.
In the picture, the person is holding
something.
Our room looked out over some nice views.

Activity 2: Underline five words or phrases that could be made more

specific, then replace them with more specific details.

My Lost Treasure Box

When I left my hometown, my relative gave
me a special box. She said I could use the box to
keep my special treasures. The box was made of a
special material, and it was painted a bright
color. When I opened it, it played a pretty song. I
kept this box on my dresser and I used it to store
my things. Unfortunately, I lost my beautiful box
when I moved to a different city, but I will always
remember it and my relative who gave it to me.

A Horrible Hotel

_____________________________________
___________. The rooms are small, dark and

dirty. There is no air conditioning in summer, so

the rooms are very hot. Because there is no
heating, the rooms are cold in winter. There are
no big windows,_______________________
__________________________________________
____________________________________________
_______________. That is why I want to warn

you not to stay in that hotel.

SPACE ORDER
Spatial order shows how people and objects are
arranged in a space or scene. A description can be
organized spatially in several ways:

From top to bottom,

Outside to inside,
Left to right,
Near to far,
or the reverse of any of these

Example

In Mr. Adams classroom we see a

lot of interesting things. To the left of
the class, we see 10 posters in the
colors of the rainbow. To the right of
the room is a black radio on top of
the silver file cabinets. In the back,
there is a huge blue curtain hanging
on the wall. In front of the class is a
green, rectangular chalkboard.

My Favorite Caf
My favorite place to relax is a small caf down the
street from where I live. This caf is on a small side street
and as soon as you see it, you feel like going in. There are
three windows on either side of the door, and each window
has a small window box with brightly colored flowers. There
is a small wooden door that opens into the caf, and as soon
as you go in, you can see a dozen small tables all around the
room. I always like to sit at a small table in the corner near
the front windows. From here, I can look at the artwork on
the walls and at the pretty green plants hanging from the
ceiling. With a strong cup of coffee and a good book, I feel
very happy and relaxed in my favorite place.

Prepositions for Descriptive Writing

in front of / in back of/ behind

on top of / on the bottom of /
next to
Above / below / underneath

to the right / to the left

in the middle of
around
between

My Mothers Kitchen

My mothers kitchen is not very

big, but it is warm and comfortable.
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
___________________________. Now I
live far away, but I often think about my
mothers kitchen.

My Mothers Kitchen
My mothers kitchen is not very big, but it is
warm and comfortable. My mother cooks a lot, and
her kitchen smells spicy and sweet. On the left side,
there is a nice, small fridge with some family
pictures placed on fridges door. To the right, there
is a small, round table with four wooden chairs. In
the left corner of the kitchen stands the food cabinet
which has my mothers favourite spices and
utensils. Sometimes my brother and I sat on the
chairs watching my mother cooking. We liked
learning new things, working together, and making
delicious foods. Now I live far away, but I often
think about my mothers kitchen.

Activity: Write a description of a place by answering some of these

questions:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Where is the place?

How big is it?
How warm or cold is the place?
How does the place make you feel?
What things can you see in the place?
What colors do you see?
What sounds do you hear?
What smell do you find in this place?

The Beach in Hawaii

A beach in Hawaii is like a paradise. To start with, the

beach smells fresh like a new ocean air freshener. The
sand is so hot that when you walk on it after the sea,
you feel like you walk on a burning grill. Not far from
the shore, you can see the palm trees. They sway in the
air from the strong wind. In a distance, there is a
beautiful house by the water, so you can see the navy
blue ocean every day. People are laughing and playing
on the burning sand, and others are relaxing on the
beach sunbathing. From a far distance the ocean is a
deep navy blue. At nights, you can only hear the waves
of the ocean and the light wind which comes from the
huge palm trees. To sum up, this beach is an amazing
place for a perfect summer holiday.

The Beach in Hawaii

A beach in Hawaii is like a paradise. To start with, the

beach smells fresh like a new ocean air freshener. The
sand is so hot that when you walk on it after the sea,
you feel like you walk on a burning grill. Not far from
the shore, you can see the palm trees. They sway in the
air from the strong wind. In a distance, there is a
beautiful house by the water, so you can see the navy
blue ocean every day. People are laughing and playing
on the burning sand, and others are relaxing on the
beach sunbathing. From a far distance the ocean is a
deep navy blue. At nights, you can only hear the
waves of the ocean and the light wind which comes
from the huge palm trees. To sum up, this beach is an
amazing place for a perfect summer holiday.

Using Adjectives
Adjectives are words that describe nouns. Writers use adjectives to give
readers a more complete picture of the people, places and things they
want to describe.

Identify the adjectives in the following sentences:

1. I take care of my expensive, old bicycle.

2. I am fond of my house plants.
3. It has broad green leaves and delicate, white
flowers.
4. I bought a straw hat at a music festival.
5. It was not expensive, but I liked it because it was
practical and attractive.
6. I bought my mug at a small tourist shop at the
airport.

Using Adjectives
Change the following sentences by adding two or three
adjectives:
1. My umbrella is like an old friend.
2. No one understands why I still wear my jeans.
3. If I could save one thing from the fire, it would be my chair.
4. My mother gave me a ring.
5. My brother owned a car.

Ordering Adjectives
Sometimes we use two or more adjectives together:
My parents live in a nice new house
A dirty old black cat is wandering the streets
1. OPINION Adjectives
Adjectives like nice and dirty are opinion adjectives. They tell us
what you think about somebody or something. Opinion
adjectives usually go before fact adjectives
2. FACT Adjectives
Adjectives like new, old, black are fact adjectives. They give us
factual information about, age and colour.

Ordering Adjectives
2. FACT Adjectives
Sometimes we use two or more fact adjectives. Very often, we put fact
adjectives in this order :
1- SIZE :
How big ?
large, small, tiny, huge
2- AGE :
How old ?
new, young, old, ancient
3- SHAPE : What shape ? square, round, rectangular, flat
4- COLOUR : What colour ? blue, pink, yellow, crimson
5- ORIGIN : Where from ?
English, American, Chinese
6- MATERIAL: What it is made of ? plastic, wooden, glass, wooden
7- PURPOSE : What it is used for ? racing car, frying pan, rocking chair
Examples:
A. An interesting (opinion ) old (2) book
B. An ugly (opinion) pink (4 ) plastic (6) necklace
C. A nice (opinion) small (1) African (5) drum
D. A delicious (opinion) round (3) chocolate (6) cake
E. A pair of smart( opinion) brown (4) leather (6) boots
F. A beautiful (opinion) small (1) white (4) Chinese (5 ) computer

Ordering Adjectives
Exercise:

1. At home there is (a wooden beautiful square ) table in the

dining room.
2. I was offered (gold unusual an) ring by my husband.
3. My grandmother has knitted ( a new woolen nice) pullover
for me.
4. I saw (an American interesting old) movie with friends at
home.
5. It may rain ! There are (black big ) clouds floating in the air.
6. Last week, I visited (a little old lovely ) village in a remote
7. It started to rain so I opened (red yellow huge a) umbrella
8. John was given (an black little adorable) cat by his sister.
9. A (new shiny sports Italian) car was parked opposite my house.
10. It was such (a sunny lovely ) day that we decided to go out for
a walk.

Describing People
1. Age: twenty-one, a young thirty-five, elderly, old, middleaged, in his mid fifties, in her thirties.
2. Hair: a- color: dark, blonde, gray,
b- length: straight, short, long, curly, bald, wavy
3. Eyes: Color : blue, dark, brown, green.
Shape: large, round, almond-shape
4. Height: tall, 180 cm, short 155 cm tall, average
5. Facial features: Face: smooth, lined, wrinkled, thin
eyebrows: bushy
6. body: thin, fat, chubby, well-built

Describing People
1. Complete the missing parts of the following paragraph from the list:

[ fair, straight, blue, wrinkled, thin, old, bushy,

round, twenties, 175 cm, sixties, short ]
Khalil is an _______ man in his mid ________. His face is
________ and ________. His hair is _________ and
graying and his eyebrows are _________. Nora, on the
other hand, is in her late __________. She has
____________ hair, and ___________, _________ eyes.
She is approximately ___________ tall.

Jack Collins

Jack Collins is the most amazing person I have

ever met. He came to my school and talked about his
difficult life in prison. He was in prison for 15 years.
He made a lot of mistakes when he was young, but now
he has changed his life. He saw a lot of violence in
prison, so he uses his experience to help high school
students. Jack is tall and strong and looks a little scary.
The thing I remember most is his sensitive personality.
He really wants to help young people. In a word, Ive
never anyone like Jack before.

My Best friends Grandfather

My best friends grandfather tells great stories

about his life._____________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
__________________. I can learn many things
from his stories.

My Best friends Grandfather

My best friends grandfather tells great stories

about his life. He is 94 years old, but his voice is
still strong and clear. He speaks quietly and
slowly when he tells stories. His life was
difficult when he was young. His family didnt
have much money, so he worked hard to
support them. Even though his life was not
easy, he is positive and optimistic. I can learn
many things from his stories.