DESCRIPTIVE ESSAY

WRITING
1)What Is Descriptive Writing?

Descriptive writing creates a
picture of a person, place, thing, or
event. Description tells what
something looks, sounds, smells,
tastes, or feels like.
2) Elements of Descriptive
Writing

Good descriptive writing is comprised of

five elements; Sensory Details, Figurative
Language, dominant impression, precise
language, and Careful Organization.
1) Sensory Details

Good descriptive writing includes many vivid

sensory details that paint a picture and appeals
to all of the reader's senses of sight, hearing,
touch, smell, and taste when appropriate.
Descriptive writing may also paint a pictures of
the feelings the person, place or thing invokes the
writer.
2) Figurative Language

Good descriptive writing often makes use of

figurative language to help paint the picture in the
reader's mind. There are many ways to use figurative
language, and it is a talent that should be practiced
until perfected.
-A simile uses like or as to compare two unlike things.
Example: Her smile was like sunshine.
-A metaphor compares two unlike things without
using like or as:
Example: Her smile was a light that lit up the room.
-Personification suggests comparison between a
nonliving thing and a person by giving the nonliving
thing human traits.
3) A DOMINANT IMPRESSION
When you plan a descriptive essay, your focus on
selecting details that help your readers see what you
see, feel what you feel, and experience what you
experience. Your goal is to create a single dominant
impression, a central theme or idea to which all the
details relate-for example, the liveliness of a street
scene or the quiet of a summer night. This dominant
impression unifies the description and gives readers
an overall sense of what the person, place, object, or
scene looks like(and perhaps what it sounds, smells,
tastes, or feels like). Sometimes_but not always_ your
details will support a thesis making a point about the
subject you are describing.
4) PRECISE LANGUAGE

Good descriptive writing uses precise language.

Using specific words and phrases will help the
reader see what you are describing. If a word or
phrase is specific, it is exact and precise. The
opposite of specific language is language that is
vague, general, or fuzzy.
5) CAREFUL ORGANIZATION
Good descriptive writing is organized. Some
ways to organize descriptive writing include:
chronological (time), spatial (location), and order
of importance.
3)TRANSITION WORDS AND
PHRASES THAT SIGNAL
.
DESCRIPTION.
Transitions used in descriptive
writing vary depending on whether
you are describing a person, a place,
or a thing. Here are some examples
of transitions that might be used in
descriptive contexts:
TO SHOW SPATIAL ORDER OR DIRECTION
TO SHOW ORDER OF IMPORTANCE
TO SHOW TIME ORDER
4)THE STRUCTURE OF A
DESCRIPTIVE ESSAY