DescriptionWhat is DESCRIPTION?

Description can be defined as the expression, in vivid

language, of what the five senses experience. A richly

rendered description freezes a subject in time, evoking

sights, smells, sounds, textures, and tastes in such a

way that readers become one with the writer’s world.

Two types of description

• Objective:Straightforward, literal, unbiased (reporters, scientific writers, technical writers)

• Subjective:Highly personal view to elicit an emotional response

• Denotations- neutral, dictionary definitions(The large crowd moved as a mass onto the football field.)

• Connotations- emotionally charged words(The rowdy mob stampeded onto the field.)

• Can be both in the same sentence(Although his hands were large and misshapen by

arthritis, they were gentle to the touch, inspiring confidence and trust.)

Description Pre-writing• Choose a subject

• Determine your purpose, audience, tone, and point of view– Inform or evoke an emotional response?– Who are you writing for? What does the audience

already know?– What tone and point of view will best serve your

purpose and make readers receptive to your description?

Use prewriting to generate details about the subject

• What comes to your mind when you apply the five senses?– What sounds predominate? (volume, pitch)– What can you touch and how does it feel?

(temperature, weight, texture)– What do you see? (color, pattern, shape, size)– What smells can’t you forget? (pleasant, unpleasant)– What tastes are memorable? (agreeable, disagreeable)

Strategies for using description in an essay

• Focus the essay around a dominate impression

• Select the details to include (must support the dominate impression)– Be selective in the number of details you include– Excessive detailing dilutes the essay’s focus

• Organize the descriptive details– Spatially– Chronologically– Emphatically– Sensory impression

Provide transitional signal devices. For example:Next, worst of all, on the left… Perhaps the descriptive essay will not have a

traditional thesis statement

• Use vivid sensory language and varied sentence structure.– The connotative language must be rich and vivid.

Do not rely on vague generalities.– Appeal to the senses.

For example:The food was unappetizing.The stew congealed into an oval pool of muddy-

brown fat.

• Descriptive writing demands an abundance of specific sensory details.

However, avoid overloading your sentences with too many adjectives. Find the right powerful word. (the tiny town; the hamlet)

Verbs are stronger than adverbs. (She walked casually into the room and deliberately tried not to pay attention to their stares. She strolled into the room and ignored their stares.)

• Try adding onomatopoeia. (buzz, sizzle, zoom)• Experiment with similes, metaphors and

personification.Moving as jerkily as a marionette on strings, the

old man picked himself up off the sidewalk and staggered down the street.

The teacher lurked in the hall, motionless and ready to pounce on any student without a pass.

The scoop of plain vanilla cried out for hot fudge sauce and a sprinkling of pecans.