1、 Description Writing Techniques 5Description Description is the kind of writing that intends to convey a mental image of some scene,place,object or person through a verbal account of their appearances,actions,movements or changes.At its simplest,description is a word picture of someone or something.
2、Description can be classified into four categories:oA personoAn objectoA placeoA sceneHow to describe a placeDescribing a place is like drawing a picture of it.A complete description of a place may include information about its location,surroundings,and appearance.Sometimes,it is also necessary to p
3、rovide some background information,for example,its history or its political and economic position.How did the writer make his description?Establish a dominant impressionoA usual practice in writing a description is to begin it with a general statement which establishes the dominant impression of the
4、 place and then organize all the details around this focus.Arrange the details in spatial orderoUsually,we describe the most striking object in the place first,and then describe the other objects in relation to it,or we may describe the place from top to bottom,left to right,near to far,east to west
5、,centre to periphery,outside to inside,etc.,or vice versa.Make the description vividoUsing sensory wordsoAnimating the lifelessoUsing figures of speechesUsing sensory wordsThrough the open window blew the air of the August afternoon.Through the open window blew the sweet,scented,sun-warm air of the
6、August afternoon.The room seems dark,and small.The dark green walls and dirty white ceiling make the room dark,and thus even smaller than it is.As you walk into the room,you are stopped short by a bed which fills half of the room.The two large windows over the bed are dimmed by heavy dark gold drape
7、s.There is a small metal desk opposite the bed.Wedged in between the bookcase and the wall opposite the bed is a small gray metal desk.It has a brown wooden chair which h seems to fill the left end of the room.Animating the lifelessStanding up,I can feel the suns rays on my pale skin.The wind blows
8、softly and makes my hair untidy.Standing up,I can feel the suns ray embrace my pale skin.The wind blows softly and tousles my hair away fro my face.Using figures of speechesPersonificationThe other houses of the street,conscious of decent lives within them,gaze at one another with brown calm faces.Simile The creek in the middle of it wound back on itself like a snake.After a breathless rush to the station,I found my train crammed like sardines.Metaphor Through the other window was glimpsed a distance blue sea,on which floats the island,an emerald on a blue crown.