Descriptive Writing

1. Descriptive Writing

3. What is descriptive writing? • Descriptive writing: A writing strategy using sensory details to describe a person, place, or thing. • What are sensory details? • Details that appeal to the reader’s senses • Sight, smell, hearing, touch, taste • Descriptive writing often evokes specific feelings within it’s readers

4. good descriptive writing… • Includes many vivid sensory details. • Often makes use of figurative languages such as analogies, similes and metaphors. • Uses precise language (specific adjectives, nouns, adverbs and strong action verbs) • Is organized (chronological, spatial and order of importance) • Makes the readers feel strong and specific feelings.

5. 2) The Blond Guitar • What is your most prized possession? • My most valuable possession is an old, slightly warped blond guitar; the first instrument I taught myself how to play. It's nothing fancy, just a Madeira folk guitar, all scuffed and scratched and finger-printed. At the top is a bramble of copper-wound strings, each one hooked through the eye of a silver tuning key. The strings are stretched down a long, slim neck, its frets tarnished, the wood worn by years of fingers pressing chords and picking notes. The body of the Madeira is shaped like an enormous yellow pear, one that was slightly damaged in shipping. The blond wood has been chipped and gouged to gray, particularly where the pick guard fell off years ago. No, it's not a beautiful instrument, but it still lets me make music, and for that I will always treasure it.

6. Paragraph 1 • Write a short paragraph on the following topic: • What is one of your prized possessions? • Follow these guidelines: • Your paragraph should be a minimum of 50 words • You should have sensory details in your writing • Your paragraph should be free of spelling errors • Your paragraph should be double-spaced • Your paragraph should be handed in at the end of class today

7. Adjectives • Words used to describe a person, place or thing. • Example: • -The happy students walked into class with a huge smile on their faces. • -The boy gave his girlfriend prettyred flowers.

8. Adverbs • Words used to describe a verb, an adjective or another adverb. • Example: • -The students were happy to work in their groups. • -The kids patiently waited for Santa to come.

9. Synonyms • Synonyms are words that mean the same thing as an other word. • We can use synonyms to limit repetition in our writing. • Example: • I have a big house enormous large gigantic huge

10. Antonyms • Antonym: word that means the opposite of another word. • Example: • love------hate • small-----big • tall--------short

11. Synonym exercise • Complete the handout

12. “Show me” sentences • In groups, rewrite the assigned sentences by adding sensory details. The grass caressed his feet and a smile softened his eyes. A hot puff of air brushed against his wrinkled cheek as the sky paled yellow, then crimson, and within a breath, electric indigo.

13. Figurative language • Similes: directly comparing two things through connective words (like, as, than, so, such as…) • Ex: as brave as a lion, crazy like a fox • Metaphor: describes a subject by saying that one is the same as another (without connective words) • Ex: it’s raining buckets. Her eyes were stars picked from the sky. Personification: giving human characteristics to something that is non-human. Ex: the light danced across the sky. The fire alarm screamed. • Analogy: comparison between two things, typically on the basis of their structure • Just as a caterpillar comes out of its cocoon, we must come out of our comfort zone

14. Figures of speech • * Complete the handouts

15. Examples of metaphors • Her home was a prison, her parents the wardens watching over her every move. • Daggers of heat pierced through his black t-shirt. • High school was a fashion show, it’s hall the runway. • Words are the weapons with which we wound. • His promise was a delicate flower. • The computers in this classroom were dinosaurs. • Her hair was a flowing golden river streaming down her shoulders. • She was just a trophy to him, another object to possess.

16. Example of similes • She swims as fast as a fish. • He is as tall as a giraffe. • Santa has to be as quiet as a mouse. • My hands are as cold as icicles. • He has the memory of an elephant.

17. Examples of personifications • The snowflakes danced through the air as they fell to the ground. • The book flew across the room. • The wind whistled…

18. Figurative language • Trigger our senses by connecting an otherwise unrelated subject to sight, sound, smell, touch, or taste. • If you can engage any of these senses through figurative language, your writing will take on new life. • Not only will it become more entertaining and more memorable, it will be easier for readers to relate to what you’re saying. • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJXxLD-WmaM

19. All Summer in a day • Short story by Ray Bradbury • Originally published in 1954 • Genre: Science-fiction

20. Materials needed: • Two colors of highlighters • A section of the story “All Summer in a Day” • Your brain ;) • Activity: • Groups of two or three • Re-read your section • Highlight all sensory details that you find in one color • Highlight all metaphors that you find in the second color.