NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ wrıtıng skılls ıV WEEK 2:Descrıptıve paragraph NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ © İktisadi, İdari ve Sosyal Bilimler Fakültesi iisbf.nisantasi.edu.tr

NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ © Are you interested in music? Have you ever tried to play a musical instrument? Read the following paragraph and answer the questions. The Blond Guitar 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 fingerprinted. 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 grey, 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. by Jeremy Burden Who is the writer of the paragraph? What is the purpose of the paragraph, to describe Jeremy’s most valuable possession or show the order of events? Why do you think the writer used so many adjectives? NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ ©

NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ © Scan the paragraph and underline the adjectives related to the 5 senses and write them in the correct columns below. NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ ©

NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ © Descriptive language The ability to describe people, places, or objects accurately is a useful life skill. We need to use descriptive language when making descriptions. Descriptive language appeals to the reader's five senses: taste, touch, sight, smell, and hearing. Adjectives and adverbs are the two important categories of descriptive language. NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ ©

NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ © Descriptive language Adjectives Adverbs Adjectives are the most commonly used "descriptive words". They modify nouns to describe their specific characteristics. All adjectives are descriptive words, but not all descriptive words are adjectives. Examples: Intelligent, handsome, conventional, organic, spacious Colours and shapes can also be used to describe people, things and places. Jane was wearing a lavender jacket. He had an oval shaped face. Adverbs are also descriptive words. An adverb is a word or phrase that is used to modify or qualify an adjective, verb, other adverb, or word group. Adverbs can be used to describe concepts such time, place, circumstance, manner, or degree.  Examples: Kindly, seriously, rapidly, tragically, frequently NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ ©

Descrıptıve paragraph Variety is the key when it comes to using descriptive words. Instead of using the same words, you should come up with new ways to appeal to your reader's senses. Effective use of descriptive words will paint a vivid picture in your reader's mind and make your paragraph more effective. NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ ©

What is a Descriptive paragraph? A descriptive paragraph can describe a thing, a person, a place or an event. Detailed information allows the reader to form an image in his or her imagination. The better the description, the clearer the image. NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ ©

What is a Descriptive paragraph? You should consider the five senses of touch, smell, sound, taste, and sight before starting to write a paragraph. Make five columns and list words or ideas for the subject of the paragraph based on these five senses like this: sight smell sound taste touch   NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ ©

Let's take, for example, a description of a place. What do you see around? Is it a small town or a big city? Are there any tall buildings? What colour is the sky? What do you feel when you go there? What do you feel on your skin. Is it hot or cold? Is it wet or dry? What do you smell? Is there food? Are the smells good or bad? What do the smells remind you of? What do you hear? Is it quiet or noisy? Are there cars moving about? Are people talking? What about the sounds of nature? Are they present? Even a soft wind makes a sound. Taste is a difficult sense to describe, and the degree to which you pay this any attention depends on the subject matter. NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ ©

NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ © Here's an example. I am planning to write a paragraph that describes a lake: touch smell sound taste sight water sand heat air fish hot dogs food trucks sun block laughing splashing music volleyball hotdogs   the sun children lifeguard toys boats canoes NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ ©

NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ © Lake Calhoun        Lake Calhoun is a great place to swim and relax. In the summer, the water is warm and clean, and the beaches are large enough to accommodate groups of people seeking relief from a strong midsummer heat. In addition to swimming, visitors to the lake can go canoeing, sailing, windsurfing, or fishing. The blue water is a refreshing, tempting sight. The sweet scent of sun block wafts through the air from sunbathers lying on the beach. Children laugh and splash in the water, and nearby volleyball games stir passionate shouts in the heat of competition. Meanwhile lifeguards sit atop their towers and make sure everyone is safe. In the distance, sail boats catch the soft breezes that cross the lake and canoeists glide quietly past. This is what summer is all about! In this simple description, the reader should get a good sense of what it's like to be in this place. The prewriting exercise of listing different aspects of the experience as it relates to the five senses is helpful when coming up with something to write. NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ ©

Tips for writing a Descriptive Paragraph The first thing to do is to use your senses. Once you have selected a topic to write about, it's important to start thinking about what sensory details you can include to help your readers Pfeel like they are experiencing what you are writing about. To do this, it helps to ask yourself the following questions: NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ ©

NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ © Now brainstorm as many adjectives as you can related to the 5 senses and write them in the columns below. touch smell sound taste sight   NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ ©

NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ © Now braınstorm as many posıtıve and negatıve adjectıves as you can for personal characterıstıcs and wrıte them ın the columns below. Positive Negative friendly   obstinate NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ ©

NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ © Now read the paragraphs below and highlight the adjectives and adverbs. Add them to the above table in the related column. Vacation Paradise I spent my summer vacation in a beautiful part of Taiwan called Chrben. It is in the mountains next to Taidung City. It has two parts: the city, which is small, and the resort area, which is spread along a narrow road from the river up into the hills. Some of the hotels in Chrben are big and new. Many are old and small. There are also many campsites and bed-and-breakfasts. Every building in Chrben gets hotspring water. A few of the hotels have hot spring pools. At the very end of the road is the Taidung Forest Preserve and Recreation Area. It is a large hillside park full of trees and streams. There is even a waterfall. You get to the park across a wide span bridge and leave it across a narrow suspension bridge. In the park there are a visitors’ center with displays about the plants and animals in the park and a rest area with a hot spring pool and a paddling area. Chrben is a great place to relax in a hot bath or surrounded by nature—or both. NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ ©

NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ © Now read the paragraphs below and highlight the adjectives and adverbs. Add them to the above table in the related column. A Handsome Man When I grow up, I hope I look as good as my dad. He is not really tall, but he is well built. He exercises every day, so his muscles are firm and bulging, like an action star’s. He does not have the face of a movie star, but the longer you look at him, the more you like it. He has deep, gentle blue eyes that can look wise if you ask him a question, serious if you are being naughty, or fun if you are playing a game with him. His nose is long and crooked, but it really gives him character. His mouth is turned down at the corners most of the time, but when he smiles, his face is like the sun. It lights up the whole room. His hair is turning grey, but, like my mother says, every grey hair is a sign of love for us. No movie star could be as handsome as my dad. NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ ©

NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ © Now read the paragraphs below and highlight the adjectives and adverbs. Add them to the above table in the related column. My Apartment My apartment is very comfortable for a young family of five. It has a large living room and a large open kitchen, which are right next to each other like one big room, so when you walk in the door you feel like there is a lot of space. There is also a lot of light, because there are windows at both ends of the living room-kitchen. In front of the door there is a long hallway. On the left as you go down the hallway is my office, which is also big and has windows on two sides, so it also gets a lot of light. Right across from the office on the right is my youngest son’s bedroom, which is small, but has a large window. Next to it is my oldest and middle sons’ bedroom, which is also small but has a larger window. Further down the hall on the left is the family bathroom. Just after it at the end of the hall is the master bedroom, which is large and well-lit and has a separate bathroom in the left corner as you come in the door. The apartment is cheerful because of all the light through the windows and roomy enough for everyone to have space to play together or be alone and quiet. NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ ©

NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ © Now read the paragraphs below and highlight the adjectives and adverbs. Add them to the above table in the related column. The Cedar Tree When I was a young boy, we lived in a house with a wonderful cedar tree in the front yard. The tree was over one hundred feet tall. It was so wide around the base that it took two people to hug it. The bark was stringy and smooth and had a sharp, sweet smell. The limbs were as thick as a grown man’s leg and, of course, much stronger. They stuck out in all directions, starting about ten feet up the trunk. Naturally, there were always at least one Tarzan rope and one swing hanging from the lower limbs. We children could often be seen among the branches like hyperactive fruit. I loved playing in that tree when I was a boy and I am glad to know that it is still there even though several other families have since lived in that house. NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ ©

NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ © Now read the paragraphs below and highlight the adjectives and adverbs. Add them to the above table in the related column. Pot Pie My favourite English dish is pot pie. Pot pie is a combination of pie and stew. A deep crust is filled with a stew of meat, potatoes, carrots, peas, corn and gravy, and another crust is baked on top. The pie is served as slabs of crust under piles of stew. The gravy soaks into the crust, making it slightly soft and chewy on one side. The rich smell and flavour of the meat and vegetables mix well with the crispy texture of the crust. Whenever I go home to visit my parents, this is the first dish I ask for. NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ ©

Organizing your paragraph Good descriptive writing is organized. Some ways to organize a descriptive paragraph are: chronological (time), spatial (location) and order of importance. chronological order best for describing events spatial order best for describing places order of importance best for describing objects and people NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ ©

Understanding the parts of a Descriptive Paragraph The process of writing a descriptive paragraph is preceded by writing the identification, descriptions, and conclusion. A. Identification Identification states or identifies the place, person or thing that you want to describe. Identification can be used as topic sentence of the paragraph. Slash is one of my favourite guitar players NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ ©

Understanding the parts of a Descriptive Paragraph B. Descriptions After stating identification of the paragraph, now you try to develop it through giving it with some descriptions that can help the reader picture the place, person, or thing that you are going describe. These descriptions should be well organized in order to make it easier to read and understand. The following are some descriptions which can be drawn from the topic sentences: - His skill is not good enough. - His style in playing the guitar amazes me. - He is tall. - He has white skin and curly hair and his name is tattooed on his right upper arm. - He has special characteristics that make him different him from other guitarists. - He wears a magician’s hat and tight pants. - He always uses his ‘Les Paul Gibson’ guitar. - He also uses some accessories such as rings, silver bangles, skull necklace, and a golden nose ring on his right nostril. NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ ©

Understanding the parts of a Descriptive Paragraph C. Conclusion After writing a good identification and its descriptions, now you should also write a good conclusion. A conclusion is not absolutely necessary, but it is often very helpful to the reader because it usually signals the end of the paragraph and reminds him/her of your important points. A concluding sentence can be a paraphrase (i.e. repetition of the topic sentence in different words) of the topic sentence or summary which is not specifically stated in the topic sentence. To summarize, Slash is a very stylish rock guitarist of his period. NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ ©

NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ © After creating identification, descriptions, and conclusion, we have to consider the two additional elements, unity and coherence to get a good descriptive paragraph. The final version is as follows: Slash Slash is one of my favourite guitar players. Even though his skill is not good enough, his style in playing the guitar amazes me. He is tall; moreover, he has white skin and curly hair and his name is tattooed on his right upper arm. Besides this, he has special characteristics that differentiate him from other guitarists. For example, he always wears a magician’s hat and tight pants when he rocks fans with his ‘Les Paul Gibson’. In addition to these, he also uses some accessories such as rings, silver bangles, skull necklace, and a golden nose ring on his right nostril. To summarize, Slash is a very stylish rock guitarist of his period. NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ ©

NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ © References Adapted from learnamericanenglish.com NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ ©