Chapter 29 - Description

Question 1

Define description

Answer 1

Is the use of words to help the reader understand how people, places, or things are perceived.

How a particular food tastes, looks, and smells, for example, might be the subject of a descriptive paragraph.

A good description includes specific details and the use of sensory images.

Question 2

What are sensory images?

Answer 2

Are the details that relate to your sense of sight, smell, touch, taste, or hearing.

E.g. the deafening screams and relentless yelling of the children in the school bus drove the driver mad.

Question 3

Objective vs. Subjecting Descriptive Writing

Answer 3

If your descriptive piece is more objective, give the readers enough facts to allow them to come up with their own dominant impressions.

If your descriptive piece is subjective instead, your dominant impression should be suggested from the outset, even if it’s not completely obvious.

Question 4

Dominant Impression

Answer 4

A dominant impression is a quality, mood, or atmosphere that reinforces the writer’s purpose.

It is primarily a feature of narrative and description-based writing.

The dominant impression is sometimes called the controlling idea. In this sense, the writer must be consistent.

Setting up a dominant impression is the job of the topic sentence of a paragraph or thesis statement of an essay.

Question 5

What is Coherence in Description: Putting Details in Spatial Order?

Answer 5

Listing details in a logical way so the reader can follow along, or to add effect to building up to an idea.

Question 6

What are the Steps for Writing a Descriptive Paragraph?

Answer 6

1. Study the given topic, then plan your topic sentence, especially the dominant impression.
2. List at least ten details that come to mind when you think about the topic.
3. Choose the five or six most important details from your list. Be sure these details support the dominant impression.
4. Put your final list in logical order.
5. Write at least one complete sentence for each of the details you have chosen from your list.
6. Write a concluding statement that offers some reason for describing the topic.
7. Finally, copy your sentences into standard paragraph form.