descriptive essay exercises

Delightful Descriptive Writing Exercises and Worksheets

Descriptive writing is an attempt to give a clear description of people, places, objects, or events using descriptive language and informative details. Descriptive writing exercises can include:

• brainstorming
• word sorting
• sentence writing with pictures
• transitions exercises

1 Descriptive essay outline template

This is an essay outline worksheet to help students focus on organization and planning when preparing to write essays. It helps them write clearly and logically.

Descriptive essay outline template  (PDF)

2 Brainstorming for a descriptive essay about a place

This is an English language writing exercise for students to brainstorm ideas for a descriptive essay.

Brainstorming descriptive writing ideas (PDF)

3 Descriptive writing word sorting (with answers)

This is an exercise that helps students expand their vocabulary and shows them that there are many words available to help them write more creatively and with more attention to detail.

Descriptive writing word sorting (PDF)

4 Essential shapes vocabulary

This worksheet is designed to help students learning English become familiar with vocabulary for shapes. Students match the vocabulary to the pictures. 

(download PDF)

Related Resources:

6 narrative essay writing templates and worksheets

8 comparison/contrast templates and exercises

10 cause/effect writing activities

11 essential basic exercises for paragraph/essay writing 

3 kinds of exercises for teaching transitions

5 Descriptive sentences practice

This is an English language writing exercise for students to practice writing descriptive sentences. Students look at the pictures and try to write between two and five sentences.

Writing descriptive sentences (PDF)

6 The Weekend Market (descriptive essay transitions with answers)

This is a transitions and linking words exercise for a descriptive essay. Well placed transitions help make essays easier to read and understand.

Descriptive essay transitions exercise (PDF)

(see the video on YouTube)

7 Descriptive Paragraphs ( transitions exercise with answers)

This is an English language exercise to help students understand transitions.  Students try to fill in the blanks with the words below each paragraph.

Descriptive paragraph transitions exercise (PDF)

14 Replies to “Descriptive writing exercises and worksheets”

Necesito saber las respuestas del ejercicio 4 porfa???

Great resource! Thank you

Thanks for sharing this excellent material!

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Useful resource.Thank you

Thanks fo the comments!

These are very fruitful. Thanks indeed.

These have been some wonderful exercises for my students as we learn descriptive writing.

terima kasih

Excellent and exactly what we need! Thank you :))

Very useful. Thank you.

great worksheets

It is a wonderful teaching writing source. I thank you!

The content is awesome… Very apt for beginners. Thank You

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10 Great Descriptive Writing Exercises & Activities

Descriptive writing is the equivalent of drawing with words instead of lines and colors. You need to create vivid pictures, using only your words and memory or imagination. Your goal is to make your readers see, hear, taste, smell, and feel what you want to say.

Our specialists will write a custom essay specially for you!

How can you start your descriptive writing practice?

Check out this set of recommendations prepared by our team . These descriptive writing exercises can become your personal recipe for a super-effective workout.

🧙 How to Practice Descriptive Writing?

Let’s start our exercise program with gentle stretching exercises for descriptive writing. They will help you unlock your imagination and write the first strokes of your descriptive essay.

• Choose a place, object, person, or event to focus your descriptive paper on. Choose something original and unique, but something you know well. For instance, you might have difficulties describing the view from the window of a plane if you have never traveled by air. However, you will quickly outline your way home from school because you see this road every day.
• Close your eyes and imagine that you look at the chosen object from different sides. Walk around it and pay attention to the tiniest details. Concentrate on the reactions of your five senses. See it, hear it, touch it, smell it, and taste it.
• Identify your primary impression from the object you are going to describe . Try to unite all the sensory details you provide through one main idea. Express it in a thesis statement. For instance, you might describe a house as old but comfortable and search for specific details to support this position.
• Make a plan for your descriptive paper. Don’t be afraid to separate ideas and fit them into different sections. Try to use some logic for this. For instance, you could discuss the house’s interior in the first paragraph and the second one.
• Try to find the best suitable words to describe each detail. To draw a colorful picture for your reader, you may have to spend plenty of time on this stage. Use a dictionary or thesaurus in case you’re lost how to fill your sentence with descriptive words.

Keep in mind:

You don’t have to convince anyone—it’s not persuasive writing. Vivid expressions and clear descriptions are enough for a successful paper.

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✨ How to Improve Descriptive Writing?

Now, as you have already warmed up your imagination, it is time for harder, strengthening exercises. They can help you polish your papers, making them more and more descriptive.

• Add similes and metaphors. In creative writing, they can help to express your ideas. Now, as you have already stretched your imagination, you won’t have difficulties with drawing unexpected parallels to create fresh metaphors.
• Look at your outline and start writing. Come up with an engaging sentence starter and continue, relying on your plan. If a writer’s block suddenly strikes you at this stage (though it is nearly impossible after all the previous exercises), you can try free-writing. It’s writing for a fixed time without paying much attention to grammar, punctuation, or even what ideas you write down.
• Delete unnecessary words and phrases. After you complete your first draft, look through it, and remove all superfluous adjectives and adverbs. You see, it is imperative to strike the golden balance and include just enough details in this type of academic essay. Too much detail can be confusing and even annoying for readers.
• Remove all clichés. Look for too general or too common phrases in your papers and replace them with better substitutes. For example, everyone would write about a tanned person that they are brown as a berry. Avoid making this mistake. Instead, you might compose that someone was suntanned, like a grilled chicken. It will help readers imagine what the person looked like and will make them smile.
• Proofread and polish your paper. Improve its logical structure, especially if you have followed the previous advice and tried free-writing. Check your grammar and the vocabulary that you used in your text.

Finally, give a sigh of relief. Remember that breathing exercises are essential, as well.

Try these ten exercises, which can become your super-effective workout every time you are assigned descriptive writing. And thanks for reading the article! Share the page with those who need to improve their writing skills too.

Learn more on this topic:

• College Essay Writing 101—the Comprehensive Guide
• How to Write a Creative Essay: Tips, Topics, and Techniques
• Unique Essay Topics for College Students
• Terrific Essay Tools for Fast and Simple Writing
• How to Use the Right Gender-Neutral Pronouns
• How to Write an Outline That Will Earn an A+ Grade
• In-Class Writing Exercises: The Writing Center, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Descriptive Essays: Purdue Online Writing Lab, College of Liberal Arts, Purdue University
• Composition Patterns, Narrative and Descriptive: the Guide to Grammar and Writing, the Capital Community College Foundation
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• How to write a descriptive essay | Example & tips

How to Write a Descriptive Essay | Example & Tips

Published on July 30, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on August 14, 2023.

A descriptive essay gives a vivid, detailed description of something—generally a place or object, but possibly something more abstract like an emotion. This type of essay , like the narrative essay , is more creative than most academic writing .

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Table of contents

Descriptive essay topics, tips for writing descriptively, descriptive essay example, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about descriptive essays.

When you are assigned a descriptive essay, you’ll normally be given a specific prompt or choice of prompts. They will often ask you to describe something from your own experience.

• Describe a place you love to spend time in.
• Describe an object that has sentimental value for you.

You might also be asked to describe something outside your own experience, in which case you’ll have to use your imagination.

• Describe the experience of a soldier in the trenches of World War I.
• Describe what it might be like to live on another planet.

Sometimes you’ll be asked to describe something more abstract, like an emotion.

If you’re not given a specific prompt, try to think of something you feel confident describing in detail. Think of objects and places you know well, that provoke specific feelings or sensations, and that you can describe in an interesting way.

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The key to writing an effective descriptive essay is to find ways of bringing your subject to life for the reader. You’re not limited to providing a literal description as you would be in more formal essay types.

Make use of figurative language, sensory details, and strong word choices to create a memorable description.

Use figurative language

Figurative language consists of devices like metaphor and simile that use words in non-literal ways to create a memorable effect. This is essential in a descriptive essay; it’s what gives your writing its creative edge and makes your description unique.

Take the following description of a park.

This tells us something about the place, but it’s a bit too literal and not likely to be memorable.

If we want to make the description more likely to stick in the reader’s mind, we can use some figurative language.

Here we have used a simile to compare the park to a face and the trees to facial hair. This is memorable because it’s not what the reader expects; it makes them look at the park from a different angle.

You don’t have to fill every sentence with figurative language, but using these devices in an original way at various points throughout your essay will keep the reader engaged and convey your unique perspective on your subject.

Use your senses

Another key aspect of descriptive writing is the use of sensory details. This means referring not only to what something looks like, but also to smell, sound, touch, and taste.

Obviously not all senses will apply to every subject, but it’s always a good idea to explore what’s interesting about your subject beyond just what it looks like.

Even when your subject is more abstract, you might find a way to incorporate the senses more metaphorically, as in this descriptive essay about fear.

Choose the right words

Writing descriptively involves choosing your words carefully. The use of effective adjectives is important, but so is your choice of adverbs , verbs , and even nouns.

It’s easy to end up using clichéd phrases—“cold as ice,” “free as a bird”—but try to reflect further and make more precise, original word choices. Clichés provide conventional ways of describing things, but they don’t tell the reader anything about your unique perspective on what you’re describing.

Try looking over your sentences to find places where a different word would convey your impression more precisely or vividly. Using a thesaurus can help you find alternative word choices.

• My cat runs across the garden quickly and jumps onto the fence to watch it from above.
• My cat crosses the garden nimbly and leaps onto the fence to survey it from above.

However, exercise care in your choices; don’t just look for the most impressive-looking synonym you can find for every word. Overuse of a thesaurus can result in ridiculous sentences like this one:

• My feline perambulates the allotment proficiently and capers atop the palisade to regard it from aloft.

An example of a short descriptive essay, written in response to the prompt “Describe a place you love to spend time in,” is shown below.

Hover over different parts of the text to see how a descriptive essay works.

On Sunday afternoons I like to spend my time in the garden behind my house. The garden is narrow but long, a corridor of green extending from the back of the house, and I sit on a lawn chair at the far end to read and relax. I am in my small peaceful paradise: the shade of the tree, the feel of the grass on my feet, the gentle activity of the fish in the pond beside me.

My cat crosses the garden nimbly and leaps onto the fence to survey it from above. From his perch he can watch over his little kingdom and keep an eye on the neighbours. He does this until the barking of next door’s dog scares him from his post and he bolts for the cat flap to govern from the safety of the kitchen.

With that, I am left alone with the fish, whose whole world is the pond by my feet. The fish explore the pond every day as if for the first time, prodding and inspecting every stone. I sometimes feel the same about sitting here in the garden; I know the place better than anyone, but whenever I return I still feel compelled to pay attention to all its details and novelties—a new bird perched in the tree, the growth of the grass, and the movement of the insects it shelters…

Sitting out in the garden, I feel serene. I feel at home. And yet I always feel there is more to discover. The bounds of my garden may be small, but there is a whole world contained within it, and it is one I will never get tired of inhabiting.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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The key difference is that a narrative essay is designed to tell a complete story, while a descriptive essay is meant to convey an intense description of a particular place, object, or concept.

Narrative and descriptive essays both allow you to write more personally and creatively than other kinds of essays , and similar writing skills can apply to both.

If you’re not given a specific prompt for your descriptive essay , think about places and objects you know well, that you can think of interesting ways to describe, or that have strong personal significance for you.

The best kind of object for a descriptive essay is one specific enough that you can describe its particular features in detail—don’t choose something too vague or general.

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FSU | Writing Resources

Writing Resources

The English Department

• College Composition

Details and Descriptions

Abstract shapes: the importance of visual description, brain teaser: voice without word choice, character development: making those characters a little more three-dimensional, exploding a moment: developing details, food and family: description, fortune cookies: focusing a description, fun with death—adding depth and creativity to your writing, good humor: using humor effectively, learning to lie—the importance of including details, silent film exercise—creating original dialogue and writing descriptively, snap shots: details & point of view, symbols of memory: using detail to establish meaning, the exquisite corpse: fun with syntax, unpacking the object: descriptive details, what is it enriching descriptive writing.

Purpose of Exercise:  This exercise shows students the complex relationship between an object and the language we use to describe it. Students learn the importance of considering the audience’s reception of meanings in their word choice. This is useful in the drafting process of a visual analysis of any kind – even an ethnography when an author’s attention to audience in their descriptions of another group is vital.

Description:  The class works in pairs to try and describe and draw a random abstract shape. A prize goes to the pair whose describers has best conveyed the description of the shape such that the drawer can most accurately recreate it, sight unseen. They will need paper and pencils, and you will need a whiteboard and marker.

Suggested Time:  20 minutes to a full class period

Procedure:  Divide students into pairs. Ask the pairs to move so that one person is facing the whiteboard and one person is facing away from it. The person facing away from the board needs paper and pen/pencil. Once the people who are supposed to be facing away from the board are situated, draw an abstract shape (any combination of lines, arcs, shapes, symbols, etc.) on the board.

Let the student facing the board see the board and look at the picture for about 30 seconds. Then give them two minutes to describe it to their partners. The describers are not allowed to use their hands at all. The partners who are listening to the descriptions must try to draw what is being described to them. Once time is up, ask each pair to display their results to the class. If you want, you can be the judge and give the group that comes closest a prize.

Have group members switch roles and repeat this exercise with a new abstract image. Once the second round is over, hold a class discussion about the difficulties students encountered in either or both roles. Which job did they think was harder? Why did you ask them to do this exercise? And so on.

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Purpose of Exercise:  This exercise fosters creative thinking in descriptions, development of voice, and playing effectively with sarcasm.

Description:  Students must write without the freedom of word choice, forcing them to compensate and develop other aspects of their voice with the selection of adjectives you give them. You should consider some unlikely persons, places, and things to pair those adjectives with.

Suggested Time:  10 – 40 minutes

Procedure:  Compile your group of words one of a few ways. Either have the class (without telling why) contribute adjectives and adverbs of their own to write up on the board, or with their help, select a number of them from a recent reading. Select a few adjectives from among these. Then, ask them to describe certain occupations or entities usually not grouped with those words. For instance, select three words out of the group, like “Cornucopian”, “opulent”, or “affluent” and ask them to describer a beggar. Or, you might ask them to describe Arnold Schwarzenegger using the words “Tenuous”, “Feeble”, and “Sickly”.

The trick is for them to creatively – using other components of style, namely their imagination but also things like tone and sentence structure – describe these people, places, things by their adjective antonyms. Importantly, they can’t ever say that the beggar, for example, was simply “not” any of those words. Perhaps they’ll compare him to other beggars, i.e. "he was an upper-class, high fluting, rather opulently dressed beggar", or perhaps they’ll have the beggar imagine being such things though he isn’t. If your class is stuck, give them this example to help them see what’s possible.

The exercises main goal is to improve their creativity, forcing them to write out of a difficult situation with something other than word choice – and to discover how colorful sarcasm might work. Take note of the ways students try to get out of it--because this is an exercise that you can do repeatedly, using different words and with different objects to describe. If you have the class repeat it, make their first escape techniques taboo for their next attempt.

Discuss the results as a class. If you’re working through a draft or a short story or an article, etc, you might assign a journal in which they take a person, place, or thing from their piece and retool their description using what they’ve learned. Another option is to ask them to bring their draft to class, and perform the exercise the second time on their own writing.

Purpose of Exercise:  This is a handout-style exercise for protagonist development in writing short stories. 

Description:  You might distribute this handout in class for students to fill-out during class time, or ask them to fill it out as a take-home journal for discussion/drafting in class.

Suggested Time:  15 mins to entire class period

Procedure:  Ask Students to complete the following Hand-out, either at home, or during class time:

Full Name: Sex (don’t write, “yes, please.”): Age and Date of Birth (as your story does not need to have a contemporary setting): Birth City: Parent’s Names: Siblings: Ethnicity: Pets: Education: Favorite Movie: Favorite TV Show: Favorite Book: Favorite Food: Favorite Day of the Week: Favorite Hobby: Favorite Drink: Favorite Band: Favorite Song: Favorite Halloween Costume (if s/he celebrated Halloween): Religious affiliation: Political affiliation: Love interest(s):

Physical Description

Eye Color: Hair Color and Style: Height: Weight: Skin Tone: Facial Description (does s/he have a unique nose, forehead, eyes, ears, lips, ect.?): Clothes (what s/he is wearing or usually wears): Other Physical Characteristics (ghetto booty, busty, muscular, corpulent, scrawny, disproportioned, ect.): 

Defining Moments

The one childhood instance—good or bad—that indelibly affects who this character is now: The character’s proudest moment: The character’s most embarrassing moment: The character’s career goals of future aspirations/ambitions: Whom the character would most like to have dinner with (past or present) and why: Three adjectives the character would use to describe him/herself:

Post-secret

What would your character’s post-secret say? How would it be designed? 

Take time in class to discuss character development, and the characters they created. Have students begin a scene in which their character confronts a specific situation/conflict. Or, if students have already begun their stories, have them revise a scene in which their character’s traits are more apparent.

Purpose:  This activity helps students develop their ideas and can be used at any stage in the writing process, but is often most helpful after the students write their first drafts. 

Description:  This revision technique is especially helpful in eliciting rich details (and the students will love the length it adds to a draft). It’s almost like writing in slow motion--slowing down the moment--to capitalize on sights, thoughts, feelings, and more.

Suggested Time:  45 minutes

Procedure: 

1. Read orally the following paragraph:

I woke up late this morning--as usual. I had no clean clothes and the fridge was next to bare. Traffic was heavy as I sped to work. Some jerk cut me off and I almost had a wreck. At work I went to my desk and there was a note to go and see the boss. I waited outside her office for a while before she called me in. I couldn’t figure out why she wanted to see me. I went inside and sat down. My boss handed me an envelope. She told me that my services were no longer needed and that I was free to go. I got my belongings from my desk and left. The drive home was quick. I am now unemployed.

2. Point out the lack of details in this paragraph. Explain that any one of these sentences could be "exploded" to create an interesting story. I then read them the following explosion I wrote as an example:

Some jerk cut me off and I almost had a wreck. I hate people who can’t drive. I decided to teach him a little lesson by playing near bumper cars with his bright red 300 ZX. He kept hitting his brakes, and eventually even shook a fist of rage at me. I giggled gleefully--kind of like that lady in  Fried Green Tomatoes  who got immense pleasure from repeatedly rear-ending the car of the person who had stolen her parking space. Space is crucial, and that jerk will probably think twice before he cuts into mine again.

3. Now pass out copies of the first (bland) paragraph to students while they are getting into pairs. Tell them to choose one sentence to explode, making up the most interesting details they can--as long as their additions will still fit in the facts of the original paragraph.

4. After giving them 15-20 minutes, read the original paragraph again orally one sentence at a time, asking for volunteers to share their explosions. Students usually enjoy this time and are eager both to share and to listen to each other’s explosions.

5. Finally, after discussing the differences between the bare bones of the first paragraph and the rich details of their explosions, have students take out their most recent drafts and choose a sentence they feel is ripe for explosion (with actual details this time). Have students explode the moment(s) they’ve chosen as a means of adding interesting details to future drafts.

Purpose:  This activity is intended to inspire students to write very descriptively, and it can be used as an invention exercise for a personal essay in 1101 or a research essay in 1102

Description:  By using a previous very descriptive essay from OOW, students create a list of 10 favorite foods, narrow down, and end up writing descriptive paragraphs about them, including when they first had them, and other detail driven inquiries. The activity relates to “No Woman, No Cry” in the 2006-2007 edition of  Our Own Words .

Suggested Time:  30-45 minutes (If students don’t read the essay ahead of time, this could very well encompass an entire class period).

1. Have students make a list of their ten favorite foods from childhood in their journals or wherever you have them do invention exercises (or, depending on what you are having them write about, you could modify the exercise and have them make a list of least favorite foods, current favorite foods, ten foods they would most like to try, ten favorite ethnic foods, etc). This step shouldn’t take longer than about five minutes for most students.

2. Once most students have completed their list, have them answer some questions about each item on their list. When or where did you first eat this food? Who served it to you? How often did you eat this food? What memories do you associate with this food? Do you still eat this food today? How is this food prepared?

3. Now, have your students choose several items to examine more thoroughly. Have them create a list of adjectives that could be used to describe each word. Encourage them to think about using all five senses.

4. (If not read ahead of time) Display “No Woman, No Cry” on the projector screen and have students read the essay.

5. Have the students discuss the following questions: 

• What about this essay is particularly powerful?
• Do any images (sensory details) pop out at you?
• Why do those particular images stand out and what do they do for the essay?
• What is effective about the organization/focus?
• What, if anything, doesn't work for you?
• How does food function as an organizing factor in this essay?
• How does the author transition from food to family?
• Is the transition effective?
• How does the piece "move" overall?
• In regards to the essay overall, what could have been done differently?

6. Using “No Woman, No Cry” as an example of effective description, tell your students to choose three foods from their lists to write a paragraph about. If possible, have them include a vivid description of the item as well as a specific memory that relates to that food.

7. Call on a few students to share their best paragraph, and discuss what techniques each student has used effectively in their writing.

This activity is designed for a TEC classroom. It can be modified for employment in a technology-free classroom if you make have them read it ahead of time or even display it and have students read it out loud. (It’s not very long)

Don’t let your students get hung up on Step 1. Some students have a hard time coming up with something like their top ten FAVORITES, so you could suggest that they simply list the first ten things that pop into their minds. Have some backup questions and an additional angle for fast-working students to continue working on so that they have something to keep them occupied as slower students are still completing the basic exercise.

Purpose of Exercise:  Works well with a personal essay composition. This is a "stretching exercise" that calls for students to expand and develop a particular thought, then revise and narrow the scope of that thought. Good for inspiring new ideas mid-project, or starting a new one.

Description:  Students take a fortune-cookie fortune and manipulate it. If you’d like to bring actual cookies, do so! Otherwise, you can search online for fortune cookie phrases on sites like  fortunecookiemessage.com . You might compile these onto paper strips and hand them out individually. Requires some printing and pre-cutting.

Suggested Time:  15-30 minutes

Procedure:  Each student chooses their own fortune cookie (or grabs a fortune out of your box, bag, etc) and writes down their fortune at the top of a clean page. Have a few extra fortunes on hand in case some students receive a fortune that is too cryptic or for ones that the student just doesn’t like.

Now give the students a few moments to consider their fortunes, then ask them to rewrite their fortune in a few sentences. They can adapt and expand their fortunes but they must stick to the original spirit and intent of the fortune. For example, a prediction about the student’s personality should remain about their personality and not stray to other possibilities like future success, relationships and so on.

Now tell the students to underline any strong words or descriptions they wrote in their revised fortunes. These should be whatever words make a strong impression on the student. Using the underlined words as a guide, have the students write a short fortune for themselves that would be appropriate to put inside a fortune cookie. Don’t feel constrained by Chinese Restaurant language, do it in your own words.

Discuss the new fortunes with in groups or share with the entire class. Consider the nature of the types of changes that were made and question why the student made those changes. The teacher could then ask the students to use the underlined words as key words in an idea cluster or tree to develop other personal ideas for a longer piece of writing.

This gives students a light stretching exercise before a good writing workout. It encourages them to think about themselves and try to capture some narrow aspect of their individual charter, or hopes or fears, and narrow them down to just a few words. Then they are given an opportunity to expand on these few words and say more about themselves.

Purpose of Exercise:  This exercise helps students work on using details in their writing. Most obituaries are dull and give few details. Use this as a way to have students actually do what an obit is meant to do--celebrate the life of a person who has died. Some may find this morbid but it doesn’t have to be -- have them focus on creativity and positives in their person’s life. It will offer a chance for groups to work together and shows them how to add depth and creativity to poor writing. Description: “Fun With Death" is a group exercise, so you can use your workshop groups or create new groups for your students to work with. It can be a way for students to become more familiar with working with other people and learning to work inside a group environment. 

Suggested Time:  At least 30 minutes

Procedure:  Cut out obituaries from a newspaper such as from the local paper or even the  New York Times . Give each group an obituary and have them add depth to the writing by rewriting them as a whole group (only one rewrite per group, that is). When they are done, have one person from each group read the obit aloud to the class. Then have the class (and yourself) ask them questions which will lead to more details that they missed, i.e. What was her sisters name? What company was she VP for? What was the name of her lover in the mailroom. etc? Don’t let them answer out loud -- tell them they will have to write them down and rewrite the obit again. Give them about 10 minutes to finish.

Follow up with journal assignment asking them to write their own obits and also asking them to make connections between what they learned writing the obits and what they can then apply to their own writing.

Purpose:  This exercise is intended to prompt discussion about the use of humor in writing, how it can both help and hinder. 

Description:  Students evaluate humor in the student essay “BOO” from  Our Own Words (2004-05). Using the students’ suggestions as points of analysis, the pros and cons of each humorous instance in the essay can be discussed, remedied, expanded on, etc. Also, this is a good essay to begin a discussion on voice and why it might work in the author’s advantage to use a humorous tone. This activity is a good one to reinforce the importance of rhetorical sensitivity by bringing in analysis of audience and audience reception.

Time Suggested:  50 minutes

Procedure:  The basic concept is simply to pick apart the paper, looking specifically for humorous moments and their effects (intended or not). Have students individually or in groups highlight excerpts from the essay that made them laugh or that they think were meant to be funny. Using the students’ suggestions as points of analysis, discuss the pros and cons of each humorous instance, suggest ways to remedy or expand on these uses of humor.

Some discussion questions: 

• Why do you think the author chose a humorous tone here?
• Does it work for the author to use humor in this instance? Why or why not?
• How does the author accomplish humor? (through diction, rhetorical questioning, 
• How does the author use language or word choice to accomplish a humorous tone? 
• How can the language be altered to create another tone?
• Perhaps have students rewrite each humorous part using a different tone. How does it change the reception of the information? How would it change the paper as a whole? 
• What does the author make reference to in order to accomplish humor? Are they relevant references? Can the audience identify? 
• How is the author’s ethos affected by his use of humor? 

Additional Information:  Sample Passage from “Boo”: The room is blacker than the night sky on a new moon. Clutching to the warm, reassuring, non-psychotic body in front of you, you lower your head, cowering from the utter terror converging on you from all possible angles. You move like a bat out of the hell that you are now in towards what you desperately hope is an escape. Suddenly in the hustle, you hear a scream, which is instantly drowned out by the bloody lunatic slamming into the chain link fence mere inches to your right. Turning back to what you figure is forward you find that the person in front of you is gone! You’re all alone, without your trusty guide. It’s impossible to see where to go, and a multitude of eerily loud noises make you feel a level of discomfort unequaled by even that antiseptic hospital smell in the doctor’s office. Wait! There’s a light up ahead, and that looks like that lost soul formerly in front of you! Making a mad dash to rejoin a comrade lost in the confusion of this hell you feel like you just might get out of here. But then just as quickly as your elation hit, all hope is lost. Your leader’s jeans and t-shirt have now become torn rags, and that purse she was carrying is now a twelve inch machete! This is not another horror film, it’s not a bad night in a busy, crime ridden city, nor are you just having a bad day at a shopping spree filled with thousands of bloodthirsty people looking for the best deal. It’s the experience millions of Americans flock to every year. But is it really worth it? And what does this really say about us as a people?

(The Humorous Set-up: The writer hints at the humorous tone of the paper in the second sentence, but leaves us hanging for a bit as he describes what will either be a truly frightening or else humorous/zany experience. By the time he makes the “shopping spree” reference, which is tactfully placed at the end of the (rather long) paragraph, we are prepared for the comic tone of the paper.)

Upon observation of the facts, Halloween Horror Nights just doesn’t seem like a worthwhile venture. Not only is it expensive, but the park is also densely crowded. It’s plagued by bad parking, continuous walls of crowds, and lines longer than those found at the DMV, and once again, it’s expensive. It just doesn’t seem to be something that would attract the average American. I don’t know too many people who like spending money, just to wait around in different spots all night, especially when most of us can find jobs that actually pay us to do exactly the same thing.

(Comic Rhythm: like stand-up comedy or sit-coms, a humorous essay should have a sense of rhythm with its comic moments. Too sparse and the reader gets bored; too frequent and he/she becomes distracted.)

The whole experience can be very aggravating. It’s actually a wonder why so many migrate to Universal Studio’s Halloween Horror Nights. First of all tickets start off at around $59. Deals for Florida residents notwithstanding, that’s a lot of money, especially to the younger age group more likely to go. To someone aged about fourteen to about twenty-five, the age group that seems to be most widely present, sixty dollars can be a major dent in one’s wallet. And that’s just the price of admission. Keeping with the theme of most theme parks, sports events, insurance companies, and religious institutions, Universal Studios squeezes you for every penny your worth. The park makes sure that no one brings in their own merchandise. They actually physically search you and your belongings. Granted the reason for that is to stop the flow of drugs, alcohol, and weapons into the park, but if they catch you bringing in a picnic basket of sandwiches, or any outside food, they’ll make you get rid of it before you’re allowed entry into the attraction. After they strip you of your dignity and your carefully hand-crafted, 30 cent sandwiches, they make sure to clean you out by overcharging every single product inside. I remember one slice of pizza and a small drink fell somewhere in the neighborhood of ten to fifteen dollars. Needless to say, other than a bottle of water, that was the only purchase I made. This would logically seem like enough to drive most people away from the attraction. As an American myself, I can tell you the overwhelming joy we take in spending our money. So much in fact that I think they should double the entrance fee. That’s right, and Star Wars was based n a true story a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. But because thinning our wallets is not enough to keep seemingly anybody from attending, Horror Nights tries to scare us away again.

(Humorous Diction: Notice how the writer is playful with his language. The people “migrate” to the park, like so many flocks of birds; the play on “theme” and “theme park”; the slightly over the top reference to “hand-crafted” sandwiches. Too Funny? But can humor be distracting? Is the line about  Star Wars  funny, or just silly? How far is too far?)

After dropping sixty dollars on a ticket, thirty or so on the trip, and another small fortune inside, you are met with one of the most crowded locations on earth, only beaten by the one billion plus population of China, and that’s debatable. The lines are notoriously famous for their length. They’re almost better known than the attractions themselves. Every time the event is the subject of conversation, the long lines come up as an issue. The wait times are so well known in fact, that when someone tells about hour long waits, people show surprise, and remark about how they must be getting shorter. The average time I’ve had to wait in the past has been no less than two hours. I’ve never gotten into an attraction faster than forty five minutes, and that was on a blue moon, during a planetary alignment, at the stroke of midnight. With these wait times, you can only expect to experience a fraction of the attractions you paid to see. In fact, when you go, you pay full well knowing that you’ll only be seeing about two or three of the haunted houses offered. Even though you’re carrying that lucky rabbit’s foot, you woke up on the right side of the bed, and a part of you is hoping that somehow, someway, through the intervention of a higher power, you will just happen to be the only person in the world going on your night, but you know better. But because the lines keep returning along with the event year after year, this is obviously not enough to turn people away. But long lines and empty bank accounts aren’t the end of the horror that is Halloween Horror Nights.

(Appropriate Comical References: Does the line about planetary alignment seem appropriate for the subject matter? Even when trying to make the reader laugh, the humor still manages to remain relevant and appropriate. Transitions: notice how the last two paragraphs have similar transitional sentences at the end. How does the writer avoid boring repetition with humor?)

Not only are the lines insanely long, the park itself is crowded beyond belief. Just walking up to the front gates can sometimes be an act of pure agility, speed, strength, and satellite imagery, in order to find a path through. But once inside, nothing will help you navigate through the masses, unless of course, you happen to be one of the few mystical humans that can fly. There is a literal swarm of people, everywhere you look. The park’s 7 p.m. opening is like a dinner bell to a starved wolf pack, and the place is packed tight no more than fifteen minutes after the hoards of excited patrons are unleashed. You and your friends find yourselves back in kindergarten, holding hands as you travel from place to place, so as not to get lost. If the attractions aren’t enough for you, just going from point A to point B, is an event in itself. Just walking around, you will repeatedly find yourself in intimate contact with complete strangers. Journeying from place to place can sometimes be an experience of personal violation by half of the people you come across. But even the combined issues of the price, the wait, and the can of sardines effect created by the park’s popularity aren’t enough to turn people away.

(Again: Is this humor effective, or too much? If it’s effective, why? If it’s too much, at what point and for what reason?)

Purpose:  This exercise encourages students to discover and invent convincing details. This is a good exercise to use in the beginning of the drafting process, when students are busy building their early writing through the discovery of significant details--but it is also a lesson in revision in that information and detail may be added at any point during the drafting sequence. 

Description:  “Learning to Lie” makes use of each student’s experience, through the selection of exact details, imagery, and sense evocations, in order to illuminate the role of specificity in the writing process

Suggested Time:  As little as 15-20 minutes, or nearly an entire session-- depending on the number of student samples chosen to be read aloud and questioned.

Procedure:  Ask the students to write in two or three sentences, three unusual, startling, or amusing things they did or that happened to them. One thing must be true, the other two must be "lies". Ask them to use specific details.

Read one example as follows: 

• Elvis Presley wrote me a two-sentence letter after I sent him a poem I written about him and a picture of my sister in a bikini.
• The first time I heard him play, Buddy Rich through me a drum stick during a drum roll and never missed a beat.
• I asked Mick Jagger to sign a program for me, but he said he preferred to sign my left, white shoe. And he did.

Have the students write three of their own. Then have students, one by one, read them to the class. Other students are allowed to ask three questions that pertain specifically to the details. For example, someone might ask (using the example above), "Why did you send Elvis your sister’s picture instead of your own?" Or "What was Buddy Rich playing?" Or "Do you still have the white shoe?"

The writers have to be able to think on their feet, to make up more convincing details, to "lie". Then ask for a vote as to which story is true and which were fictitious. It is surprising how many students find that they are already excellent "storytellers."

Purpose:  This exercise will actively expose students to their own assumptions and biases as well as those of their peers. Students will gain perspective into the filmmaker’s worldviews. It also provides an experience to write descriptively, creating original dialogue for an existing text by examining body language, shots, and pacing.

Description:  The teacher plays a clip from a preferably obscure film. Then, divide the students into groups so that they can create a dialogue for the clip that was played. In doing so, each group should consider both body language, pacing, and shots so that an appropriate tone and plot can be applied. Each group should present what they’ve done and present it to the class, making an argument for how their exchange could match up with what was shown. By reviewing the clip with the sound track in place, students can see how their assumption make the intentions of the filmmakers as well as get a greater idea of how their judgments are based in their experiences with other media.

Procedure:  Choose a scene from a motion picture. Obscure films will probably work best since fewer students will know them already. The scene should have plenty of action or a variety of characters. Play the film clip to the class without sound, but first explain that afterwards they will write a descriptive account of the clip as a group. Suggest that they might want to focus on a single character, invent dialogue, depict the place and time, create a situation or background, or say what happens next. Let them write and share their descriptions with the class. Play the clip again with the sound on and provide the necessary contextual details. Then you may want to ask them to write about the similarities and differences between the group accounts and the screenwriter’s.

Additional Information:  I think this activity affects students more if they perform it after their first paper or after they have participated in several workshops or have read several selections from  Our Own Words . Since its intent is more conceptual that practical, it suits any draft stage.

Purpose of Exercise:  Fosters creative exploration of point of view, detailed description, and narrative as individuals and collaboratively. Good for a short story or personal essay assignment.

Description:  You will need 5 - 13 interesting photographs or stills for your students to work with. This exercise allows students to take a point of view and create a context for it. They then give the pictures purpose in relation to the context they have created. It forces them to bounce ideas off one another in small groups, and to create a plausible start for a fictional work using a point of view other than the personal "I".

Procedure:  Place students in groups of two, giving each group one picture between them. Separately, each student decides the camera’s point of view, creating a character for that point of view.

• Who he/she is- include physical description and other pertinent information.
• Where he/she is.
• Why he/she is there- what is the significance of the setting.
• With relevance to this character, find an object in the picture that serves as important to the camera person. Describe what it is and why it is important.

Coming back into the groups of two, now take each student’s point of view, including its contextual information, and develop a "lead-in" (a paragraph) for a novel, short story, poem, or essay. If there’s time, have each group share with the class and perhaps use this forum to point out effective details, etc.

You may also choose to do this exercise by projecting up to 5 snap shots on the overhead. Give the class 5+ minutes to construct a “lead in” for each photo, being sure to address the 4 elements above. Take time to discuss as a class.

Purpose:  This activity could be useful as a tool for exploring the use of sensory detail and memory to express emotions; it teaches students to read for multiple meanings, and it accompanies Helena Buonagurio's “Not So Perfect Pancake” (2002–03 OOW) or Na Tech's, “Red Hibiscus” (2004–05 OOW).

Description:  Students often find it difficult to successfully incorporate sensory detail to express emotions in their own writing. With this exercise, students will focus on a specific object and express their emotions using details about this object, while also considering the possibility for an object or place of significance to have multiple meanings and associations in one’s life experience. Helena Buonagurio's “Not So-Perfect Pancake,” reveals the power of metaphors in developing meaning: Helena compares her mother’s not so perfect pancakes not only to her overall life experience but also to her mother’s love. Na Tech’s “Red Hibiscus” provides a good example for how you can employ a specific object and describe it using sensory detail in order to show its connection to a meaningful relationship (i.e. the red hibiscus’s connection to the author’s past). Drawing on one of these examples, students will learn to craft meaning(s) from a single object.

Suggested Time:  35-50 minutes

• After reading “Red Hibiscus” or ““Not So-Perfect Pancake” discuss, allowing students to explore the meaning that the author draws from this single image (red hibiscus) or have them underline metaphors used to convey multiple meanings (i.e. the metaphors for pancakes). Students should underline images/metaphors and evaluate the title’s meaning in relation to the narrative. Have them find places where the meaning and image merge. 
• After this discussion, have students, individually, choose an object important to them and free write for 15 minutes (total—5 minutes for each section) on each of the following: a specific person it is related to; a specific place it reminds them of; and a specific memory of an event that it conjures in their minds. *If students seem to be having trouble thinking of an object, ask them to remember an event or a place from childhood (or high school even). Then have them think about associated memories.
• Students should be sure to use concrete sensory detail (describe the object using their five senses) in their descriptions: what does the object look like? Feel like? Smell or taste like? Where did it come from? Does it have other associations attached to it? For example, in “Red Hibiscus” the author describes what the hibiscus flower represents.
• Ask a couple of students to share their object and its associated descriptions/memories. Then ask students to respond with their own associations with those objects and memories, which the author’s free-writes may have sparked. This hopefully should lead to a discussion about meaning being relative and the importance of sensory detail in appealing to a reader’s emotions.

Purpose of Exercise:  This Mad-Libs-style exercise gets students thinking about how language works via an underhanded grammar refresher, and jarring them out of the world of conscious language use.

Description:  You will need index cards; color-coded work best. The idea is that by stringing together random parts of speech, sentences can be constructed which, while they do not make "sense," have, nonetheless, an internal grammatical logic.

Procedure:  Color-coded index cards work well for this: designate a color for each part of speech, making sure that there are twice as many cards for nouns and adjectives (you might ask students to prep for the lesson by bringing in their own cards). Some students who have trouble visualizing what kinds of words fit into each category (Noun, Verb, Adjective, Adverb) may feel too embarrassed to ask, so give a few quick examples to get them going. Ask each student to write down two nouns, two adjectives, one verb and one adverb – each on its own card.

After they have written down their words collect them into four stacks by color and shuffle them. Distribute the cards so that each student once again has a verb, an adverb, and two each of nouns and adjectives. At this point they should begin to arrange their cards to form sentences. Articles and possessive pronouns may be inserted wherever needed and verb tenses may be changed or nouns changed from singular to plural or vice versa. When all are finished go around the room and ask each student to share his or her sentence.

Discuss each sentence in terms of language play and grammar. You might emphasize grammar and focus on subject-verb agreement, subject-action-object, or the effect of punctuation. Or, you might focus on the power of word play, active, illustrative verbs, odd pairings, connotations, metaphor, etc. Help students apply what they’ve learned to their own drafts.

If time allows, students could be asked to write a paragraph or a poem around their sentence to share and discuss with the rest of the class, or as a journal.

Purpose:  Drawing on a childhood memory, this activity allows students to discover the importance of descriptive details. This activity accompanies Autumn T. Harrell's “Jesus Lives” (2004–05 OOW).

Description:  Like “Hypertext” from the Inkwell, this activity serves two purposes: 1) to promote class discussion, especially during the first few classes; and 2) to introduce students to the idea of using descriptive details when they write (this exercise may be most effective with the Visual Strand). This activity can serve as an icebreaker (if used near the beginning of the semester), or it can be used to re-energize your students around when you are about halfway into the semester (or even near the end).

Suggested Time:  If everyone shares their free write (and I would recommend that), the activity could take the whole class period. If not, then plan on 20-30 minutes.

• Have someone read “Jesus Lives” out loud.
• Using the poem as an example, ask the students to: Think of an object that you have come in contact with for as long as you can remember: a children’s book or a piece of jewelry, a stuffed animal, a picture, or a rock. Give them a minute to picture their object fully. 
• What is the object? 
• Where is it? Where are you? 
• What does it smell like? What color is it? What does it look like? 
• Who does it remind you of? What is its texture? 
• You’re starving. You figure, “Why not?” You eat the object. What does it taste like? 
• You shake the object. What does it sound like? 
• Do you, like the speaker in “Jesus Lives,” take this object for granted? 
• When have you “bump[ed] into it, alarmed”? You get a tap on the shoulder. It’s your mother and your best friend, or your aunt and your second grade teacher. How do they react to the object? How do they interact with it? What do they say about the object?
• Allow students to write about the object for about 7 minutes. 
• Pick some people to share, or (better) let everyone read his or her piece, allowing a question or two from other students after each reading. Since these are objects that the students care about and come in contact with often, there should be a built-in attention to detail and an excitement level in writing (and, hopefully talking) about each piece.

Purpose of Exercise:  This exercise stimulates students to enrich their descriptive writing by using a plain object and writing about it in an extravagant way—using lots of detail, metaphor, and imagery. It makes students develop and possibly appreciate a creative approach to the writing method.

Description:  Students will take a normal object and write a creative description and narrative about the object of their choice. By following a set of questions provided by the instructor, students will write a prose style response – not just a list or catalog.

Suggested Time:  30 – 35 minutes

Procedure:  Students should pick an object that they have easy and tangible access – a pen, teddy bear, a washcloth, ID card, whatever they desire. They should then write a creative response using the following questions or a similar format: 

• You look around the room and see your object. How well can you see it? Where is the light coming from?
• You walk over to your object. How many steps did it take?
• Your object is lying next to several other things. One of these things reminds you of something or someone else. What does it remind you of?
• Pick up the object. How heavy is it? Can you toss it in the air?
• Put the object close to your eyes, so close that it becomes blurry. What do you see? (tiny bumps? little lines?)
• Put your object against your ear. Does it make a sound? What does that sound (or lack of sound) remind you of?
• Put your object under your nose. What does it smell like? What does the scent remind you of?
• While you have the object this close to your face, you might as well taste it. Go ahead, stick out your tongue. What is that taste? What does it remind you of?
• You are getting tired of this exercise. Get rid of your object. Dispose of it somehow. How did you get rid of it and how do you feel now that it is gone?

In order for students to successfully complete the exercise, each question must be answered in sentence form. Encourage students to be creative in the description of the object and its purpose.

• UP Textbook Guide
• The Writing Process
• Addressing the Prompt
• Originality
• Timed Writing (Expectations)
• Integrated Writing (Writing Process)
• Shape and Organization
• A Shifting Structure
• Introductions
• Body Paragraphs
• Conclusions
• Reference Page
• Example Essay
• Timed Writing (Revising)
• Integrated Writing (TOEFL Task 1)
• Descriptive Writing
• Alternative Project: Creative Writing
• Example Descriptive Writing

Skill: Word Choice

• Sources: Quoting
• Revise Descriptive Writing
• Timed Writing (Word Choice)
• Integrated Writing (TOEFL 2)
• Personal Statements
• Alternative Project: Formal Emails
• Example Personal Statement
• Types of Personal Statements
• Organization For Comprehensive Personal Statement
• Organization for Prompted Personal Statement
• Skill: Development
• Revise a Personal Statement
• Timed Writing (Audience & Register)
• Integrated Writing (Audience & Register)
• Problem-Solution Writing
• Alternative Project: Reviews
• Example Problem-Solution Writing
• Skill: Unity
• Sources: Summarizing
• Revise Problem-Solution Writing
• Timed Writing (The Prompt)
• Integrated Writing (Paraphrasing)
• Persuasive Essays
• Alternative Project: Reflections
• Example Persuasive Writing
• Skill: Cohesion
• Sources: Paraphrasing
• Revise an Persuasive Essay
• Timed Writing (Scope & Scale)
• Integrated Writing (Content)
• Appendix A: Sentence Variety
• Simple Sentences
• Compound Sentences
• Complex Sentences Part 1
• Complex Sentences Part 2
• Compound-Complex Sentences
• Appendix B: Using Sources
• Finding Sources
• In-text Citations
• More about Reference Pages
• Translations

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Because descriptive writing is characterized by detailed and interesting illustrations, word choice is a very important writing skill for this type of writing. For this writing practice, we will focus on incorporating new and more specific words to emphasize your meaning.

A challenge with introducing new vocabulary into your writing is appropriately including a new word into a sentence. There are three important parts of word knowledge to consider before including the word: part of speech, connotations vs definitions, and collocations.

Think of how in the fictional books you read in English the word said might be replaced with  yelled, cried, declared, insisted, whimpered, or stated . Although at the core these words are all used as verbs for speaking, they carry extra meaning that gives more information to the reader than a simple  said .

Be aware that some vocabulary may also have an expression (phrase) that could be used instead of a single word. For example, someone may say  tired or  exhausted, but the expression  I'm beat or I'm worn out or I'm spent also mean the same thing. 

One step that may be helpful is making a list of adjectives and adverbs that more accurately describe the person and their impact on others. A thesaurus is a great place to look for synonyms:

• https://edtechbooks.org/-xJIdG  
• https://www.thesaurus.com/  

Part of Speech

Most of the words you encounter when looking for synonyms or translating words from your first language will be in the same part of speech : noun, verb, adjective, adverb etc. However, it is possible that you will find a word that changes to a different word form. 

Now that you've practiced looking at descriptive words and synonyms in isolation, you need to start thinking about how the words are actually used in sentences. 

As mentioned in the previous exercise, it is important to check that the part of speech of your synonym is the same. This is the first step to knowing how to include it in a new sentence.

Sometimes, a synonym that uses a different part of speech is the best word for the job. Other times, you may find that the sentence you want to write would be most clear if you change the form of the word on your list.

Same Part of Speech: 

(Less descriptive) We bought an inexpensive car. 

(More descriptive) We bought a cheap car.  

Different Part of Speech:

(Less descriptive) We bought an inexpensive car.

(More descriptive) We bought a car at a discount . 

(More descriptive) *The car is competitively priced . 

*You may also use a phrase instead of a single word if it is more descriptive. 

Connotation

The word synonym can be deceptive. As mentioned with the word  said , a synonym can add meaning. Sometimes this additional meaning, or connotation , is clear in the definition.

• For example, the additional meaning of insist  compared to  said is directly explained in the definition: to demand something forcefully.
• Take a look at the dictionary definitions of the words said and  state . In this case, the difference is not as obvious.

Connotations and Culture

An important note is that connotation is largely determined by culture. A direct translation of a word can often lose an intended connotation or gain one accidentally. An example of this can be seen within the general culture of the United States with words like  fat , chubby , skinny , or slim . While the dictionary definition of these words may simply describe the physical shape of a person, there is often a cultural connotation to such descriptions that could be seen as offensive. 

When the dictionary does not provide enough information to know the connotation of a new word, the additional meaning can often be found by viewing example sentences. Look at the example sentences below for  said and  state . Can you recognize a difference in meaning now?

• He said he will be home at 8.
• He stated his full address.

After looking at a few additional example sentences, you may come to the conclusion that  state has an additional level of formality, usually used to talk about speaking in an official way.

The Grammar of Vocabulary

In addition to knowing the part of speech and full meaning of a word, you will need to be aware of any grammar patterns that are connected to that word. The part of speech is one step in this direction, but it does not give you the full information about how the word is commonly included in actual written English. 

A  collocation is a word that frequently occurs together with a target vocabulary word. Likely as you have memorized verbs, you will have noticed that there is a particular preposition that goes with it.

• For example: decide to/on, depend on, come from, or laugh about

There are also times that a collocation (particularly a preposition or adverb) can create a phrasal verb. A phrasal verb creates a completely new meaning when the words are found together.

• For example:  turn on, get out, take off, move in, go through , or drop out of

Because a collocation can either be required to complete the grammatical unit or can signal a change in meaning, it is important to look for clues about a new vocabulary word before trying to include it in a sentence. 

Word Choice Review

Throughout this chapter of the textbook, you have looked at how to select vocabulary that provides more specific detail than the low-hanging fruit* of the most common words of English. As you write your short descriptive essay, pay special attention to the words you choose. Is the meaning clear and direct? Is the word form used appropriately for the grammar of your sentence? Have you checked to ensure any new vocabulary words match the intended meaning?

*Low-hanging fruit: obvious or easy choice or action

Descriptive Writing Tip

As a final note, it is important to remember that at the college level, your writing will have a main purpose other than to describe. The description adds to the overall impact of your writing, but there is such thing as too much description. Be careful not to overwhelm your reader with so much description that your actual purpose is lost.

Since the purpose of this essay is to isolate the language skills needed for descriptive writing, you do not need to worry too much about this here. However, look carefully at the feedback you receive from the teacher. Are there supporting ideas that are overdescribed? Are there additional places where descriptions would enhance the writing?

Exercise 1: Synonyms

Make a list of words that could replace each word below. Try to choose more descriptive words that could replace each word.  

Exercise 2: Vocabulary List

Make a list of vocabulary that would be useful in describing the event you are writing about. Along with the list of words you already know, try making a new vocabulary list of synonyms that you can try to include in your writing. 

pretty: cute, beautiful, georgeous, mesmerizing, enchanting, pleasing, appealing, attractive.

Exercise 3: Synonyms and Part of Speech

Part A:  Practice making synonyms with the following words. Use a thesaurus to find a more descriptive synonym. Then use a dictionary to check its part of speech. Write a descriptive synonym for each word with the same part of speech. The first word has been done for you as an example.

Notice how some words have different meanings in different parts of speech like “share” the verb meaning to give to many people and “share” the noun meaning a part of a company or business. When you look for a synonym, make sure the part of speech and that the meanings are the same.

Exercise 4: Synonyms in Sentences

Practice using the synonyms you found iin the previous exercise in sentences. Rewrite the sentences below to use the synonyms you found. You may need to change the word order of the sentence or give more context to specify which meaning of the synonym you are using. Two examples have been done for you.

Example: The decor at the restaurant was very pretty . The decor at the restaurant was very charming . 

Example: Albert Einstein was very smart . *Albert Einstein was very quick ; his genius was well-known. 

*More context was needed to clarify that the meaning of "quick" here was intelligent, not physically fast-moving. 

1. The girl walking down the street was pretty .

2. The new robotics team created a very  smart  machine that cleans your room for you.

3. I share  my food with my significant other when they are hungry. 

4. The chef made a cake in the oven. 

5. He easily completed the assignment for his boss. 

6. She happily played the violin during her performance. 

Exercise 5: Changing part of speech

Practice changing the synonym you chose in the previous exercise to a different part of speech. This will let it be used in a different way in a sentence. If the synonym you chose in the previous exercise does not keep the same meaning when it changes the part of speech, then choose a new synonym word with a different part of speech. The first word has been done for you as an example.

Exercise 6: Original Sentence

Write your own original sentence for each synonym you chose in the previous exercise. Try to use it in the sentence with the new part of speech. The first word has been done for you as an example. 

Example: The charm  from the girls' smile enchanted the boys.

Exercise 7: Recognizing connotation

1. Consider the connotations of the underlined words below. How does the meaning shift? Does the dictionary definition clearly show you the difference in use?

• The pants were made of a cheap material and were unusable after one use.
• The pants were affordable and so buying them was within my budget.
• The pants were so  inexpensive ! They were a steal* at that price! 

2. Now check the connotations and definition differences between the provided synonyms and a synonym of your choice. How does the meaning shift? Does the dictionary definition clearly show you the difference in use?

• pretty,   charming, and ____
• share,   bestow, and ____
• easy,   effortless, and ____

*This expression is used for when something is so inexpensive that it feels like you didn't have to pay for them

Exercise 8: Connotation Sentences

Read the words below. They have similar dictionary definitions but different connotations. Write a sentence for each word in the pair that demonstrates your understanding of the differences in meaning.

My daughter is very curious and always looks out the window.

My coworker is so nosy and is always sharing gossip with anyone who will listen.

1. curious , nosy

2. guest , visitor

3. picky , selective

4. persistent , stubborn

5. childish , childlike

Exercise 9: Collocations

• catch + noun
• give + preposition
• ask + preposition
• keep + noun
• get + adjective 
• hold :  hold on and hold up
• fight : fight over and fight for
• pay : pay off and pay up
• hang : hang out and hang up
• get : get back at and get back to

Exercise 10: Collocation sentences

• Write a sentence for each of the 5 collocates from question 1 in Exercise 5.
• Write a sentence for 5 of the phrasal verbs from question 2 in Exercise 5.

Exercise 11: Different Words. Same Meaning.

You may use synonyms to rephrase (paraphrase) information from a source in your own words. A paraphrase uses different words and grammar to keep the same meaning as the original. Consider the paraphrases below. Choose the best paraphrase for each original quote:

1. "It ripped through every economic level, race, religion, and culture" (Graf, 2018, "World War II," para. 1). 

• It tore through all economic levels, races, religious groups, and cultures (Graf, 2018).
• It affected everybody. (Graf, 2018).
• There was no economic, racial, religious or cultural group that was unaffected by it (Graf, 2018).
• No groups (racial, cultural, or otherwise) wanted to touch it (Graf, 2018).

2. "The Renaissance gave us new light, pushing aside the Dark Ages when man was directed by superstition and fear" (Graf, 2018, "The Renaissance," para. 1).

• Superstitious beliefs and fear drove man in the Dark Ages, but were replaced by new light during the Renaissance (Graf, 2018).
• The Renaissance pushed aside the Dark Ages because of superstition and fear (Graf, 2018).
• The Renaissance was pushy because the Dark Ages were a difficult time of fear and superstitious directions (Graf, 2018).
• The Renaissance brought light to the Dark Ages when man was directed by superstition and fear (Graf, 2018).

Exercise 12: Write a body paragraph

The partial outline below includes a topic sentence, some developing questions, and some research (quotes and paraphrases). Use the information to create a body paragraph. This body paragraph would be part of an essay about the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. Your paragraph should include rich description through word choice. 

Topic sentence: The 1906 earthquake was devastating.

• Q: How did the earthquake cause devastation?
• "In the public's mind, this earthquake is perhaps remembered most for the fire it spawned in San Francisco, giving it the somewhat misleading appellation of the "San Francisco earthquake". Shaking damage, however, was equally severe in many other places along the fault rupture" (USGS, n.d., para. 3).
• Q: What did the devastation include?
• "The frequently quoted value of 700 deaths caused by the earthquake and fire is now believed to underestimate the total loss of life by a factor of 3 or 4. Most of the fatalities occurred in San Francisco, and 189 were reported elsewhere" (USGS, n.d., para. 3).
• Deaths were estimated much lower originally than after further research; now the estimate is around 3,000 people. (USGS, n.d.)
• Over half of the city's residents were homeless (USGS, n.d.).

This content is provided to you freely by BYU Open Learning Network.

Access it online or download it at https://open.byu.edu/up_writing_fall/descriptive_writing .

How To Write A Descriptive Essay?

26 April, 2020

11 minutes read

Author:  Tomas White

Descriptive essay is one of the hardest forms of writing. To master descriptive writing, you must be creative and craft a scene that all readers can picture with words alone. This freedom and creativity can make it one of the most rewarding and fun essays to write. It is the backbone of all artful writing like poetry, novels, and even television scripts. We prepared this guide for You to learn all you need to know about descriptive writing. Let's start!

What is a Descriptive Essay?

The goal of a descriptive essay is simple, choose a subject and describe it. The subject could be anything:

A descriptive essay is all about describing the subject in great detail. Being a type of expository writing , it gives you great freedom to paint a picture with your words, shares a once in a lifetime event with the reader or makes them feel something.  It is better to choose a descriptive essay topic that has lots of qualities to discuss for example a person might have a more interesting feature to describe than a paper towel. Choose a subject you connect with emotionally or have a personal history with. The best descriptions come from retelling an experience.

The Difference Between Descriptive and Narrative Essays

The main difference between descriptive and narrative essays lies in the structure and purpose of the essay. A descriptive essay is used to describe a subject to present a clear picture of it. As such, it only requires you to describe the item in a logic fashion. A narrative essay’s purpose is to tell a story. As such, it requires a plot and logical progression to an outcome. A person’s face can be the subject of a descriptive essay. But it would be hard to write a narrative piece that follows the person’s face as the central plot of a story.

Showing VS Telling

A descriptive essay values details over facts. This is also known as showing vs. telling. To  show  something is to describe using the five senses, how it looks, how it smells, how it tastes, how it feels and how it sounds. Imagine the reader as an alien, who has never experienced the subject for themselves. How would you describe it then?

To give you an understanding of how to differentiate between showing and telling I’ll write an example of a descriptive paper that describes my favorite place.

The above example tells you, as it doesn’t evoke any of your senses. It is a senseless description . It’s vague and hard to imagine.

This description is more detail and easier to imagine because of the following changes:

• The choice of words like ‘haven’ instead of ‘like’ add a showing element as it is showing in what way I like the library.
• Putting describers before items like ‘brightly colored’ books makes it easier to see.
• And choosing words with more like ‘towering’ instead of ‘tall’ makes the description less full.
• The description of the books shows what they do, not what they are. These are important points to consider when writing a descriptive essay.

A good exercise for descriptive writing and is to read descriptive essay examples and pick out the words that do the four points outlined above. Analyzing other’s descriptive writing will make your own descriptive work stronger. Can you pick out another place in the descriptive essay example above where those four changes occur and what it lends to the description?

Still having problems with your descriptive paper? All you need is to request help from our top-notch essay writing service and our essay writer make it for you !

How to Choose a Descriptive Essay Topic?

When deciding what to highlight about your topic, take a step back and look at what draws you to it. A campfire has bright, flickering colors, a satisfying crackling sound, and a sort of flow as it moves from the bottom to the tip of the flame. Place yourself in proximity to the subject and describe the parts that stimulate your senses the most.

Title Examples of Descriptive Essays

Here are some examples of descriptive essay topics that are fun to write:

Pick something you can see right now and think about how you’d describe that.

Related Posts: Argumentative essay topics | Compare&Contrast essay topics

How to Set Up a Proper Description?

Slow down and think about what you want to invoke. Don’t rush into a description or you’ll likely end up with something weaker than you could have. Take your topic aside and write some sentences describing how it charms each sense – the five senses being:

Keep a thesaurus on hand to switch some of the more basic words out. If you can read your paragraph back and vividly imagine the item you’ve described, you’ve done it.

How to write a Descriptive Essay Outline

Starting your descriptive essay without a plan can lead to a messy and sprawling description.  Learning to outline your ideas is just as important as knowing how to write them.

Related Posts: How to write an Essay outline  | How to write an Essay introduction  

 Creating an Introduction for a Descriptive Writing

Once you have chosen the subject to write you need to plan the introduction for your descriptive paper. An introduction needs to include a thesis statement and three features of the thing you are describing.   The introduction should start with a thesis statement that states how you feel about your topic. This should then be supported with three qualities defining those feelings.

These thesis statements aren’t meant to be complex. All they’re meant to do is to set up your reader for your descriptions. It is important to include three reasons that you can expand on describe in great detail as they will form the paragraphs of your descriptive paper.

Planning and Writing the Body of a Descriptive Essay

Looking at your thesis statement, take those three reasons and break them down into their own paragraphs. Describe hanging out with your friends at the beach, talk about the food you’d eat, the activities you’d participate in. Detail what huskies do when they’re energetic, what shows that they get along with other dogs?

It helps to write about each way you can describe an item on a separate sheet of paper. Use that sheet as your descriptive essay outline. Take each item and write what sense you can use to describe the item in each paragraph.

For example, if you want to talk about eating a popsicle on the beach you could include how cold against your tongue for touch, that it smelt and tasted like raspberries, it was a bright red, and shaped like a rocket for sight, and the sound you made it as you bit on it, or the sound you made as it rocketed into your mouth. Expand this into a paragraph keeping the most vivid description.

Force your reader to imagine these objects in their head. Help them visualize it, pour your vision into the paper and focus on both the small and the big details. Just don’t go overboard. It’s important to have a few great descriptors rather than a ton of average ones.

When describing an object, go about it in a practical sense. Don’t just throw details on the page, talk about them in order. Describe a mountain from its peak to it’s middle all the way down to its base. You wouldn’t go from the middle to the base to the peak, would you? This way, you’re keeping your reader engaged with the topic.

Concluding a Descriptive Essay

Concluding descriptive writing is easy. All you have to show why the subject you described is important to you. All you have to do is show the reader what you implied. Show why it has meaning, and why they should care.

Descriptive Essay Example

Drafting your essay.

Where the organization comes to fruition. When writing your essay, keep the reader in your head at all times. Constantly as yourself: “Is this vivid enough?” Don’t focus much on grammar, get the content onto the paper.

Questions to Ask Yourself

Once you’ve finished writing your essay, read it back and make sure it responds positively to each of these questions:

• Are these descriptions making my writing visual? Could I make them more vivid?
• Have I used these descriptions to detail my emotions to the reader?
• Do these descriptions convey each of the five senses?
• Have I gone into enough details in each paragraph?
• Are my descriptions in an orderly fashion?

If you believe your essay fits these criteria, then you’re good to go on the content side.

Perfecting the Essay

Read it through a couple more times. Take some time away from it and then come back with a fresh mindset.  Correct any grammar issues you see, and double check that it answers all of the questions mentioned above. Once that’s done, you’ll have an essay worthy of an A+ grade.

From Our Writers: Tips on How to Write a Good Descriptive Essay

• Be sensitive. Some writers are scared to show their true selves, but the point of a descriptive essay is to talk about how an object affects your senses and emotions. Keep this in mind during all stages of the essay.
• Put effort into unique descriptions. Don’t settle for standard words, spend some time searching out alternatives to common descriptive words. It will only help the reader envision your thoughts.
• Write about something that you care about. If you choose something you don’t have much personal experience with, you can’t truly write from the heart.

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15.4 Descriptive Essay

Learning objective.

• Read an example of the descriptive rhetorical mode.

America’s Pastime

As the sun hits my face and I breathe in the fresh air, I temporarily forget that I am at a sporting event. But when I open my eyes and look around, I am reminded of all things American. From the national anthem to the international players on the field, all the sights and sounds of a baseball game come together like a slice of Americana pie.

First, the entrance turnstiles click and clank, and then a hallway of noise bombards me. All the fans voices coalesce in a chorus of sound, rising to a humming clamor. The occasional, “Programs, get your programs, here!” jumps out through the hum to get my attention. I navigate my way through the crowded walkways of the stadium, moving to the right of some people, to the left of others, and I eventually find the section number where my seat is located. As I approach my seat I hear the announcer’s voice echo around the ball park, “Attention fans. In honor of our country, please remove your caps for the singing of the national anthem.” His deep voice echoes around each angle of the park, and every word is heard again and again. The crowd sings and hums “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and I feel a surprising amount of national pride through the voices. I take my seat as the umpire shouts, “Play ball!” and the game begins.

In the fifth inning of the game, I decide to find a concessions stand. Few tastes are as American as hot dogs and soda pop, and they cannot be missed at a ball game. The smell of hot dogs carries through the park, down every aisle, and inside every concourse. They are always as unhealthy as possible, dripping in grease, while the buns are soft and always too small for the dog. The best way to wash down the Ball Park Frank is with a large soda pop, so I order both. Doing my best to balance the cold pop in one hand and the wrapped-up dog in the other, I find the nearest condiments stand to load up my hot dog. A dollop of bright green relish and chopped onions, along with two squirts of the ketchup and mustard complete the dog. As I continue the balancing act between the loaded hot dog and pop back to my seat, a cheering fan bumps into my pop hand. The pop splashes out of the cup and all over my shirt, leaving me drenched. I make direct eye contact with the man who bumped into me and he looks me in the eye, looks at my shirt, tells me how sorry he is, and then I just shake my head and keep walking. “It’s all just part of the experience,” I tell myself.

Before I am able to get back to my seat, I hear the crack of a bat, followed by an uproar from the crowd. Everyone is standing, clapping, and cheering. I missed a home run. I find my aisle and ask everyone to excuse me as I slip past them to my seat. “Excuse me. Excuse me. Thank you. Thank you. Sorry,” is all I can say as I inch past each fan. Halfway to my seat I can hear discarded peanut shells crunch beneath my feet, and each step is marked with a pronounced crunch.

When I finally get to my seat I realize it is the start of the seventh inning stretch. I quickly eat my hot dog and wash it down with what is left of my soda pop. The organ starts playing and everyone begins to sing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” While singing the song, putting my arms around friends and family with me, I watch all the players taking the field. It is wonderful to see the overwhelming amount of players on one team from around the world: Japan, the Dominican Republic, the United States, Canada, and Venezuela. I cannot help but feel a bit of national pride at this realization. Seeing the international representation on the field reminds me of the ways that Americans, though from many different backgrounds and places, still come together under common ideals. For these reasons and for the whole experience in general, going to a Major League Baseball game is the perfect way to glimpse a slice of Americana.

Online Descriptive Essay Alternatives

Suzanne Berne visits New York and describes her impressions in Where Nothing Says Everything , also called Ground Zero :

• http://thepurpleenglishteacher.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/groundzero.pdf
• http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/21/travel/where-nothing-says-everything.html

Heather Rogers provides a detailed description (book excerpt) of a landfill that challenges the reader to consider his or her own consumption and waste in The Hidden Life of Garbage :

• http://books.google.com/books?id=efUymAhM_tAC&pg=PA12&lpg=PA12&dq= the+hidden+life+of+garbage+by+heather+rogers+%22in+the+dark+chill+of+early+ morning%22&source=bl&ots=7c4hoFLhTp&sig=ngecGSS27blb9zoy8wLaJX8la_o&hl= en&ei=Vi7xTKDKG4zSsAP2hdGtCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum= 1&ved=0CBgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

Writing for Success Copyright © 2015 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

How to Write a Descriptive Essay

This could be something as simple as your favorite flavor of ice cream or as complicated as the politics of 13th century Vienna. Different than a simple description, a descriptive essay allows the writer to really show off both their imagination as well as their writing skills.

What is a Descriptive Essay?

A descriptive essay is a type of academic writing that asks the writer to fully describe a place, person, situation, event, or thing. They can be simple or they can be very complex depending on the subject matter and audience written for. These types of essays train a writer’s ability to express themselves accurately as well as build compelling sentences and arguments.

Descriptive Essay Ideas

There is no exhaustive list of things that can be described, but these are some of the most common things you may be asked to write about. 

A Location - The goal of writing about a place is to make the reader feel as if they are there. Words, similes, and metaphors that ignite the reader’s imagination are essential. Try and immerse the reader in the sights, smells, and sounds of the place you are describing. Examples could be a city, a view, a particular building like your house, etc. 

A Time Period - Similar to writing about a location, the goal is to make the reader lose themselves in the time you are describing. This requires great research to be able to describe physical characteristics as authentically and as well as possible. This could include how you felt a year ago, an ancient time period, or the future.

An Event - The goal of describing an event is to explain a series of interesting circumstances. Typical storytelling elements like describing the plot, setting, and characters are useful, but make sure you focus on the chain of events.

An Emotion - The goal of describing an emotion is to make the reader feel the sentiments of the character you are describing. Metaphors and similes are very useful when trying to evoke an emotion in a reader along with physical descriptions that express the emotion. 

A Person - The goal of writing about a person is to make the reader understand something about that person. This includes physical descriptions of what they look like, what kind of clothing they wear, a sense of the physical presence along with their profession,  as well as how they behave. 

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Descriptive Essay Outline and Structure

Though a descriptive type of essay is quite different from a typical academic paper, it still follows a classic 5 paragraph format. Always follow any directions though, sometimes you may need more or fewer body paragraphs. This is a general structure you should keep in mind for this type of essay.

Introduction

• Introduction/background information

Body Paragraphs

• Topic Sentence
• Sensory Information
• Physical Descriptions
• Transition Sentence
• Summary of the main points
• Restate the thesis

An outline is always a good idea for any kind of writing, but it is particularly useful for this type of essay because it collects your thoughts and makes sure your essay stays on track. 

Introduction 

• Hook - The sting of salty water, the hypnotic crash of the waves, the breathtaking sunsets, the best vacation spot?
• Background information - Everyone is different and everyone likes different types of things. When it comes to vacations though, there is a place that almost everyone enjoys.
• Thesis - In my opinion, the beach is the best possible vacation spot because of the variety of ways one can enjoy it. 

Body Paragraph 1 

• Topic Sentence - The beach has many kinds of natural beauty
• Sensory information - The unlimited expanse of the ocean combined with glorious sunrises and sunsets.
• Physical descriptions -The crunch of sand below your bare feet and the crash of waves on your body.
• Transition sentence - There’s more than just natural beauty though, there are physical activities to enjoy as well 

Body Paragraph 2

• Topic Sentence - The beach has unlimited activities for physical enjoyment.
• Sensory information - The thrill of battling with the ocean, the joy of falling on the sand, the wind streaming through your hair, and the pleasant tingling of the sun on bare skin.
• Physical descriptions - Water sports like surfing, jet skiing, and the like allow you to exercise in one of the most fun ways possible. Not to mention sports like frisbee, volleyball, beach soccer, and more.
• Transition sentence - If you just want to relax, the beach is perfect for that too!

Body Paragraph 3

• Topic Sentence - The beach is ideal just to relax, destress, and take it easy. 
• Sensory information - To relax as you are massaged by either human hands or the sun is a pleasure. Lazing around might be frowned upon, but the beach is the ideal place to spend some time taking care of yourself and letting the stresses of the world melt away.
• Physical description - Whether it’s reading a book, or enjoying a refreshing beverage with umbrellas in it, you can get taken care of on the beach. Building sandcastles, painting, and meditating are other activities easily and freely enjoyed. 
• Transition sentence - The beach has so much to offer.
• Summary of the main points - Whether it’s nature, physical exercise, or simple relaxation, the beach can offer all of that and more. 
• Restate the thesis - That’s the main reason that a beach is the ideal vacation spot, it allows for diverse ways of having fun. 
• Closing statement/Clincher - Think about the last time you went to the beach, don’t you want to go again?

What is the Purpose of a Descriptive Essay?

It should leave the reader with a clear idea of the topic of the essay. The goal is to explain things in a comprehensive and interesting way so that the information stays with the reader. Let’s go into the details of how to accomplish this. 

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Writing Process & Descriptive Essay Examples

It may seem challenging to write a successful essay of this type, but if you follow the advice below, it will be a breeze. 

How to Start a Descriptive Essay

Making sure you choose the right topic is the first hurdle to cross. A topic for a descriptive essay is vital because it is the main subject you will be writing about. Spend at least 20 minutes brainstorming different topic ideas and make sure you choose a topic that you know well.

Next, create an outline to better structure your thoughts and figure out the pieces of information you need to find out more about. The more time you spend creating a well-researched outline, the better your endpaper is going to be, and you’ll end up spending less time on actually writing the paper. Now you can move on the writing the descriptive essay introduction.

How to Write a Descriptive Essay Thesis

A thesis statement is the main argument you are trying to make in your paper. It is the main point you are trying to describe. A good thesis statement for descriptive essay is particular without being too brief. It should include not only just what the topic is, but also mention why the topic is important.

How to Write Body Paragraphs

You can have as many body paragraphs as you think are necessary to achieve the goal of describing something clearly. This means you could have just one body paragraph, the standard three, or more. 

Start every paragraph with a topic sentence that explains what the main purpose of the paragraph is. Next fill in sensory details, describing the emotions before moving on to describing the actual physical details. End each body paragraph with a transition sentence that helps each paragraph flow into the other. Not only does this make your writing stronger, but it also helps you create an immersive experience.

How to Write the Conclusion 

Summarize the main points of your essay and make sure that you reiterate the thesis statement. This reminds people of the point of your essay and ensures that when writing, you don’t stray too far from the point. 

Descriptive Essay Format 

There are 3 main formats of citation types for essays. Though the most common one is MLA, it is possible that you may have to use APA or Chicago Style citations. 

MLA stands for Modern Language Association and is used primarily for the arts and humanities.  MLA uses in-text parenthetical citation in the format of (Author, Page). The page at the end that contains all the sources is called the Works Cited page. The format of these entries is unique to MLA but is easy to make with a citation generator. 

APA stands for American Psychological Association and is used mostly for the sciences and social sciences. APA uses in-text parenthetical citations in the format (Author, Date). The page at the end that contains all the sources is called the References section

Chicago Style is used primarily for Business, History, and the Fine Arts. In-text citation can be either as footnotes or parenthetical citation in the format (Author, Date). The page at the end that contains all the sources is called the Bibliography. 

Most descriptive essays will follow the MLA style of citation, but if you need any more help, find a guide on Studyfy.com for more information about citation styles in general. 

Descriptive Essay Topics

The topic is crucial, because all the research you do, and the entire paper, will specifically be about describing the topic. Here are some descriptive essay prompts to inspire you!

The person you’ve most admired in your life

A movie scene that made you feel strong emotions

The time period you would travel to if you had a time machine

Why a beach is better than the mountains for a vacation (or vice versa)

The taste of a drink when you are incredibly tired

An author that inspired you 

Your favorite cuisine

The best place in the world to be by yourself

The best Christmas morning you’ve ever had

An accent that you really enjoy 

A time when you wanted something so much it burned

Describe the day in the life of your favorite celebrity 

The joy of escaping into a video game

What dancing means to you 

A life philosophy you believe in 

The feeling of holding a baby in our arms

The sound of crashing waves

Standing in front of a gorgeous view

A vacation that was meaningful 

Why fireworks are magical 

The first time you cosplayed 

How it feels to listen to music that you hate 

The best thing you have ever eaten in your life

What would it be like to live 100 years in the future

Why hearing people laugh is beautiful 

A day in the life of your favorite animal 

A strange superstition you believe in

The strangest person you’ve ever met

Your favorite tv show 

Playing your favorite sport 

What it’s like to be in love

Descriptive Essay Tips

Before we end, let’s go over some of the key points of information in this article.

• Use figurative language including metaphors and similes 
• Use your senses
• Choose appropriate words
• Show don't tell 
• Focus on specific details
• Spend time choosing the right topic
• Create a detailed outline
• Forget about the purpose of the essay
• Submit your first draft
• Make it too complicated
• Ignore your audience 
• Ignore any directions

In addition to the information provided in this article, there are various resources available to help with your writing needs. If you are struggling to write your descriptive essay, you can turn to professional writers and editors for assistance. You may consider hiring a research paper writing service or seeking help from dissertation writers .

Additionally, if you need someone to " write my admission essay ", there are various options available. You can hire a writer for a custom writing service or seek help from online tutors and teachers. Furthermore, if you need to write a strong admission essay, there are services available that specialize in providing guidance and assistance with this type of writing.

It is important to note that before submitting any work, it should be proofread and edited thoroughly to ensure its quality. Studyfy offers a range of services to help with this, including professional proofreaders and editors who can check your work for grammatical errors and ensure that it meets academic standards.

In summary, there are various resources available to help with your writing needs, including professional writing services, proofreaders, and editors. By utilizing these resources and following the guidelines outlined in this article, you can write a successful descriptive essay that effectively conveys your ideas and engages your readers.If you are looking for the query " I need someone to write an essay for me ", Studyfy has got you covered

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Descriptive Essays

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The Modes of Discourse—Exposition, Description, Narration, Argumentation (EDNA)—are common paper assignments you may encounter in your writing classes. Although these genres have been criticized by some composition scholars, the Purdue OWL recognizes the wide spread use of these approaches and students’ need to understand and produce them.

What is a descriptive essay?

The descriptive essay is a genre of essay that asks the student to describe something—object, person, place, experience, emotion, situation, etc. This genre encourages the student’s ability to create a written account of a particular experience. What is more, this genre allows for a great deal of artistic freedom (the goal of which is to paint an image that is vivid and moving in the mind of the reader).

One might benefit from keeping in mind this simple maxim: If the reader is unable to clearly form an impression of the thing that you are describing, try, try again!

Here are some guidelines for writing a descriptive essay.

• Take time to brainstorm

If your instructor asks you to describe your favorite food, make sure that you jot down some ideas before you begin describing it. For instance, if you choose pizza, you might start by writing down a few words: sauce, cheese, crust, pepperoni, sausage, spices, hot, melted, etc. Once you have written down some words, you can begin by compiling descriptive lists for each one.

• Use clear and concise language.

This means that words are chosen carefully, particularly for their relevancy in relation to that which you are intending to describe.

• Choose vivid language.

Why use horse when you can choose stallion ? Why not use tempestuous instead of violent ? Or why not miserly in place of cheap ? Such choices form a firmer image in the mind of the reader and often times offer nuanced meanings that serve better one’s purpose.

• Use your senses!

Remember, if you are describing something, you need to be appealing to the senses of the reader. Explain how the thing smelled, felt, sounded, tasted, or looked. Embellish the moment with senses.

• What were you thinking?!

If you can describe emotions or feelings related to your topic, you will connect with the reader on a deeper level. Many have felt crushing loss in their lives, or ecstatic joy, or mild complacency. Tap into this emotional reservoir in order to achieve your full descriptive potential.

• Leave the reader with a clear impression.

One of your goals is to evoke a strong sense of familiarity and appreciation in the reader. If your reader can walk away from the essay craving the very pizza you just described, you are on your way to writing effective descriptive essays.

• Be organized!

It is easy to fall into an incoherent rambling of emotions and senses when writing a descriptive essay. However, you must strive to present an organized and logical description if the reader is to come away from the essay with a cogent sense of what it is you are attempting to describe.

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8 Descriptive Writing Activities to Hone Your Students’ Language Skills and Creativity

These sentences get the point across: 

I could smell the peppers. It was dinner time. I washed my hands. 

But we can make them more detailed and engaging :

The sweet, burnt scent of roasting peppers hung in the air. I knew dinner was almost ready. I washed my hands, watching the dirt swirl around the sink and disappear. 

How do you get your ESL students from the first example to the second? By introducing them to the wonders of descriptive writing!

The descriptive writing activities listed in this post can be adapted for any age group and all levels of ESL learners. With a little guidance from you, your students will be writing wonderfully descriptive sentences in no time.

8 Activities for Introducing ESL Students to Descriptive Writing

1. transform non-descriptive sentences to descriptive, 2. describe a painting or picture, 3. describe an object, 4. describe a restaurant, 5. describe your best friend or family member, 6. describe a favorite food, 7. describe your favorite room at home, 8. describe your best or worst vacation, why teach descriptive writing to esl students, how to make students aware of descriptive writing, literary devices, the five senses, reading for imagery.

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Here are some descriptive writing activities that will encourage your students to get creative with the English language! You can even tweak any of them to focus on certain categories of vocabulary words, such as food or travel. 

Prepare a worksheet with sentences that are rather basic and lacking description. Students must transform these sentences into more descriptive sentences. Remind your students to use their five senses and literary devices.

For example:

It was cold.→The air was frigid and I couldn’t feel my ears.

The car was red and fast.→The car was apple-red and could easily go 120 miles per hour.

Students can work individually or in pairs. They should share their sentences at the end of class.

Print out a selection of images. You can use famous paintings or photographs.

Assign a different image to each student, then ask them to describe it using their five senses, literary device and adjectives.

Give them a sufficient amount of time to think about it. Then, collect the images again and display them in front of the classroom. Students will then read their descriptions, and the rest of the class will try to determine which image the student is describing.

Let students choose an object and write a description of it for 10 minutes. Set a word minimum or maximum limit as needed and encourage them to be as descriptive as possible.

You can implement different guidelines. For example, “you can’t use any color names” or “you must use all five senses” or “you must use one literary device.”

Once they’re ready with their descriptions, students take turns reading their descriptions. The rest of the class must try to guess the object their classmate describes.

For this activity, challenge your students to write their own descriptive paragraphs. 

Have them describe their favorite restaurant. In a restaurant, all your senses are turned on and sight may be overwhelmed by smells and sounds .

At the end of class, ask for students to volunteer to share their descriptions before you collect their work.

This activity is great for focusing on other types of descriptions. In addition to describing appearances, students may also describe things such as mannerisms, feelings and characteristics .

Students should share their descriptions with the class.

I like this activity because it’s easy for students to simply describe the taste or sight of their favorite food, but they should also work on describing the smell of the food as it is prepared and the  texture  of the food in their mouths.

You can introduce different vocabulary related to food such as: salty, bitter, sweet and spicy.

Again, make sure you save time at the end of class for students to share their descriptions.

Another nice activity that gets students thinking is describing their favorite room in their home.

Students should think about size, colors, the atmosphere and furniture, among other things. Make sure you ask them to say why it’s their favorite room.

Save time at the end of the lesson for them to share what they wrote if they want.

This activity encourages students to bring their reader into the vacation. They must describe the setting, order of events and the people who were with them.

If you have time, encourage them to write about both a great vacation and an awful vacation, which will make them work with descriptions and words of both positive and  negative connotation.

Descriptive writing can be summed up in one short statement: Show, don’t tell. 

Descriptive writing creates a clear image in the reader’s head. It describes something or someone accurately and in a way that makes it come alive for the reader.

For ESL learners, practicing descriptive writing can not only enhance their writing but also be a fun and creative way to practice English. After all, descriptive writing exposes them to some of the more subtle and beautiful aspects of the English language, such as diverse vocabulary and literary devices like similes and personification.

Begin with explaining some of the general ideas of descriptive writing. Before students can write descriptively, they must understand the basics of descriptive writing.

Aside from having a solid list of adjectives and adverbs at their fingertips, they should be familiar with the following concepts:

Descriptive writing is more than just using adjectives and adverbs. Literary devices can help writers write descriptively.

Here’s a sample list of useful literary devices. Choose what you want to introduce depending on the level of your students: 

• Alliteration: The repetition of a sound or letter in words close to each other.
• Imagery:  The visual description of something.
• Onomatopoeia: Words that sound like the sounds they describe.
• Personification: Giving inanimate objects living attributes.
• Simile: Comparing two things with the words “like” or “as.”

Practice using these devices by having students create individual sentences for each. Give students a chance to share their sentences with the whole class.

Another key element to good descriptive writing is using all five senses . Most of the time, students get into the habit of describing only what can be seen. However, it’s important to incorporate all of the senses: taste, touch, sight, smell and sound.

Write the five senses on the board, and list down relevant adjectives under each. Encourage students to share as many adjectives as they can think of.

Then ask your students to think of different ways to describe the classroom using different senses. What do they see? What do they hear? What does the classroom smell like? What does it feel like to sit in the classroom? Since the classroom has no taste (hopefully), for the taste column you can ask students to describe what they ate that morning.

Ask your students to write a few sentences individually and give them a chance to share with the class.

Another great way to introduce the idea of descriptive writing to your students is to have them read some examples. Read a descriptive passage (either your own or one you found online) and have students identify the literary devices and senses that are used.

Alternatively, you can give them two passages to compare and contrast, one that’s lacking descriptive language and one that describes the same thing, but more creatively.

Take it one step further by removing some of the descriptive language and asking students to use their own words to complete the passage.

These activities will really get your students thinking about writing and writing descriptively. And remember, get creative yourself! Descriptive writing can be applied to just about any topic.

Happy writing!

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Descriptive Writing Worksheets

Related ela standard: w.4.3.

We use descriptive writing to, do just as the name says; describe a noun in depth. We want to make the sure we write something in a vivid fashion to cover the entire scene for the reader. In order to pull this off we need to captures the use of our five sense and portrait that to readers. I often have my students use a flow chart to brainstorm the ideas and the writing process when working in a descriptive forum. The worksheets found below will empower students to use the descriptive technique when authoring their own works.

Descriptive Writing Worksheets To Print:

It's All In The DETAILS – They make just about anything more interesting. They also bring things to life.

It's in the Bag! – You have to have a plan for this worksheet. I would outline the approach you plan to take before you start it.

The Five Senses – If you want to make your work pop, include some sense words in it. Make things lively and fun.

Words That Have Sense... – At first, this seems like an easy task. It is more difficult than it looks.

What Makes Sense? – Match the picture to the words that fit it. Which sense is being used for each word that is present.

Break It Down – Underline the sentences, or parts of sentences, which help form the best visual mental picture.

Mystery Classmate – You are holding the name of a classmate. SHHHHH! It's a secret! You can find them for sure.

Seasons – Write one sentence to describe each of the four seasons with descriptive words (adjectives.) Use at least 3 adjectives in each sentence.

Self Portrait – Students are going to create a "self portrait with adjectives." You will get a strong sense of your students confidence with this sheet.

Sensory Paragraphs With Targeted Words – You are going to build an idea for a paragraph using the organizational template.

It's a Smile – These are some well-known and often used similes.

Smell and Taste It – You need to use adjectives that make your friend experience the smell as vividly as you did when you first experienced the odor.

All Five – Think of something you have tasted. It can be a good taste or one that is not so tasty.

Paint a Picture With Words – Fill in the blanks using the appropriate parts of speech. You do not have to make the first noun a "cat."

When I Grow Up – Time to think ahead to your future. Even grown ups have fun with this one.

More Descriptive Worksheet Topics:

Descriptive Paragraph Writing

Precise Words and Relvaent Details

Habits of Highly Effective Descriptive Writers

Any time you put together a descriptive piece, you need to put as much description as you can in there for your readers. You need to be Rembrandt with a writing tool. You need to hit their sense of smell (make them feel the flowers through their nose), sense of taste (how delicious is it?), sense of touch (how sharp is it?), sense of sight (that is an easy one), and sense of smell (that is pretty easy too).

Descriptive writers employ the use of well stated figurative language. When you use an analogy to pinpoint the differences or likenesses in things, it can be very powerful. Similes and metaphors can also get the job done.

Good description are exact, they don’t leave anything to chance in the readers mind. You won’t find the use general words in a solid piece of work. For example, the sentence: The apple was shiny; needs a much deeper description such as: The vibrant apple was so shiny; you could see your reflection in it. I did go a little over the top with that one, but you get the point.

Elements to Include in a Descriptive Paragraph

A descriptive paragraph is usually written as a part of any story or essay and gives details about an event or person. Writing a descriptive paragraph is not easy since it requires a lot of observation and careful crafting of the ideas on part of the author. A descriptive paragraph helps readers in understanding things to the very core and makes an image in their head of whatever they are reading about.

The elements that must be present in a descriptive paragraph are largely dependent on what kind of descriptive information is being written in that paragraph. Here are a few types of such paragraphs and elements to include in them:

Elements to Include in a Descriptive Paragraph about a Person

A descriptive paragraph can be used to define a specific character, story or some important person from history. Such a descriptive paragraph should start with a description of the person’s individuality and standing in society. It can talk about the profession of that person or the role which is being mainly contributed by him in the story. Other elements to include about the person in a descriptive paragraph are his or her facial features, physical stature, clothing, some evident aspects of his body language, and things which distinguish that one person from other people in the story or essay being described.

Elements to Include in a Descriptive Paragraph about an Event

If a descriptive paragraph is describing details of an event, then it must include the reference to the era or the particular year in which it took place, the place of the event’s occurrence, the season at the time of event's occurrence, the settings of the place where the event took place, the people involved in the event, etc.

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Descriptive Essay

Descriptive Essay Examples

Last updated on: Nov 20, 2023

Descriptive Essay Examples - 8 Examples To Help You Write Better

By: Cathy A.

10 min read

Reviewed By: Rylee W.

Published on: Dec 31, 2019

Do you need some good descriptive essay samples to understand how these essays work? We are here to help you write a descriptive essay with remarkable success!

So stay with us to learn the basics with the help of some great descriptive essay examples.

On this Page

What is a Descriptive Essay?

A descriptive essay describes and gives sensory details about a person, place, event, or thing in an in-depth and detailed manner. It is different from writing a narrative essay.

The aim of descriptive essay writing is to make the reader feel and see a certain thing, place, or person from your perspective. Your readers may have different points of view about the topic, your job is to make them see what you feel and believe.

These types of descriptions are often found in the literature; novels and dramas, where the writer constricts the whole scene through his or her words. 

Ever noticed how you feel like actually seeing the character from a novel in your mind? Or a place? This is the power of a descriptive narrative.

What is the Aim of Descriptive Writing? 

The sole aim of a descriptive essay writer is to draw a realistic and actual picture in front of the reader. These essays are a part of high school and college level and students. 

Teachers give this type of descriptive writing task to students for developing the students’ skills of describing and explaining something in a detailed manner.

This skill is quite helpful in professional life as the students will know how to analyze something in detail and by considering its different angles.

While writing a descriptive essay can be a fun and enriching experience. Describing your emotions and feelings and dealing with a sensitive topic can be a challenging and daunting task. However, with practice, you can do it successfully.

Good Descriptive Essay Examples

It is not an easy task to write a descriptive essay at first attempt. This is why many students turn to the examples of a descriptive essay to understand its structure and content.

Samples and examples are great to help the students understand how to write certain types of essays. Every essay and assignment is different and, therefore, to score well, you need to be mindful of the content that you add to them.

Effective descriptive essay writing is more about describing different aspects and traits of the chosen subject and the type of feelings they inspire. Commonly, these types of essays describe a particular person, an event, a place, or an emotion with the aim to make the reader feel your way.

Descriptive essay example for grade 6

Descriptive essay example college

Descriptive essay example for university

Don’t give up! Continue reading to explore more amazing examples

Descriptive Essay Example about a Person

Writing about a person is probably the first choice of many students. They like to describe their parents, especially siblings, best friends, and teachers in their essays. However, when you choose to write about a person, it is better that you write about someone who you know.

Descriptive Essay Example about a Person (PDF)

Descriptive Essay Example about an Event

As humans, we come across a number of events and happenings. From casual friends get together to very formal weddings and parties, each one of us has something to talk about.

The descriptive essays about events describe the event, how the writer felt about it along the surrounding details.

Just like we say, a descriptive essay ‘describes’ the topic. In the case of descriptive essay examples about an event, the details will include the kind of event, the level of excitement of the writer, the surroundings, and an overall feeling.

Descriptive Essay Example about an Event (PDF)

Descriptive Essay Example About a Place

Describing a place that you visited in your summer holidays is quite an enjoyable experience. It is like you are visiting the same place again and having the same feelings.

When describing your favorite place in an essay, use vivid language. You can describe the details like the weather of the place, the main place that you visited, the kind of feeling you had.

Descriptive Essay Example about a Place (PDF)

Descriptive Essay Example about Emotions

Describing emotions and feelings is difficult.

Memories, emotions, and feelings are abstract and, therefore, explaining them is not easy. They cannot be explained independently, as you can explain a place or event.

A descriptive essay about emotions includes an event and the feelings associated with it. These could be feelings of sadness, anxiousness, confusion, surprise, and happiness.

Whatever emotions you describe, you can use related adjectives and adverbs to describe them.

Descriptive Essay Example about Emotions (PDF)

Descriptive Essay Example About a Visit

A visit to a doctor, a visit to a zoo, and your first visit to a museum, all make excellent descriptive essay topics.

If you go somewhere for the first time, it is natural to have a plethora of feelings and emotions. These could be feelings of joy and even fear.

Descriptive Essay Example about a Visit (PDF)

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Descriptive Essay Outline

Like every essay sample, a descriptive essay has an outline and format. The essay follows the traditional essay structure and includes:

1. An Introductory Paragraph

The first paragraph of an essay is the introduction and it usually sets the mood for the entire essay.

A good descriptive essay has a strong opening. It introduces the reader to the main topic and what the essay will be about. However, these details are brief and introduce the main topic only.

Some students think that adding more details in this section will add value to their work. Wrong. It will only minimize their chances of expanding the topic in the main paragraphs and leave them with fewer details.

2. Thesis Statement

A thesis statement tells the reader about the thesis question, based on the topic, and the writer’s claim and main argument. It is written after the introduction and before the main paragraphs.

A thesis statement is written at the end of the introduction, it is mainly a single sentence that describes the essay objective.

3. Body Paragraphs

The body paragraphs take more than half of the entire essay and include all the main claims and arguments of the essay. Generally, it has three paragraphs but depends on the topic and its scope. Some topics may not have much to write about while others may have a wide scope and material.

However, if you feel that your topic does not have much room for expansion, do not try to drag it. It will only ruin its essence and overall feel.

4. Conclusion

A solid closing means a solid essay.

Some students think that because it is a closing paragraph, it requires less focus and is less important. But it is not the case. A clumsy conclusion will leave a bad impression and all your hard work may go to waste.

But, a conclusion is also not a place for new ideas. Stay brief and to the point.

To learn more about descriptive essay structure, you can watch this helpful video

Now that you know the basic outline, you can learn how to write a descriptive essay by visiting our blog and working with those tips and tricks.

Create captivating essays effortlessly!

Descriptive Essay Topics 

Got inspired by the examples and looking to write your own essay? So select the topic of your choice from the list below and write a tempting essay…

• The street I love to walk around  in
•  Exploring the beauty of nature
• The pleasing sounds of rain 
• The most meaningful experience I had in college
• Exploring a hidden gem in my hometown 
• My favorite book character 
• A day spent in my dream destination 
• Memories of various festivals I have celebrated  
• My favorite food that always brings back memories
• These are some
• The beauty of the rising sun in winter

Choosing a Topic for your Essay

Choosing a topic for your descriptive essay can be difficult and challenging. The reason is there are so many things to write about like

• Relationships
• Favorite place
• Experiences
• Things 
• Scenarios and many more.

All of these subjects make great descriptive essay topics. Some quick tips to help you choose a great descriptive essay topic include:

• Choose a topic that interests you
• Choose a topic with a good scope
• Choose something that inspires you emotionally
• Choose a topic that appeals to all five or at least one to two senses
• Choose the topic according to your audience
• Choose a topic that is interesting and will keep your readers glued and engaged

For interesting essay topics and ideas, visit our blog and get 100+ descriptive essay topics to choose from.

Tough Essay Due? Hire Tough Writers!

Elements of a Great Descriptive Essay

Great essays are based on elements relevant to the main topic and explain it in detail. Just like other types of essays, descriptive essays are specifically based on describing the main topic. You can do this by using figurative language and words that appeal to the five senses like touch, taste, sight, etc. of the readers.

Some core elements include:

• Choosing a specific subject:

Choosing the right and appealing subject is essential for a good descriptive essay. Research and make a list of the topics that interest you and see which one you could use for your essay. make sure that you know how to work on that topic before finalizing it.

• Select the Details:

You cannot write about everything. No matter how many details there are, you have to choose the most dominant ones and stick to them closely.

• Organize the Details:

Once you have chosen the details and organize them in chronological order. This step is especially important if you are talking about an event because then you have to add details related to the event.

• Use Descriptive Language:

Descriptive and figurative language is a must if you want to draw a clear picture in front of your readers. Adjectives and adverbs, similes and metaphors, and comparisons are some techniques that you could use to compose your descriptive essay.

• Use Appropriate Language:

Relevant language will help you in presenting the information in a coherent and simple manner. The topic of your essay will decide the kind of language that you will use in your essay.

• Do Not Drag the Essay:

Dragging the essay will do no good for your essay. Writing an engaging essay is essential for successful descriptive essay writing. Coherent, relevant, and engaging facts will add credibility and a natural flair to your essay.

Not sure if you could write an impressive and engaging descriptive essay? 

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Frequently Asked Questions

How many paragraphs are in a descriptive essay.

Like any other essay, a descriptive essay also must have at least five paragraphs. The number of paragraphs could increase, based on the scope and need of the topic.

How can I write a good descriptive essay?

Writing a good descriptive essay requires vivid and detailed descriptions, creating an experience for the reader. To do this, it’s important to use clear language that creates images in the reader’s mind. 

Additionally, using sensory details can help engage the reader and make them feel as if they are partaking in the experience described. 

What are some examples of things you could describe in a descriptive essay?

Examples of things you could describe in a descriptive essay include a location, person, object, or event. Each of these should be explored in detail to help the reader form an accurate mental image.

Finance Essay, Education

Cathy has been been working as an author on our platform for over five years now. She has a Masters degree in mass communication and is well-versed in the art of writing. Cathy is a professional who takes her work seriously and is widely appreciated by clients for her excellent writing skills.

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Descriptive Writing Worksheets

Language arts categories, free weekly worksheets, worksheets by email, what is descriptive writing.

When it comes to writing in English, there are thought be four different types of pieces. These include expository, persuasive, narrative, and descriptive. In this section, our focus will be on descriptive writing. As its name suggests, this type of English writing gives a clear and concise description of everything. Be it a location, character, event, or object; this writing describes everything in a way that it creates an image in the minds of the readers. The description should be of a form that evokes the senses in a reader. Learning the skills of descriptive writing can benefit students in a multitude of ways. It teaches the students the art of expressing through writing. By adding details, they can excel in expressing through writing. It also helps them enhance their vocabulary bank as describing something in detail requires a writer to have a vast bank of words in their minds.

Imagine That...

You are given as simple scenario to work through. Once you soak that in, give three details about how this happened and what you will do next.

Concrete Descriptions

Write three details about this picture in the boxes below. Then write a descriptive paragraph using these details on the next page. Use as many adjectives as necessary to give concrete descriptions.

How to Ensure That Your Writing is Descriptive Enough

Let us face it; writing is not everybody's cup of tea. You have to have that knack for creativity that would help you in your writing. In case you have been struggling with your descriptive writing, you may consider these tips to keep your words flow in all the new ways. Make use of Analogies and Figurative Language. From analogies to keeping the use of metaphors subtle, you may hone your descriptive writing skills. Most writers utilize figurative language while they are at writing descriptions. However, you may ensure you are not going overboard. Chances are it might only make your writing forced and not true to your talent. Keep it Less Wordy So, this one is the most obvious! The overflow of words only makes descriptions forced and not creative. So, while you are creating descriptions, ensure you are not going too far adding words to your writing. You may take on the subtle approach. Construct sentences with few and the truest to the context words. Chances are you will find your writing a lot better and well-constructed than before.

Adjectives Say It All

Look at the picture. Write adjectives in the boxes to describe the picture.

Beginning, Middle, and End

LYou are given a topic and asked to flesh a complete paragraph for it.

Families Are Fun!

Fill in the organizer and use it to write a descriptive paragraph about your family on the next page. Circle all the adjectives in your paragraph.

Proud to Be an American

What makes you proud? Things I can do because I am an American. Descriptive words about America.

An Endangered Animal

Name an animal that is endangered? Why? Descriptive words for the animal.

Global Warming

What is global warming? How does this happen?

Things you like to do during summer. Descriptive words for summer.

How to Ensure You Write Descriptively

Descriptive writing is a tough art to master, and we have very few writers in history who have successfully adopted a descriptive writing style. You need to experience your surroundings to its core to write about it. Descriptive writers usually see things around them from a different perspective. They observe details that we generally ignore. The best part of descriptive writing is that a descriptive writer observes every tiny detail in the scene surrounding them and puts them artistically on the paper. There is a reason why descriptive writing is tough. Putting all the details together and writing them down on the paper so that the reader doesn’t lose their interest is surely an art. You must write down every detail you can observe to write descriptively.

Dinosaur Essay

A descriptive paragraph describes a person, place, or thing. Use words that help the reader to see, hear, smell, feel, and taste the subject. Write a paragraph about a dinosaur from long ago.

Your Favorite Dessert

What is it? Who makes it? How does it taste and smell? What does it look like?

Interesting Person

Who is this person and what do you like about them?

Descriptive Writing Prompt 1

Think about a place where you like to go to be alone. Write about this place and explain why you like to go there to be alone. Are there certain times in particular you like to be alone? How does this place help you?

Writing Prompt 2

Describe a really fun day. Think about where you went and what you did that made it so fun. Describe the location, season, activities, etc. Use all of your senses to paint a picture for your reader.

Writing Prompt 3

If you could create your own country, what would it look like? Who would live there? What would people be like? What kind of food would there be?

Writing Prompt 4

What is the best day you have ever spent with your family? What are the reasons why it was so special? Write a paper telling about the best day you ever spent with your family. Be sure to include three reasons to support why it was the best day. Be sure to use specific details to support each of your reasons. Use descriptive words and phrases to make your words come alive.

Writing Prompt 5

Describe your favorite room in your house. Why is it your favorite? What does the room look like? What kinds of activities do you do in this room?

Writing Prompt 6

Everyone is afraid of something - heights, spiders or flying just to mention a few. What are you afraid of the most? What do you think caused this fear? Write a story about a situation in which you had to face your fear. Explain what you did to overcome that fear. Identify other fears you would also like to overcome.

Writing Prompt 7

What is one of the funniest things that has ever happened to you? Explain the event in as much detail as you can so that the reader understands what makes the event so funny.

Writing Prompt 8

Imagine you have just been given the name and address of a pen pal across the country. Your pen pal has no idea what you look like or who you are. Describe yourself to that person.

Writing Prompt 9

What was the proudest moment of your life? What made that moment so special? Use all of your sensory details to describe that moment.

Writing Prompt 10

Write a story about waking up in a story. What would you do if you woke up in the middle of a story? What story would it be? Which scene would it be? What would you do to escape? How do the other characters respond to you in that scene? How do you react to the situation? How do you plan on escaping?

Writing Prompt 11

Write about the worst day of your life. Think of a day in your life when everything seemed to be going wrong. Give at least three things that went wrong that day and explain each one using supporting details.

Descriptive Essay Writing

Descriptive Essay Examples

Amazing Descriptive Essay Examples for Your Help

Published on: Jun 21, 2023

Last updated on: Mar 1, 2024

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Descriptive essays are very commonly assigned essays. This type of essay enhances students' writing skills and allows them to think critically. 

A descriptive essay is often referred to as the parent essay type. Other essays like argumentative essays, narrative essays, and expository essays fall into descriptive essays. Also, this essay helps the student enhance their ability to imagine the whole scene in mind by appealing senses.

It is assigned to high school students and all other students at different academic levels. Students make use of the human senses like touch, smell, etc., to make the descriptive essay more engaging for the readers. 

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Examples make it easy for readers to understand things in a better way. Also, in a descriptive essay, different types of descriptions can be discussed. 

Here are some amazing examples of a descriptive essay to make the concept easier for you. 

Descriptive Essay Example 5 Paragraph

5 paragraphs essay writing format is the most common method of composing an essay. This format has 5 paragraphs in total. The sequence of the paragraphs is as follows;

• Introduction
• Body Paragraph 1
• Body Paragraph 2 
• Body Paragraph 3
• Conclusion 

Following is an example of a descriptive essay written using the famous 5 paragraph method. 

5 Paragraph Descriptive Essay

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Descriptive Essay Example About A Person

Descriptive essays are the best option when it comes to describing and writing about a person.  A descriptive essay is written using the five human senses. It helps in creating a vivid image in the reader’s mind and understanding what the writer is trying to convey. 

Here is one of the best descriptive essay examples about a person. Read it thoroughly and try to understand how a good descriptive essay is written on someone’s personality.

Descriptive Essay Example About a Person

Descriptive Essay Example About A Place

If you have visited a good holiday spot or any other place and want to let your friends know about it. A descriptive essay can help you explain every detail and moment you had at that place. 

Here is one of the good descriptive essay examples about a place. Use it as a sample and learn how you can write such an essay. 

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Descriptive Essay Example for Grade 6

Descriptive essays are frequently assigned to school students. This type of essay helps the students enhance their writing skills and helps them see things in a more analytical way.

If you are a 6 grader and looking for a good descriptive essay example, you are in the right place.  

Descriptive Essay Example for Grade 7

Here is one of the best descriptive essay examples for grade 7. 

Descriptive Essay Example for Grade 8

If you are looking for some amazing descriptive essay examples for grade 8, you have already found one. Look at the given example and see what a well-written descriptive essay looks like. 

Descriptive Essay Example for Grade 10

Essay writing is an inevitable part of a student's academic life . No matter your grade, you will get to write some sort of essay at least once. 

Here is an example of a descriptive essay writing for grade10. If you are also a student of this grade, this example might help you to complete your assignment.

Descriptive Essay Example for Grade 12

If you are a senior student and looking for some essay examples, you are exactly where you should be. 

Use the below-mentioned example and learn how to write a good essay according to the instructions given to you. 

Descriptive Essay Example College

Descriptive essays are a great way to teach students how they can become better writers. Writing a descriptive essay encourages them to see the world more analytically.

Below is an example that will help you and make your writing process easy.

College Descriptive Essay Example

Descriptive Essay Example for University

Descriptive essays are assigned to students at all academic levels. University students are also assigned descriptive essay writing assignments. As they are students of higher educational levels, they are often given a bit of difficult and more descriptive topics. 

See the example below and know what a descriptive essay at the university level looks like. 

Short Descriptive Essay Example

Every time a descriptive essay isn't written in detail. It depends on the topic of how long the essay will be.  

For instance, look at one of the short descriptive essay examples given below. See how the writer has conveyed the concept in a composed way. 

Objective Descriptive Essay Example

When writing an objective description essay, you focus on describing the object without conveying your emotions, feelings, or personal reactions. The writer uses sight, sound, or touch for readers' minds to bring life into pictures that were painted by words.

Here is an example that you can use for your help. 

Narrative and Descriptive Essay Example

A narrative descriptive essay can be a great way to share your experiences with others. It is a story that teaches a lesson you have learned. The following is an example of a perfect narrative descriptive essay to help you get started.

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How to Start a Descriptive Essay? - Example

If you don't know how to start your descriptive essay, check this example and create a perfect one. 

How to Start a Descriptive Essay - Example

Subjective Descriptive Essay Example

It is a common concept that a descriptive essay revolves around one subject. Be it a place, person, event, or any other object you can think of. 

Following is one of the subjective descriptive, easy examples. Use it as a guide to writing an effective descriptive essay yourself. 

Writing a descriptive essay is a time-consuming yet tricky task. It needs some very strong writing, analytical, and critical thinking skills. Also, this is a type of essay that a student can not avoid and bypass. 

But if you think wisely, work smart, and stay calm, you can get over it easily. Learn how to write a descriptive essay from a short guide given below. 

How to Write a Descriptive Essay?

A writer writes a descriptive essay from their knowledge and imaginative mind. In this essay, the writer describes what he has seen or experienced, or ever heard from someone. For a descriptive essay, it is important to stay focused on one point. Also, the writer should use figurative language so that the reader can imagine the situation in mind. 

The following are some very basic yet important steps that can help you write an amazing descriptive essay easily. 

• Choose a Topic

For a descriptive essay, you must choose a vast topic to allow you to express yourself freely. Also, make sure that the topic you choose is not overdone. An overdone will not grab the attention of your intended audience. Check out our descriptive essay topics blog for a variety of intriguing topic suggestions.

• Create a Strong Thesis Statement

A thesis statement is the essence of any academic writing. When you select the descriptive essay topic, then you create a strong thesis statement for your essay.  

A thesis statement is a sentence or two that explains the whole idea of your essay to the reader. It is stated in the introductory paragraph of the essay. The word choice for creating the thesis statement must be very expressive, composed, and meaningful. Also, use vivid language for the thesis statement.  

• Collect the Necessary Information

Once you have created the thesis statement and are done writing your essay introduction . Now, it's time to move toward the body paragraphs. 

Collect all necessary information related to your topic. You would be adding this information to your essay to support your thesis statement. Make sure that you collect information from authentic sources. 

To enhance your essay, make use of some adjectives and adverbs. To make your descriptive essay more vivid, try to incorporate sensory details like touch, taste, sight, and smell.

• Create a Descriptive Essay Outline

An outline is yet another necessary element of your college essay. By reading the descriptive essay outline , the reader feels a sense of logic and a guide for the essay. 

In the outline, you need to write an introduction, thesis statement, body paragraphs and end up with a formal conclusion.

Proofreading is a simple procedure in which the writer revises the written essay. This is done in order to rectify the document for any kind of spelling or grammatical mistakes. Thus, proofreading makes high-quality content and gives a professional touch to it. 

You might be uncertain about writing a good enough descriptive essay and impress your teacher. However, it is very common, so you do not need to stress out. 

Hit us up at CollegeEssay.org and get an essay written by our professional descriptive essay writers. Our essay writing service for students aims to help clients in every way possible and ease their stress. Get in touch with our customer support team, and they will take care of all your queries related to your writing. 

You can always enhance your writing skills by leveraging the power of our AI essay writing tools .

Place your order now and let all your stress go away in a blink! 

Barbara P (Literature)

Barbara is a highly educated and qualified author with a Ph.D. in public health from an Ivy League university. She has spent a significant amount of time working in the medical field, conducting a thorough study on a variety of health issues. Her work has been published in several major publications.

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English Writing Exercises for A1 – A description

English Writing Exercises for A1

Preparation

1. read the task and the model text. which paragraph in the text (1, 2 or 3) tells you about ….

a   the size of the rooms in the apartment?

b   what they sometimes do in the evening?

c   where the apartment is?

d   the other buildings near the apartment?

e   how many rooms there are in the apartment?

A website for students has invited its readers to send in a description of their home. Write a description of your home for the website. In addition to the description, include information about your home’s location and about going out in the area.

1    I live in a fairly small apartment with my parents and my younger brother. The apartment is in a large block just outside the town. There are two other blocks, a supermarket and a cinema in the same street. There aren’t any other shops in the area, although it’s very easy to get a bus into town.

2    The apartment only has two bedrooms, so I have to share a room with my brother. There are two bathrooms, a kitchen and a living room. The kitchen is not very large, but there’s a table. I usually do my homework in the kitchen because it’s quieter than the living room.

3    We often go to the cinema in the evening, because it’s very near our home. It’s also pretty cheap. We don’t eat in restaurants very often, but we sometimes have a special meal when it’s somebody’s birthday. There aren’t any restaurants nearby, so we have to get a bus into town.

a 2   b 3   c 1   d 1   e 2

2. Rewrite each pair of sentences as a single sentence. Include the conjunction in the brackets.

1   The house is modern. It’s very comfortable. ( although )

     Although the house is modern, it’s very comfortable.

2   We were tired. We went to bed early. ( because )

       ………………………………………………

3   We stayed at home. It was a cold evening. ( so )

      ………………………………………………

4   The cinema is expensive. Tickets for children are cheaper. ( although )

5   The café closed. It was not very popular. ( because )

      ………………………………………………

2    We went to bed early because we were tired. / Because we were tired, we went to bed early.

3   It was a cold evening, so we stayed at home.

4   The cinema is expensive although tickets for children are cheaper.

5   The café closed because it was not very popular.

Writing Guide

Writing Strategy

We often use modifiers like very or fairly before adjectives when we are writing a description. Modifiers make the description sound more natural.

The apartment is very / fairly modern.

3. Read the Writing Strategy. Then complete the sentences using a modifier and an adjective from the list below. More than one answer is possible.

Modifiers:       extremely      fairly      not very      pretty      really      very

Adjectives:       busy      expensive      large      modern      noisy      popular

1   There’s an ……………………… ……………………… French restaurant in the next street.

2   Our house is in a ……………………… ……………………… part of town with lots of shops.

3   There’s a café opposite our house and it’s ……………………… ……………………… with teenagers.

4   All three bedrooms are ……………………… ………………………

5   The streets are ……………………… ……………………… during the day, but quiet at night.

6   There’s a TV and a hi-fi in the living room, but they aren’t ……………………… ………………………

(Possible answers)

1 extremely expensive   2 fairly busy   3 really popular

4 pretty large   5 very noisy   6 very modern

4. Add the sentences (1-6) in exercise 3 to the paragraph plan below. Write the numbers in the boxes. Then add two ideas of your own for each paragraph.

Paragraph 1: location of the house

Sentences  ◻ and ◻ from exercise 3.

My ideas: ………………………………………………………

Paragraph 2: inside the house

Sentences ◻ and ◻ from exercise 3.

Paragraph 3: going out near the house

Sentences ◻ and ◻  from exercise 3.

Paragraph 1 Sentences 2 and 5

Paragraph 2 Sentences 4 and 6

Paragraph 3 Sentences 1 and 2

5. Write a description following your plan from exercise 4. Invent more details if necessary.

Extra exercises.

When you write a description, the sentences should not be too short or too long. Each one should have two or three pieces of information. Remember you can join two ideas with conjunctions such as and, but, so or because.

1. Read the Strategy. Then use a conjunction to rewrite the two sentences as one.

1   It isn’t in the city centre. It’s quiet and peaceful

     ………………………………………..

2   I’m not lonely. My friends often visit me.

3   It’s a large flat. It’s on the tenth floor.

4   It’s got a lot of windows. The rooms are very bright.

     ………………………………………..

1    It isn’t in the city centre, but it’s quiet and peaceful.

2    I’m not lonely because my friends often visit me.

3    It’s a large flat, but it’s on the tenth floor.

4    It’s got a lot of windows, so the rooms are very bright.

2. Write a description of your ideal home. Include information about:

–  the location.

–  the rooms.

–  your room.

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Descriptive Essay Guide With Excellent Essay Topics

Table of Contents

An essay is a short literary piece. Descriptive writing are a genre of essay aimed at describing something – they provide a vivid and detailed explanation of the topic in question. If you need to write a descriptive essay but can’t find a suitable topic, this guide on descriptive essay topics is for you!

Crafting an enthralling piece that readers can engage with is the over-arching aim of every writer. It is not enough to tell the readers something — give them a clear picture of it.

This guide offers some creative descriptive writing topics, including the parts of a descriptive essay.

What is a Descriptive Essay?

A descriptive essay aims to describe something. It could be an event, a predicament, or someone. Typically, descriptive essays are written based on the experience or imagination of the writer.

They test your ability to use language originally and creatively to convey a memorable image of what you’re describing. Such essays are common writing exercises in high school and composition classes.

Descriptive essay topics are those that describe something in great detail . They let students develop the ability to create a written account of a particular experience. Descriptive essays allow for artistic freedom (the goal is to paint a vivid, moving image in the reader’s mind).

Descriptive essays have a distinct structure consisting of the introduction, body, and conclusion. You must build a strong and engaging writing style to write a successful descriptive essay.

Parts of A Descriptive Essay

It’s important to note the difference between a description and a descriptive essay.

A description has one or several paragraphs with no specific structure. It aims to describe something without following a particular pattern. On the other hand, a descriptive essay consists of five or more paragraphs with a well-defined and complete structure. It is written coherently and consists of an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

Let’s see what goes into crafting a compelling descriptive essay.

1. Introduction.

The introduction should provide the reader with background information about the topic. It should tell the reader what the piece is about without giving away spoilers.

Use catchy words that will grab the reader’s attention and hook them. End your introductory paragraph with your thesis statement. It should concisely summarize what you will say in the following sections.

2. Body paragraphs

The body paragraphs should provide detailed information about the topic. It typically consists of three sections with evidence to back up your thesis. The last sentence of the body paragraph should allow for a smooth transition into the conclusion.

3. Conclusion

The conclusion section should give the reader a summary of the essay and its overall purpose. It should summarize the critical points with a restatement of the thesis to allow the reader view the topic in a particular light. Ending the essay in an impactful and exciting way is essential to leave the reader with a sense of awe.

Descriptive Essay Topics for Struggling Students

Here are some of the best descriptive essay topics for struggling students.

Favorite Activities and Things.

• My favorite movie
• My favorite movie character
• The book I love the most
• My best friend
• The house of my dreams
• My first trip overseas
• My first memory
• The concert I will never forget
• My first tears of joy

Geography and Traveling (Real and Imaginable)

• The most exciting cruise
• The most beautiful place on earth
• Top 10 destinations in Europe
• The most attractive places in Asia
• The wonders of Australia and New Zealand
• A space journey
• The beauty of the starry sky
• What can an astronaut see?
• Canadian White nights
• A seaman: one day on a ship
• In the heart of Africa
• Napoleon: the king of Europe
• The Mayflower   – the Voyage of hope
• A visit to the historical museum
• The tragedy of Pearl Harbor
• A pirate of the Caribbean
• The most important event in our history.
• Julius Caesar: the legendary commander.
• The greatest person in our history.
• A hot summer day
• One day in school
• A Christmas story
• My childhood
• An exciting picnic with my parents
• My first date
• A warm winter evening
• One day at the seaside
• My favorite pet
• A fairy tale from my childhood

An easy way to write a compelling descriptive essay is to draft an outline. Begin with an introduction, setting the pace for the rest of the piece. Provide background information that lets the reader understand what the writing is about .

Proceed to the body paragraphs, discussing the topic of the essay in detail. End with a conclusion that summarizes your essay. If you’re struggling to choose a topic to write on, our list will come in handy.

Abir Ghenaiet

Abir is a data analyst and researcher. Among her interests are artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing. As a humanitarian and educator, she actively supports women in tech and promotes diversity.

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