Writing a Descriptive Paragraph

Writing a Descriptive Paragraph

  • Submitted By: yaochou823
  • Date Submitted: 02/24/2009 11:28 PM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 597
  • Page: 3
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Writing A Descriptive Paragraph
When you write a descriptive paragraph, you need to try to paint a word picture, so the reader receives a clear impression of what you are trying to portray.
The writer uses all five senses in his word pictures. He uses sound, tastes, smells, feelings, and sights to tell the reader about what he is describing.
Please review the example of a descriptive paragraph:
The shore was fledged with palm trees. These stood or leaned or reclined against the light and their green feathers were a hundred feet up in the air. The ground beneath them was a bank covered with coarse grass, torn everywhere by the upheavals of fallen trees, scattered with decaying coconuts and palm saplings. Behind this was the darkness of the forest proper and the open space of the scar. He stood, one hand against a gray trunk, and screwed up his eyes against the shimmering water. Out there, perhaps a mile away, the white surf flicked on a coral reef, and beyond that the open sea was dark blue. Within the irregular arc of coral the lagoon was still as a mountain lake-blue of all shades and shadowy green and purple. The beach between the palm terrace and the water was a thin bow-stave, endless apparently, for to his left the perspectives of palm and beach and water drew to a point of infinity; and always, almost visible, was the heat.
Use comparisons when you write. The three common types of figures of speech are simile, metaphor, and personification. The writer uses these figures of speech to make his descriptions more vivid and imaginative, so that a lively picture is created in the reader’s mind.
1) Simile: A simile is a comparison of two unlike things that have a certain similarity. Like, as, or as if are always used with a simile. For example: 1) The moon shone from behind the trees as if nestled in its branches. 2) She was small and fragile like a china doll.
2) Metaphor: A metaphor is the application of a...

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