Descriptive Text Type
Based on perception in space. Impressionistic of landscapes or persons are often to be found in narratives such as novels or short stories. Example: About fifteen miles below Monterey, on the wild coast, the Torres family had their farm, a few sloping acres above the cliff that dropped to the brown reefs and to the hissing white waters of the ocean...
Purpose
Description is used in all forms of writing to create a vivid impression of a person, place, object or event e.g. to:
- describe a special place and explain why it is special
- describe the most important person in your life
Descriptive writing is usually used to help a writer develop an aspect of their work, e.g. to create a particular mood, atmosphere or describe a place so that the reader can create vivid pictures of characters, places, objects etc.
Features
Description is a style of writing which can be useful for a variety of purposes:
- to engage a reader's attention
- to create characters
- to set a mood
Language
- aims to show rather than tell the reader what something/someone is like
- relies on precisely chosen vocabulary with carefully chosen adjectives and adverbs.
- is focused and concentrates only on the aspects that add something to the main purpose of the description.
- sensory description - what is heard, seen, smelt, felt, tasted. Precise use of adjectives, similes, metaphors to create images/pictures in the mind e.g. their noses were met with the acrid smell of rotting flesh.
- strong development of the experience that "puts the reader there" focuses on key details, powerful verbs and precise nouns.
Read more about this topic: Text Types
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