Writing Descriptive Paragraphs

Descriptive paragraphs are often used to describe what a person looks and acts like. Read this example descriptive paragraph, notice how descriptive paragraphs are arranged by putting together all the sentences about the same thing.

Here is an example of a descriptive paragraph:

I am forty years old, rather tall and I have blue eyes and short black hair. I wear casual clothes as I teach students in a relaxed atmosphere. I enjoy my job because I get to meet and help so many different people from all over the world. During my spare time, I like playing tennis which I play at least three times a week. I also love listening to classical music and I must admit that I spend a lot of money on buying new CDs! I live in a pretty seaside town on the Italian coast. I enjoy eating great Italian food and laughing with the likable people who live here. Written Exercise I

Answer these questions about yourself on a piece of paper.

How old are you? What do you look like? What kind of clothes do you wear? Why? What kind of job do you do? Do you like it? What are your favorite hobbies? Why do you like them? Where do you live? Do you like living there? Why or why not? Written Exercise II

Now that you have the information about yourself ready. Fill in the gaps in to complete this descriptive paragraph about yourself.

I am _________ years old, I _________________ (your looks). I wear ________________ because ______________. I am a ______________. I like / don't like my job because _____________________. I enjoy ______________. I often _____________ (describe how often you do your hobby). I also like ________________ (write about another hobby) because ________________. I live in ____________. People in ____________ are ________________ . I enjoy / don't enjoy living in ______________ because ____________.

Practice

Ask your friends the same questions as in exercise I and write paragraphs about them

Writing Narrative Paragraphs I - Things Happening Over Time

Narrative paragraphs are often used to describe what a person does over a period of time. Read this example narrative paragraph, notice how words like 'later' are used to connect what happens.

Yesterday evening I got home from work at 6 o'clock. My wife had prepared dinner which we ate immediately. After I had cleaned up the kitchen, we watched TV for about an hour. Then we got ready to go out with some friends. Our friends arrived at about 9 o'clock and we chatted for a while. Later we decided to visit a jazz club and listen to some music. We really enjoyed ourselves and stayed late. We finally left at one o'clock in the morning. Written Exercise I

Write out the following sentences on to a piece of paper to form a paragraph. Provide the correct form of the verb in the past and the correct prepositions. Click on the arrow to check your answers.

Top of Form

--

-(get) home (preposition) half past five.

Yesterday evening Jack

-He immediately himself a cup

-(preposition) coffee and

-to read a book.

-He the book

-(preposition) half past seven.

-Then he dinner and

-to go out with his friends.

-When his friends they

-to see a film.

-He until midnight with his friends.

-Finally he asleep

-(preposition) about one o'clock. Written Exercise II

Bottom of Form

Now that you have a good feeling for the form of a narrative paragraph. Fill in the gaps in this paragraph with information about what you did yesterday evening.

Yesterday evening ______________ at ________ o'clock. I immediately ______________. After ______________, I (or we) ________________. Then I (or we) __________________________. I (or we) _________________a while. Later I (or we) _______________________________. I (or we) finally _______________.

Practice

Try to write a number of similar paragraphs about what you did last weekend, on your last holiday, etc.

Combining Ideas to Write Descriptive Paragraphs

Writing well constructed paragraphs is the corner-stone of good English written style. Paragraphs should contain sentences that convey ideas concisely and directly. This lesson focuses on helping students develop a strategy for combining various ideas into well formed sentences which then combine to produce effective descriptive paragraphs.

Aim: Developing descriptive paragraph writing skills

Activity: Idea grouping and consolidation at the sentence level leading to descriptive paragraphs

Level: Intermediate to upper-intermediate Outline:

Introduce the topic of writing paragraphs by asking students what they consider a well formed paragraph. Introduce the idea of concise sentences as being integral to good English written style. Have students take a look at the example sentences and paragraph. Ask students to group the sentences in the example based on the ideas that go together as shown in the following paragraph (i.e., person and describing adjectives, etc.) Individually or in pairs, ask students to group sentences in the first exercise. Based on this grouping, ask students to write descriptive paragraph.

Ask students to complete creative writing exercise by following similar steps. (i.e., choose subject, create idea sentences, group sentences, write paragraph) Choose some of the compositions to be read aloud in class. Ask students to comment on the examples.

Descriptive Paragraphs

Example: New York City

New York City is in the United States. New York City is located in New York State. It borders on the Atlantic Ocean. It was founded in 1625 as "New Amsterdam". It was first settled by the Dutch. It is important for commerce. Wall Street is located in New York City. It has many national and international banks. It has many important skyscrapers. The World Trade Center is located in New York City. The Empire State Building is in New York City. New York City is an important city for immigration. Ellis Island used to be the entry point for many immigrants at the turn of the century. There is an interesting immigration museum on Ellis Island.

New York, New York is located on the Atlantic Coast of the United States of America. It was first settled as "New Amsterdam" in 1625 by the Dutch. Today, New York City is an important commercial and banking center which includes Wall Street. Among its many important skyscrapers are the World Trade Center and The Empire State Building. One of the most interesting museums is on Ellis Island which served as the entry point for many immigrants who passed through New York City at the turn of the century.

Exercise 1: Elvis Presley

Arrange the sentences about Elvis Presley into idea groups. Write a paragraph about Elvis Presley using the idea groups to create concise sentences.

Elvis Presley was an American. He was a singer and actor He was famous for rock-and-roll. He was born in Tupelo, Mississippi. He was born on January 8, 1935 He started singing in church. He taught himself to play the guitar. He first became popular on the local touring circuit for country-and-western music. He sang romantic songs. He danced erotically. Teens loved him for his new style. He had many hits. He sang "Love Me Tender", "All Shook Up", and "Don't Be Cruel". He died on August 16, 1977. He died in Memphis, Tennessee. He might have died of drug and alcohol abuse.

Exercise 2: Creative Writing

Choose a famous place or person. Write down a number of important facts about that place or person. Arrange the sentences into idea groups. Write a paragraph using the idea groups to create concise sentences.

Sentence Types

All of these sentence types further fall into four basic sentence type categories in English.

Simple Compound

Complex Compound - Complex

Simple Sentences

Simple sentences contain no conjunction (i.e., and, but, or, etc.).

Examples

Frank ate his dinner quickly. Peter and Sue visited the museum last Saturday. Are you coming to the party?

Compound Sentences

Compound sentences contain two statements that are connected by a conjunction (i.e., and, but, or, etc.).

Examples

I wanted to come, but it was late. The company had an excellent year, so they gave everyone a bonus. I went shopping, and my wife went to her classes.

Complex Sentences

Complex sentences contain a dependent clause and at least one independent clause. The two clauses are connected by a subordinator (i.e, which, who, although, despite, if, since, etc.).

Examples

My daughter, who was late for class, arrived shortly after the bell rang. That's the man who bought our house Although it was difficult, the class passed the test with excellent marks.

Compound - Complex Sentences

Compound - complex sentences contain at least one dependent clause and more than one independent clause. The clauses are connected by both conjunctions (i.e., but, so, and, etc.) and subordinators (i.e., who, because, although, etc.)

Examples

John, who briefly visited last month, won the prize, and he took a short vacation. Jack forgot his friend's birthday, so he sent him a card when he finally remembered. The report which Tom complied was presented to the board, but it was rejected because it was too complex.

OF WORK FORM 3

Question and Answer Game Activity

Level: Any Level

Usually students answer comprehension questions after a reading. Why not have students create their own comprehension questions? I have and it works well, especially if this activity is turned into a game. I do this by having students in small groups work together to write questions about the text. Only questions which can be answered by the text are allowed. Opinion questions are not allowed. After groups finish writing their questions, they ask their questions to another group which must answer within a specified amount of time (the teacher decides the time according the class level). If the answer is correct and given within the time period, the answering team receives a point. If the answer is incorrect or not found within the time period, the questioning group receives a point, but they must inform the other group of the answer. Each group takes turns asking and answering questions.

Who Am I?

Level: Any Level

You can use use this with any subject. Write the names of famous people (mixed nationalities) on small pieces of paper. Tape a name on the forehead of each student. The individual student should not see his or her paper, but the others should. Then, like with 20 questions, only yes or no questions should be asked. Perhaps start with yourself and ask "Am I am man?" If the answer is yes, I can ask again, but if the answer is no, it's the next person's turn. Play until everyone has guessed who he or she is! This can be played with nationalities, countries, household objects, anything and it's a gas, especially for adult students!!
Time Indicators

Level: Any Level

Rationale: Students practise using different subject pronouns, verb tenses, and the time words and phrases that go with them. They must also be able to recognize different forms of the same verb, especially irregular verbs. Materials: None. Levels: All. Beginners can play using only four verb tenses (present, past, future, and present progressive). More advanced can play using all the tenses. Method: One student says a time word or phrase (e.g. next year, a few days ago). A second student must complete a sentence using the proper verb tense. That student then says a different time word or phrase. A third student uses it to form a sentence, but may not use the same verb or subject pronoun the second student used. Verb tenses may be repeated if necessary, but verbs may not, and subject pronouns may be repeated only after they have all been used once. The game can continue as long as the teacher wants, though two runs through all the subject pronouns is an appropriate length. The teacher may write the full sentences on the board, but should at least keep track of which subject pronouns and verbs have been used. Example: First student: "At the moment . . ." Second student: ". . . I am sitting in a classroom." Second student: "Last year . . ." Third student: ". . . they went to Europe." Third student: "Every day . . ." Fourth student: ". . . she takes the bus to work."