How to Write a Descriptive Paragraph

Descriptive paragraphs include details that appeal to the five senses: sight, taste, touch, smell, and hearing. In a descriptive paragraph, the writer must convey information that appeals to all the senses, in order to give the best possible description to the reader. Descriptive paragraphs are commonly used in fiction and non-fiction writing, to help immerse readers into the world of the author. Though there are no hard and fast rules for how exactly these paragraphs should be structured, there are several suggestions that can help you write an effective and appealing descriptive paragraph. See Step 1 to get started!

Writing a Descriptive Paragraph!

1. Make sure to choose a meaningful person, place, or thing. Before you begin your paragraph, you have to be sure to pick something that is worth describing. If you want to describe a character, make sure the person is interesting in some way. If you want to describe an object, make sure it has some deeper meaning beyond itself so you have enough to write about. If you pick a place, make sure you can describe it in a unique way that can capture a reader's attention.

• For example, in the opening pages of The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield describes a baseball mitt. The mitt itself is not that remarkable, but he describes it in a way that fills it with meaning because it used to belong to his deceased brother. Though not every object you describe needs an elaborate backstory, if it has some meaning behind it, this can help the description carry weight.
• If you want to pick a place, don't just pick any old spot at a beach, but one that is meaningful to you -- or, if you're writing fiction, to one of your characters -- in some way. This can add a layer of depth to the place in question

2. Introduce the person, place, or thing you are describing. If you want to get the reader's attention, then you should let him or her know what you're describing as soon as possible instead of leaving them guessing. Here is an example of some opening lines in a descriptive paragraph:

• Natasha's basement was our sanctuary. I return to it in my best dreams and wake up feeling like I could die happy.
• These opening sentences introduce the subject that is being described, the basement of the narrator's friend. They make it clear that this place is very important to the narrator.

3. Engage your reader's sense of sight. You can start with what the reader can see and appeal to his or her sense of sight to help introduce the object. Since sight is the most helpful sense, any good descriptive paragraph must first discuss what the writer wants the reader to visualize. Using strong adjectives to illustrate your scene, moment, experience or item to the reader will help provide a visual picture in your reader's mind. Keep in mind that, while adjectives can help convey a sense of the subject, overusing them can lead to boring, overwrought writing. Here's an example of the opening of a descriptive paragraph:

• Even today I could paint a perfect picture of it, right up to the last piece of neglected pizza crust festering under the ping-pong table.
• Immediately, the reader is given a visual description of some things in the basement: old pizza crust and a ping-pong table. The reader is given a sense of a messy, chaotic place.

4. Describe smells and tastes if you can. Think about how you can describe the topic, scene, or moment to the reader in terms of how it smells and tastes. The best descriptive paragraphs make the reader feel as if he or she were actually experiencing the thing he or she was reading about, not just reading about it. Include a sentence or two about how your topic smells and use a few poignant adjectives to relay the smell of it to the reader. "It tastes good" is not going to provide a specific experience for your reader. However, "It tastes like Grandma's apple pie when it's fresh and still bubbling around the edges - crunchy, flavorful and sweet" helps describe the distinct flavor of your item. Of course, not everything you describe will have a relevant taste or smell; if it does, though, it can help to include it. Here's the next part of our paragraph:

• The spilled root beer and duck sauce shining over the nappy brown carpet indicated nights of giggles and prank calls, times when we were far too occupied to consider the absurd possibility of cleaning up. Popcorn got crushed into the carpet and was never quite cleaned up. You could smell this mixture of sweetness and butter even when you stood on the front porch.

5

Describe how the moment or item feels. As you continue writing your paragraph, write a sentence or two about how the experience feels. What does it remind you of as you imagine yourself running your hand along its surface, or the tingling feeling you feel run down your back? How are you reacting to the moment? Again, use descriptive adjectives to describe how the moment feels. Avoid using general statements like "it feels nice", which isn't descriptive at all. Opt for specific, definitive examples that relay the feeling of something to the reader. If you're describing how the object or item feels for a certain character, this can also give readers a sense of what it was like. Continuing on:

• Nothing ever got erased, either. It was like memory. With enough time and will power, you could find almost anything down there. Katie had once recovered her third grade Tamagotchi from the storage closet. Another time, Nora had unearthed a disposable camera with undeveloped pictures I had taken during our fourth grade trip to Ellis Island.
• Note that, in the above sentences, the narrator is showing that the basement that is being described was never cleaned up, while also using these details to show that the basement is important to her because it serves as a time capsule of her childhood. This is both conveying the feeling of being in the basement and also uses figurative language to add a deeper meaning to the place.

6. Describe how your subject sounds. What can you hear? Is there a deafening silence? If there is a buzzing sound, avoid simply saying "All of a sudden I heard a loud buzzing sound", rather "I jerked as all of the sudden I heard an undefinable buzzing sound, so loud I put my hands over my face and ears. I assumed it was the fire alarm..." and the reader would be able to relate with the "fire alarm" description, as most people have experienced the startling noise of a fire alarm. Here is how the sounds are described in our paragraph:

• The television in the basement was always on, but no one ever seemed to watch it. We were too busy laughing over our latest stupid game of Rummikub, prank calling our crushes, or listening for the doorbell that told us the pizza was here.
• Here, the narrator uses the sounds in the basement to help give a sense of what it was like to actually be there, and to indirectly tell the reader what was commonly done there.

7. Make unique observations. When you're describing something, give your readers an image, feeling, smell, or sight that they wouldn't normally expect. If you're describing a lawyer, for example, don't just tell the readers things that they would expect to hear about him, like that he wears a suit and works too much; tell them about his secret love for his pet iguanas. Make sure to keep your descriptions sounding fresh and surprising. Continuing on with our paragraph:

• The silver Christmas garland around the banisters was pretty much a permanent fixture; the same birthday steamers celebrated three shoe-sizes of birthdays, eventually lost their color, and seemed to peel off the walls on their own accord.
• This sentence makes it sound as if the basement has a life and will of its own.

8. Include some figurative language. Using other effective writing techniques to top off your paragraph will make it all that more appealing and evocative. If you include all these elements in your paragraph, your reader will be able to fully experience and appreciate your writing. You can describe a person, place, or thing while using both literal language and speaking on the level of metaphor or simile to fully give a person a sense of the thing that is being described. Here is some figurative language:

• As it was, with a net-less ping-pong table and a set of bare mattresses facing the TV, the basement looked more like the Fiona Apple "Criminal" video than a place to raise your children.
• This sentence uses simile to compare the basement to a notorious music video, adding an extra layer of meaning.

9. Wrap it up. Though you don't need to have a neat concluding sentence for this creative paragraph (unless it is part of an assignment for school), you'll need to end the paragraph in some way to remind readers of what you had described and to leave a lasting idea of the person, place, or thing in their minds. Here's how this paragraph ends:

• And that was exactly why three extra toothbrushes made their way to the downstairs bathroom. All of us could have lived and died there.
• The second to last line, while it doesn't say that the other girls used to spend all of their time there explicitly, uses the images of the extra toothbrushes to show that this basement was once a sanctuary for the young girls, which reminds the reader of the first sentence. These sentences show that the basement was incredibly important to the girls who "grew up" there without explicitly saying so.

Tips

Always concentrate on the things around you and add lots of similes and metaphors describe what you can hear see, smell, feel, taste.

Avoid using words like "nice", "good", "pretty", or "awesome", as these do not render a vivid picture in the mind of the reader.

Use a simple, impactful sentence now and then!

Sounds can be difficult to describe, as well as tastes and smells. Use similes or metaphors that your reader can relate with to help them catch on to what you're experiencing, not to leave anything for them to determine.

Remember not to leave anything to the reader's imagination, especially when describing sound. Sentences like "The gentle breeze whispered past my ears, leaving a peaceful calm in the meadow" is a great sentence about what can be heard.

Use descriptive adjectives such as: subsequently.

Patience, be imaginative and ensure you describe each transition from one object to another.

good luck....

for mor example : go check http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Descriptive-Essay 

Short Story

By :Mo McAuley

Mr Sticky

No one knew how Mr. Sticky got in the fish tank.

     "He's very small," Mum said as she peered at the tiny water snail. "Just a black dot."

     "He'll grow," said Abby and pulled her pyjama bottoms up again before she got into bed. They were always falling down.



In the morning Abby jumped out of bed and switched on the light in her fish tank.

     Gerry, the fat orange goldfish, was dozing inside the stone archway. Jaws was already awake, swimming along the front of the tank with his white tail floating and twitching. It took Abby a while to find Mr. Sticky because he was clinging to the glass near the bottom, right next to the gravel.

     At school that day she wrote about the mysterious Mr. Sticky who was so small you could mistake him for a piece of gravel. Some of the girls in her class said he seemed an ideal pet for her and kept giggling about it.

     That night Abby turned on the light to find Mr. Sticky clinging to the very tiniest, waviest tip of the pond weed. It was near the water filter so he was bobbing about in the air bubbles.

     "That looks fun," Abby said. She tried to imagine what it must be like to have to hang on to things all day and decided it was probably very tiring. She fed the fish then lay on her bed and watched them chase each other round and round the archway. When they stopped Gerry began nibbling at the pond weed with his big pouty lips. He sucked Mr. Sticky into his mouth then blew him back out again in a stream of water. The snail floated down to the bottom of the tank among the coloured gravel.



"I think he's grown a bit," Abby told her Mum at breakfast the next day.

<  2  >
     "Just as well if he's going to be gobbled up like that," her Mum said, trying to put on her coat and eat toast at the same time.

     "But I don't want him to get too big or he won't be cute anymore. Small things are cute aren't they?"

     "Yes they are. But big things can be cute too. Now hurry up, I'm going to miss my train."



At school that day, Abby drew an elephant. She needed two pieces of expensive paper to do both ends but the teacher didn't mind because she was pleased with the drawing and wanted it on the wall. They sellotaped them together, right across the elephant's middle. In the corner of the picture, Abby wrote her full name, Abigail, and drew tiny snails for the dots on the 'i's The teacher said that was very creative.

     At the weekend they cleaned out the tank. "There's a lot of algae on the sides," Mum said. "I'm not sure Mr. Sticky's quite up to the job yet."

     They scooped the fish out and put them in a bowl while they emptied some of the water. Mr. Sticky stayed out of the way, clinging to the glass while Mum used the special 'vacuum cleaner' to clean the gravel. Abby trimmed the new pieces of pond weed down to size and scrubbed the archway and the filter tube. Mum poured new water into the tank.

     "Where's Mr. Sticky?" Abby asked.

     "On the side," Mum said. She was busy concentrating on the water. "Don't worry I was careful."

     Abby looked on all sides of the tank. There was no sign of the water snail.

     "He's probably in the gravel then," her mum said. "Come on let's get this finished. I've got work to do." She plopped the fish back in the clean water where they swam round and round, looking puzzled.

<  3  >
That evening Abby went up to her bedroom to check the tank. The water had settled and looked lovely and clear but there was no sign of Mr. Sticky. She lay on her bed and did some exercises, stretching out her legs and feet and pointing her toes. Stretching was good for your muscles and made you look tall a model had said on the t.v. and she looked enormous. When Abby had finished, she kneeled down to have another look in the tank but there was still no sign of Mr. Sticky. She went downstairs.



Her mum was in the study surrounded by papers. She had her glasses on and her hair was all over the place where she'd been running her hands through it. She looked impatient when she saw Abby in the doorway and even more impatient when she heard the bad news.

     "He'll turn up." was all she said. "Now off to bed Abby. I've got masses of work to catch up on."

     Abby felt her face go hot and red. It always happened when she was angry or upset.

     "You've hoovered him up haven't you," she said. You were in such a rush you hoovered him up."

     "I have not. I was very careful. But he is extremely small."

     "What's wrong with being small?"

     "Nothing at all. But it makes things hard to find."

     "Or notice," Abby said and ran from the room.



The door to the bedroom opened and Mum's face appeared around the crack. Abby tried to ignore her but it was hard when she walked over to the bed and sat next to her. She was holding her glasses in her hand. She waved them at Abby.

     "These are my new pair," she said. "Extra powerful, for snail hunting." She smiled at Abby. Abby tried not to smile back.

<  4  >
     "And I've got a magnifying glass," Abby suddenly remembered and rushed off to find it.

     They sat beside each other on the floor. On their knees they shuffled around the tank, peering into the corners among the big pebbles, at the gravel and the pondweed.

     "Ah ha!" Mum suddenly cried.

     "What?" Abby moved her magnifying glass to where her mum was pointing.

     There, tucked in the curve of the archway, perfectly hidden against the dark stone, sat Mr. Sticky. And right next to him was another water snail, even smaller than him.

     "Mrs Sticky!" Abby breathed. "But where did she come from?"

     "I'm beginning to suspect the pond weed don't you think?"

     They both laughed and climbed into Abby's bed together, cuddling down under the duvet. It was cozy but a bit of a squeeze.

     "Budge up," Mum said, giving Abby a push with her bottom.

     "I can't, I'm already on the edge."

     "My goodness you've grown then. When did that happen? You could have put an elephant in here last time we did this."

     Abby put her head on her mum's chest and smiled.

Parallel Structure

Parallel Structures

When you present information in a series, it must be stated in the same grammatical form or in a parallel structure. Words must be matched with words, phrases with phrases, and clauses with clauses. Noun must be matched with nouns, adjectives with adjectives, and conjunctions and, but, and or are used to coordinate equally important pieces of information.

Parallel structures mean expressing ideas of equal importance with the same grammatical structures. The series of parallel elements are connected with the connectives and, or, and but, as well as with the paired conjunctions both…and, not only….but also, either…or, and neither…nor.

Examples :

Words with words:

·        Nouns         : We like both the hamburgers and hotdogs.

·        Adjectives    : He felt neither guilty nor sorry for what he had done.

·        Adverbs       : She smiled sweetly and politely.

Phrases with phrases:

·        Infinitives    :

  - Rita wants to teach in kindergarten or (to) write children’s stories.

- We need neither to rush nor to linger; we have a schedule to follow

·        Gerunds      :  Sarah likes both singing and dancing.

·        Verbs                    :

-         After dinner, she cleaned the table and washed the dishes

·        Prepositions : The reward rests not in the task but in the pay.

·        Participial    : Recognizing his weakness but not knowing how to overcome them, he kept making mistakes in his work.

·        Infinitive     :  to complete her paper and (to) do it well, Madonna made a thorough research.

·        Gerund       : Daniel enjoys going to the beach or going to the mountains.

·        Prepositional: His hard work has earned him respect not only from his peers but also from his professors.

·        Verb : he has to finish his studies or leave his parent’s house.

·        Noun : The visitor admire the beautiful landscape and the varied flower collections of the botanical garden.

Below are the strategies concerning parallel structures to answer the TOEFL problems.

1.     Words or phrases in a series linked by connectives and paired conjunction must be in parallel form.

a.      Carol work on her paper day and night.

b.     My father wants to work not for the manager but for the company.

2.     Use paired conjunctions correctly to join words or phrases of parallel structures.

The professor likes not only language but also the plot of the story. 

If you had done read the review of parallel structure, you can do the exercise to develop your writing skill. These are the examples of parallel structure exercise.

Check your understanding :

Find the mistakes in the following sentences. Correct them

1.     Not only adults and teenagers enjoy watching soap operas on Tv.

2.     The play did not only make people laugh but also shedding tears.

3.     Both strength or courage are needed in the competition.

4.     My friends and I neither hate nor enjoyed the math lecture.

5.     Travelling abroad and try out typical foods from different countries are my dreams