Descriptive essay

Descriptive Essays

Summary:

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.

Contributors:Jack Baker, Allen Brizee, Elizabeth Angeli
Last Edited: 2013-03-10 01:34:44

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.

Narrative essay

Narrative Essay Examples

In a narrative essay you tell a story, but you also make a point. So, it is like a story told for a reason.    

Narrative Essays: To Tell a Story

There are four types of essays:

• Exposition - gives information about various topics to the reader. 
• Description - describes in detail characteristics and traits. 
• Argument - convinces the reader by demonstrating the truth or falsity of a topic. 
• Narrative - tells a story, usually from one person’s viewpoint.

A narrative essay uses all the story elements - a beginning and ending, plot, characters, setting and climax - all coming together to complete the story.

Essential Elements of Narrative Essays

The focus of a narrative essay is the plot, which is told using enough details to build to a climax. Here's how:

• It is usually told chronologically.
• It usually has a purpose, which is usually stated in the opening sentence.
• It may use dialogue.
• It is written with sensory details and vivid descriptions to involve the reader. All these details relate in some way to the main point the writer is making.

All of these elements need to seamlessly combine. A few examples of narrative essays follow. Narrative essays can be quite long, so instead of a full length example of an entire essay, only the beginnings of essays are included:

Learning Can Be Scary

This excerpt about learning new things and new situations is an example of a personal narrative essay that describes learning to swim.

“Learning something new can be a scary experience. One of the hardest things I've ever had to do was learn how to swim. I was always afraid of the water, but I decided that swimming was an important skill that I should learn. I also thought it would be good exercise and help me to become physically stronger. What I didn't realize was that learning to swim would also make me a more confident person.

New situations always make me a bit nervous, and my first swimming lesson was no exception. After I changed into my bathing suit in the locker room, I stood timidly by the side of the pool waiting for the teacher and other students to show up. After a couple of minutes the teacher came over. She smiled and introduced herself, and two more students joined us. Although they were both older than me, they didn't seem to be embarrassed about not knowing how to swim. I began to feel more at ease.”

The Manager. The Leader.

The following excerpt is a narrative essay from a story about a manager who was a great leader.  Notice the intriguing first sentence that captures your attention right away.

“Jerry was the kind of guy you love to hate. He was always in a good mood and always had something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!" He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant. The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.”

The Climb

This excerpt from the climb also captures your attention right away by creating a sense of mystery. The reader announces that he or she has "this fear" and you want to read on to see what that fear is.

“I have this fear. It causes my legs to shake. I break out in a cold sweat. I start jabbering to anyone who is nearby. As thoughts of certain death run through my mind, the world appears a precious, treasured place. I imagine my own funeral, then shrink back at the implications of where my thoughts are taking me. My stomach feels strange. My palms are clammy. I am terrified of heights.Of course, it’s not really a fear of being in a high place. Rather, it is the view of a long way to fall, of rocks far below me and no firm wall between me and the edge. My sense of security is screamingly absent. There are no guardrails, flimsy though I picture them, or other safety devices. I can rely only on my own surefootedness—or lack thereof.”

Disney Land

The following narrative essay involves a parent musing about taking her kids to Disney Land.

“It was a hot sunny day, when I finally took my kids to the Disney Land. My son Matthew and my daughter Audra endlessly asked me to show them the dream land of many children with Mickey Mouse and Snow-white walking by and arousing a huge portion of emotions. Somehow these fairy tale creatures can make children happy without such “small” presents as $100 Lego or a Barby’s house in 6 rooms and garden furniture. Therefore, I thought that Disney Land was a good invention for loving parents.”

The Sacred Grove of Oshogbo by Jeffrey Tayler

The following essay contains descriptive language that helps to paint a vivid picture for the reader of an encounter with a man.

“As I passed through the gates I heard a squeaky voice. A diminutive middle-aged man came out from behind the trees — the caretaker. He worked a toothbrush-sized stick around in his mouth, digging into the crevices between algae'd stubs of teeth. He was barefoot; he wore a blue batik shirt known as a buba, baggy purple trousers, and an embroidered skullcap. I asked him if he would show me around the shrine. Motioning me to follow, he spat out the results of his stick work and set off down the trail.”

Playground Memory

The first excerpt from, “Playground Memory”, has very good sensory details.

“Looking back on a childhood filled with events and memories, I find it rather difficult to pick on that leaves me with the fabled “warm and fuzzy feelings.” As the daughter of an Air Force Major, I had the pleasure of traveling across America in many moving trips. I have visited the monstrous trees of the Sequoia National Forest, stood on the edge of the Grande Canyon and have jumped on the beds at Caesar’s Palace in Lake Tahoe. However, I have discovered that when reflecting on my childhood, it is not the trips that come to mind, instead there are details from everyday doings; a deck of cards, a silver bank or an ice cream flavor. One memory that comes to mind belongs to a day of no particular importance. It was late in the fall in Merced, California on the playground of my old elementary school; an overcast day with the wind blowing strong. I stood on the blacktop, pulling my hoodie over my ears. The wind was causing miniature tornados; we called them “dirt devils”, to swarm around me.”

Christmas Cookies

The second of the two narrative essay examples is an excerpt from “Christmas Cookies.”

“Although I have grown up to be entirely inept at the art of cooking, as to make even the most wretched chef ridicule my sad baking attempts, my childhood would have indicated otherwise; I was always on the countertop next to my mother’s cooking bowl, adding and mixing ingredients that would doubtlessly create a delicious food. When I was younger, cooking came intrinsically with the holiday season, which made that time of year the prime occasion for me to unite with ounces and ounces of satin dark chocolate, various other messy and gooey ingredients, numerous cooking utensils, and the assistance of my mother to cook what would soon be an edible masterpiece. The most memorable of the holiday works of art were our Chocolate Crinkle Cookies, which my mother and I first made when I was about six and are now made annually.”  

Tips on Writing a Narrative Essay

When writing a narrative essay, remember that you are sharing sensory and emotional details with the reader.

• Your words need to be vivid and colorful to help the reader feel the same feelings that you felt.
• Elements of the story need to support the point you are making and you need to remember to make reference to that point in the first sentence.
• You should make use of conflict and sequence like in any story.
• You may use flashbacks and flash forwards to help the story build to a climax.
• It is usually written in the first person, but third person may also be used.

Remember, a well-written narrative essay tells a story and makes a point.

Do you have a good example to share? Add your example here.

Tenses

Explanations	Present Simple
Action that is repeated every Friday. Habitual action.	I visit my uncle every Friday
Facts that are believed to be true. Generalizations	Cats hate mice. The sun rises in the morning.
Scheduled events in the near future	The plane takes off at 10 o'clock tonight

Explanations	Present Progressive
Action that takes place now / at the moment	I am working on my computer
Near future	I am leaving tomorrow

Explanations	Present Perfect
To talk about experiences	I have been to Italy.
Past action that has the result in the present.	She has read that book.
Action which started in the past and continued up to now.	I have lived in this town for 12 years.

Explanations	Present Perfect Progressive
To show that something started in the past and has continued up until now.	He has been sleeping for the last 3 hours
To talk about an action that started in the past and stopped recently.	The grass is wet because it has been raining all day long.
To talk about an action that started in the past and is continuing now.	I have been watching TV for 2 hours / since you left.

Explanations	Past Simple
Completed action in the past.	She left yesterday.
To talk about an action that started in the past and stopped recently.	She woke up, had a shower and left.
To talk about an action that started in the past and is continuing now.	If I had a million dollar, I would help the poor.
An action taking place in the middle of another action.	She was playing when the accident occurred.

Explanations	Past Progressive
Actions happening at the same time in the past.	He was reading a newspaper while his wife was preparing dinner.
Interrupted action in the past.	Sh was reading a book when the light went off, had a shower and left.

Explanations	Past Perfect Simple
Completed action before another action in the past.	She had left when I arrived.

Explanations	Past Perfect Progressive
To show that something started in the past and continued up until another action stopped it.	They had been playing soccer when the accident occurred
To show that something started in the past and continued up until another time in the past.	I had been living in that town for ten years before I moved to New York.
We use the Past Perfect Continuous before another action in the past to show cause and effect.	I was so tired. I had been working for 6 hours.

Explanations	Future  Simple
Instant decisions	I've left the door open; I'll close it.
We use the simple future , when we predict a future situation	She'll pass the exam. She's hardworking.
We use the simple future with: "I (don't) think...", "I expect...", "I am sure...", "I wonder...", "probably".	It will probably rain tonight
Conditional sentence type one	If I have enough time, I'll watch the film.

Explanations	Future Progressive
Action that will be taking place at some time in the future.	When you arrive, I'll be sleeping .

Explanations	Future Perfect
Completed action before another action in the past	By tomorrow, I will have finished the work.

Explanations	Future Perfect Progressive
It is used to show that an action will continue up until a particular event or time in the future.	She will have been working for over 8 hours by the time her children arrive.

Present Tenses

Present Simple Tense

It is used to express an action in present time, habitual or usual actions or daily event or universal fact. It is used to express an action in present time which is usually done on a regular basis. For example a student says, “I go to school”. It is a daily activity of a student to go to school, so such actions are expressed by present simple tense. Anotherexample is, “I work in a factory”. It tells about a usual action of a person that he works in a factory on regular basis.

Rules. 1st form of verb or base verb is used as main verb in sentence.

 

                         Structure of sentence 

Positive Sentence
     • Subject + Main verb + Object
     • Subject + 1st form of verb (or base verb) + Object

Note: If the subject in a sentence is “he, she, it, singular or proper noun” then “s” or “es” is added to the first form of verb or base form in the sentence.

Examples. 
         I write a letter.
         He gets up early in the morning.
         Sun rises in east.

Negative Sentences
   • Subject + auxiliary verb +NOT + Main verb +object
   • Subject + Do not/Does not + 1st form of verb (or base form) + object

Examples.
         I do not write a letter.
         He does not get up early in the morning.
         Sun does not rise in east.

Note: In negative sentence auxiliary verb “do or does” along with “not” is used. If the subject in a sentence is “he, she, it, singular or proper noun”, then “Does not” is used after subject in sentence. If subject is “I, we, they, you or plural” then “Do not” is used after subject in sentence. “s” or “es” is not added to main verb in negative sentence

Interrogative Sentence
   • Auxiliary verb + Subject + Main verb + Object
   • Do/Does + Subject + 1st for of verb (or base verb) + Object

Examples.
         Do I write a letter?
         Does he get up early in the morning?
         Does sun rise in east?

Note: If the subject in a sentence is “he, she, it, singular or proper noun” the sentence is started with Auxiliary verb “Does”. If the subject in a sentence is “I, we, they, you or plural” the sentence is started with auxiliary verb “Do”. “s” or “es” is not added to main verb in Interrogative sentence 

 

More Examples

Positive Sentences
          I sing a song.
          He drinks water
          They read lessons
          Birds chirp
          John reaches home in time.
          Water maintains its surface level.

Negative Sentences
          I do not sing a song
          He does not drink water
          They do not read lessons
          Birds do not chirp
          John does not reach home in time.
          Water does not maintain its surface level.

Interrogative Sentences
        Do I sing a song?
        Does he drink water?
        Do they read lessons?
        Do birds chirp?
        Does John reach home in time?
        Does water maintain its surface level?