DESCRIPTIVE WRITING GRADE 8 WRITING WORKBOOK SURNAME, NAME: COMPLETE I C CLASS: 1 081-eng-wb-t1-(Descriptive Writing)
TERM 1 CALENDAR September 2015 Wk Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su 36 1 2 3 4 5 6 37 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 38 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 39 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 40 28 29 30 Term 1 Assessment 26 October 2015 October 2015 Wk Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su 40 1 2 3 4 41 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 42 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 43 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 44 26 27 28 29 30 31 Take Home set 30 October 2015 Take Home Deadline 6 November 2015 November 2015 Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 2 081-eng-wb-t1-(Descriptive Writing)
CONTENTS SECTION TITLE PAGE NO. Introduction 4 Keys to Descriptive Writing 5-8 Descriptive Writing techniques 9-15 Descriptive Essay planning 16-17 Descriptive Essay writing 18-19 Proofreading and Editing 20 Workbook evaluation 21 Notes 22-24 3 081-eng-wb-t1-(Descriptive Writing)
DESCRIPTIVE WRITING Descriptive writing is writing that vividly describes a person, place, thing or idea in such a way that the reader can experience what the author describes. A successful descriptive essay or story can put readers into the author s shoes and let them feel the experience first-hand. In this workbook, you are going to learn how to write a vivid, exciting, compelling descriptive essay. When you are finished with the workbook you will understand how to: efficiently plan for a writing assignment use specific language and structure to make your writing stronger write with a specific audience in mind use proper grammar, punctuation, spelling and vocabulary proofread, edit and revise your own writing 4 081-eng-wb-t1-(Descriptive Writing)
KEYS TO DESCRIPTIVE WRITING When using descriptive writing, we need to ask ourselves: How can I make readers understand or appreciate what I have experienced? How can I make readers feel as if they have experienced it themselves? The keys are to use sensory details, vivid verbs and descriptive adjectives to appeal to the readers emotions. By using these keys, we can make our descriptive writing more interesting and present a clearer and more vivid picture of the experience. SENSORY DETAIL Sensory detail refers to offering details that readers can see, hear, smell, taste or even touch in their imagination. Can you tell which text uses sensory detail? Circle all the examples you can find in the example below. 1) Grandmother reached over and grabbed her grandson s arm. He was nervous because the staircase was so steep, but she leaned against him and they began to climb. 2) Grandmother lurched over and grabbed the pale skin of Randal s thin forearm with her leathery hand. He bit his lip, his mouth filled with the sweet, coppery taste of blood as she leaned in close toward him, breathing her hot breath on the damp hair at the base of his neck. Fill in the table below using descriptive words you can use to for each sense. Hearing Smelling Tasting Seeing Touching Piercing Pungent Bitter Round Sharp 5 081-eng-wb-t1-(Descriptive Writing)
Use each box below as a different sense and write in at least 3 words that describe the best dessert you have ever eaten. SIGHT SMELL The best dessert SOUND TOUCH TASTE 6 081-eng-wb-t1-(Descriptive Writing)
VIVID VERBS Replacing general verbs with vivid verbs allows you to provide a lot more detail in your writing. This makes a text more interesting for the reader. Here are some examples of boring, general verbs, and vivid alternatives that you can use: Write your own general (boring verbs) in the table below and then find vivid verbs to replace the boring ones on the left. General verb Vivid verb Complete these sentences using a vivid verb from the table above. 1. The boy ran to the store to buy a carton of milk. 2. I was hungry so I ate breakfast. 3. I looked in the basement it was scary. 7 081-eng-wb-t1-(Descriptive Writing)
DESCRIPTIVE ADJECTIVES AND VIVID VERBS Descriptive adjectives describe a noun in detail. This helps the reader to visualize what you are writing about. Examples: adorable girl, helpful friend, aggressive dog, wild horse 1. Read the passage below from The Giver. 2. First, circle all descriptive adjectives in red. 3. Then circle all vivid verbs in blue. Vivid verb Descriptive adjective It was almost December, and Jonas was beginning to be frightened. No. Wrong word, Jonas thought. Frightened meant that deep, sickening feeling of something terrible about to happen. Frightened was the way he had felt a year ago when an unidentified aircraft had overflown the community twice. He had seen it both times. Squinting toward the sky, he had seen the sleek jet, almost a blur at its high speed, go past, and a second later heard the blast of sound that followed. Then one more time, a moment later, from the opposite direction, the same plane. At first, he had been only fascinated. He had never seen an aircraft so close, for it was against the rules for pilots to fly over the community. Occasionally, when supplies were delivered by cargo planes to the landing field across the river, the children rode their bicycles to the river bank and watched, intrigued, the unloading and then the takeoff directed to the west, always away from the community. But the aircraft a year ago had been different. It was not a squat, fat-bellied cargo plane but a needle-nosed single-pilot jet. Jonas, looking around anxiously, had seen others adults as well as children stop what they were doing and wait, confused, for an explanation of the frightening event. 8 081-eng-wb-t1-(Descriptive Writing)
DESCRIPTIVE WRITING TECHNIQUES There are a few tricks and techniques of descriptive writing that will help make your writing stronger and more interesting. In this section, you will learn how to use characterization and observational writing to improve your descriptions, as well as the difference between showing versus telling. CHARACTERIZATION Characterization refers to the process of describing the appearance, action, and thoughts of the persons discussed within a text. To help readers understand motivation, an author should give each of his or her characters: 1. A unique way of behaving 2. A unique way of speaking 3. A unique appearance 4. A unique way of thinking If this can be accomplished, the text will achieve a heightened sense of believability. Think about characters you know well for example, Dory from Finding Nemo. Fill in the table below showing all the things you know about him. Family What does he think about himself? Appearance Likes Personality Dislikes Education / job Values / beliefs Best memory History 9 081-eng-wb-t1-(Descriptive Writing)
Choose a hero, a villain, a student, a teacher or another character. Use the same mind map and create your own character. Family What does he think about himself? Appearance Likes Personality Dislikes Education \ job Values / beliefs Best memory History 10 081-eng-wb-t1-(Descriptive Writing)
OBSERVATIONAL WRITING Observational writing is about showing your reader people, places, events, or objects through the use of specific detail. In The Prentice Hall Guide For College Writers, Stephen Reid explains the process of observational writing: If your reader is going to learn from your observations, you need to give the exact details that you learned from, not just your conclusions or generalizations. Even in writing, experience is the best teacher, so use specific details to communicate the feel, the data, the sights and sounds and smells. Below you will find activities for a bunch of different observational writing techniques. METAPHORS Definition: Metaphor is when you compare two things that are not similar. Unlike with a simile, you don't use "like" or "as" in the comparison. Examples: John is a real pig when he eats. All the world s a stage. Can you think of any metaphors? Pick from the list below and write four metaphors of your own. School Love Winter Death Roller coasters Mosaic cake Ferryboat rides My hair New shoes Football Sunshine 1. 2. 3. 4. 11 081-eng-wb-t1-(Descriptive Writing)
COMPARATIVES Comparisons most often come in the form of analogy or simile. An analogy demonstrates the similarity or similarities between two things or concepts, while a simile compares two distinctly different things using the word "like" or "as." Comparisons can help readers connect something they have not experienced with something they are very familiar with. Not many people have jumped out of an airplane but many have ridden on a rollercoaster, so a writer can compare the experience of skydiving with that first drop on a world class rollercoaster. Example: "Cameron's house is like a museum. It's very cold, and very beautiful, and you're not allowed to touch anything." Complete the comparisons below, then write a description of why it s true. 1. Darkness is like because 2. Ice cream is like because 3. School field trips are like because Now write 3 sentences of your own using like. If you have time you can draw pictures to illustrate your sentences 1. 2. 3. 12 081-eng-wb-t1-(Descriptive Writing)
POINT OF VIEW The phrase "point of view" refers to the position from which an object, person, or event is observed. Before beginning to write, an author must decide upon which point of view would best suit the subject matter. Perhaps a story might be better told from the point of view of the grandfather as opposed to the daughter? Point of view holds the power to determine the audience's response to writing. As Stephen Reid explains in The Prentice Hall Guide For College Writers, "what is seen depends on who is doing the seeing." I felt awful. My whole body was fighting against me. He felt awful. His whole body was fighting against him. The narrator is the main character in the story. Uses I Rarely used. Narrator uses you. Used in essays. The narrator knows everything and isn t part of the story. Uses he, she and it First, choose a subject from the box on the left. Then choose a point of view from which to write about that subject, and write three sentences. You may only use each subject and point of view one time! Subjects Fishing Buying a car Training for football Sleeping Driving a motorcycle Getting sick Carrying a cat Going to the cinema Eating peanut butter 1. 2. 3. 13 081-eng-wb-t1-(Descriptive Writing)
SHOWING VERSUS TELLING Showing vs telling is an important aspect of creating effective description. Writing which "tells" is plain and straightforward, yet often has difficulty involving the reader. An example of a "telling" sentence would be: "Kathy was sad." This sentence tells the reader what judgment needs to be made about Kathy, yet does not provide the evidence to support that judgment. Showing answers questions such as: How do we know that Kathy is sad? How is she behaving? What does she look like? Writing which "shows" guides the reader in coming to their own conclusions. Example: Mike was mad. = TELLING Mike s face reddened and he felt his fingers wrap tightly around the smooth metal base of the lamp. = SHOWING Read the following sentences from The Giver and decide if they are showing or telling. Circle which one it is first. If it is a showing sentence, write what the author is trying to show. If it is a telling sentence, then rewrite it as a showing sentence. A. But there was a little shudder of nervousness. SHOWING or TELLING? B. Many of the students were biting their lips to keep from laughing. SHOWING or TELLING? C. He was fascinated. SHOWING or TELLING? D. Jonas was surprised. SHOWING or TELLING? E. But again and again during free time, I found myself drawn to the new children. I spent almost all my volunteer hours in the nurturing center. SHOWING or TELLING? 14 081-eng-wb-t1-(Descriptive Writing)
HOW TO SHOW... Embarrassed Hungry wanting to run away and hide dreaming about cheeseburgers cheeks burning with heat stomach gurgling and growling taking shallow breaths mouth watering at the smell of food needing to swallow, but throat is dry shoveling food into mouth mind going blank can t think of what to say or do next feeling heart speed up imagining random objects as food trying to remember when last ate Write on the post-it notes below ways you could show the following. Happy Nervous 15 081-eng-wb-t1-(Descriptive Writing)
WRITING YOUR DESCRIPTIVE ESSAY Now it s your chance to use all the descriptive writing keys, tricks and techniques you have learned and put them into your own writing. You will plan and write a descriptive essay in this section. Good luck! PLANNING Choose a topic from the list below. This will be your essay topic choose something that interests you! You arrive on an island. Write a description of your first impressions of the place and its people. You are a dog. Describe a day in your life. You are the only survivor of a virus in Istanbul. Describe your life as the only person in the city. You are waiting to visit the dentist to get a tooth removed. Describe your experience in the waiting room. You are skiing down Mount Everest. Describe the experience. Once you have chosen your topic, brainstorm some ideas for your essay in the space below. Make sure to brainstorm key descriptive terms and phrases, story order, as well as the techniques and keys we practiced earlier. Topic: 16 081-eng-wb-t1-(Descriptive Writing)
In the chart below, write down some general adjectives that could apply to your topic. Then, come up with at least three descriptive replacements for each general term. You can use these in your essay! General adjective Descriptive adjective replacements Now, do the same with general and vivid verbs. Remember at least three descriptive replacements. General verb Vivid verb replacements Finally, jot down some of the sensory details that are associated with your topic. Write three for each sense. Sight Sound Taste Touch Smell 17 081-eng-wb-t1-(Descriptive Writing)
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PROOFREADING AND EDITING Proofreading, editing and revising your own writing is one of the most important parts of writing an essay. Your job doesn t end with just writing you have to go back and check for mistakes! Your argument won t be very strong if you misspell your subject and forget to put a period at the end of your Thesis Statement. For proofreading and editing, it s all in the CUPS Capitalization: names, places, months, titles, I, sentences C U P S Usage: nouns and verbs matched correctly (I am, you are, etc.) Punctuation: periods, commas, question marks, quotes, etc. For revising, use your Spelling: check everything use the dictionary if you need to! Add: sentences and words to strengthen your arguments A R M S Remove: unnecessary or incorrect sentences and words Move: change the placement of sentences and words Substitute: trade in sentences and words that work better In the space below, pick four sentences from your essay and revise them using your ARMS. Original: Original: Original: Original: Add: Remove: Move: Substitute: 20 081-eng-wb-t1-(Descriptive Writing)
What parts of the booklet were easy? What parts were ok? What parts were difficult? What do you want to see more of in the booklet? What do you want to see less of? Offer an alternative. Do you have any other comments or feedback about the booklet? 21 081-eng-wb-t1-(Descriptive Writing)
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