Student Support Programme
Grade 7 - English Language
Unit 3: Descriptive Essay
Notes
In this lesson you will learn about Descriptive Writing. In descriptive writing you may
be asked to describe an object, a person, a place or an experience.
In this programme we will focus on describing places.
Descriptive writing involves the use of sensory language, that is we use words that
help the reader see, hear, taste, smell or feel something that we have experienced by
using the sense of touch.
Before we start describing places, let’s have a little game. Read the following sentence
and guess which sense is being used in the following.
1. The way the sea is the same blue as the sky, makes it hard to tell where one ends
and the other begins. It is the sense of sight as the sentence makes us visualise a
picture of the sea.
2. As we entered the room, the door creaked. We knocked into a table and the
glass vase hit the floor with a crash. This time the sense of hearing is used as you can
hear the creaking sound of the door and the crashing of the glass vase.
3. The faint taste of salt on the breeze … The taste of salt indicates that the sense
of taste is being used.
4. We got a whiff of the smell of caught fish from the fishing boat. Indeed, the
writer has used the sense of smell. You can almost smell the caught fish.
5. The rocks, still wet from high tide, were slippery. This time, as indicated by the
words ‘wet’ and ‘slippery’, the writer has used the sense of touch.
Now that you have an idea about how we use sensory details in writing, have a look
at the following topic:
“Describe a place you recently visited.”
Before you start writing, take time to brainstorm the question. Think about the place
you want to describe. Think about the features of the place and the adjectives and
adverbs you can use. Jot down your ideas before you begin writing.
Begin by introducing the place you recently visited. Give the name of the place and
brief information about it. Also write about when and why you visited it.
You may begin your introduction in this way: The first time I went to Blue Bay beach,
I knew that this was the kind of place I would always remember.
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In the next paragraphs, use sensory language, that is use words that help the reader
see, hear, taste, smell or touch, in order to provide a picture of the place you are
describing. Use the sense of sight. You can see the view, the people and the colours.
You may describe what you can hear. For example, the sound, noise or music.
Make use of the sense of taste to write about the breeze, food, dust and sea water.
Use the sense of smell to describe particular odours. Flowers, food, smoke, sea water.
You can similarly use the sense of touch to write about the texture of things around,
the cool breeze, the rain or the sand.
Here is an example of sensory description: As I sat on the beach, I felt the gentle
breeze. The warm sun was shining on the water, making it sparkle. It was so
peaceful. The waves crashing against the shore were soothing.
Try to be organised. It is easy to digress when writing about emotions and senses. Use
paragraphs to present ideas in an organised and logical way, but make use of the
senses to describe.
Don’t forget to end with a proper conclusion, that is, in a way that wraps up the
description.
Edit and review by checking for any mistakes you might have made. Pay particular
attention to punctuation, spelling, agreement of verbs and any other grammar
mistakes you may have left.
