Descriptive writing portrays people, places, things, moments and theories with enough vivid detail to help the

reader create a mental picture of what is being written about.

Things to Consider as You Write Your Descriptive Essay

Think of an instance that you want to describe. Why is this particular instance important? What were you doing? What other things were happening around you? Is there anything specific that stands out in your mind? Where were objects located in relation to where you were? How did the surroundings remind you of other places you have been? What sights, smells, sounds, and tastes were in the air? Did the sights, smells, sounds, and tastes remind you of anything? What were you feeling at that time? Has there been an instance in which you have felt this way before? What do you want the reader to feel after reading the paper? What types of words and images can convey this feeling? Can you think of another situation that was similar to the one you are writing about? How can it help explain what you are writing about? Is there enough detail in your essayto create a mental image for the reader?

Conventions of Descriptive Essays Illustrated by Sample Paragraphs

Appealing-to-the-Senses Description: Let the reader see, smell, hear, taste, and feel what you write in your essay. The thick, burnt scent of roasted coffee tickled the tip of my nose just seconds before the old, faithful alarm blared a distorted top-forty through its tiny top speaker. Wiping away the grit of last night's sleep, the starch white sunlight blinded me momentarily as I slung my arm like an elephant trunk along the top of the alarm, searching for the snooze button. While stretching hands and feet to the four posts of my bed, my eyes opened after several watery blinks. I crawled out of the comforter, edging awkwardly like a butterfly from a cocoon, swinging my legs over the side of the bed. The dusty pebbles on the chilled, wood floor sent ripples spiraling from my ankles to the nape of my neck when my feet hit the floor. Grabbing the apricot, terri-cloth robe, recently bathed in fabric softener and October wind, I knotted it tightly at my waist like a prestigious coat of armor and headed downstairs to battle the morning.

Personality Adjectives to Describe your Friends

It's great to expand your vocabulary to more accurately or more creatively describe the people you love most Convivial: Everyone knows someone who is so full of life that he fills others with zest. Convivial means "with life," so it makes sense that friendly people are called convivial. They make you happy to be alive. Example: Al's Halloween parties are always the best because his convivial personality puts everyone in a festive spirit. Amicable: Friendly or apparently good-willed people are called amicable. All of your friends could be described by this personality adjective, or at least they should. Example: Sam is always smiling and complimenting folks, what an amicable fellow! Similarly, amiable, literally meaning loveable, is a wonderful way to describe a friend or nice person. Example: Mary, the amiable lady that she is, always pets stray cats and says hello to everyone she sees in town. Someone like Mary can also be described as gregarious. A gregarious person enjoys speaking with people and finds herself energized around large groups of people. Example: I wish I were as gregarious as Mary is; she ends up talking with everyone at the party. To describe your friend's gentle side, you can call him affable. It means your friend is kind. Example: Even when Joe's in a rush to work, he stays affable, never raising his temper or his voice at the Amtrak personnel.

Describing Enemies
Sometimes describing your enemies with intelligence and wit is difficult. The times that negative feelings demand description aren't usually conducive to accurate use of vocabulary. Keep these few personality adjectives in mind the next time you have to appear calm and collected when dealing with a difficult person. You might get the upper linguistic hand. Scrooge in Dickens's A Christmas Carol pinches every penny. That component of his personality, more than any other, has demonized for generations of readers. People like Scrooge are called parsimonious. Parsimonious people are stingy of every petty thing, they horde and refuse to share despite being the position to do so. Example: John just bought a Bentley but refused to loan me a dollar, parsimonious jerk!

Nonchalant: Someone who is nonchalant is unconcerned or too cool to care. Describing someone as nonchalant is saying that he lacks all the warmth and enthusiasm normally attributed to a member of the human race. Example: John doesn't know how many homes he has; no wonder he's nonchalant about poverty. Obtuse: Obtuse people are those who are dull, negligent, or just bored with life. They bore you because they themselves are so bored. They are annoyingly slow to understand even the simplest of ideas. Example: Chad writes poetry that puts you to sleep; his obtuse view of life tires even the most ardent lovers of verse. Abecedarian: It might not always be grounds for enemy making, but calling someone abecedarian is certainly useful. Someone who is abecedarian is elementary, a beginner. Temporarily, everyone can be described as abecedarian, e.g., in a new job, but not perpetually. Literally, it means someone who is learning his or her A, B, C's. Example: Sarah is unfit to lead; though charming, she's inexperienced and abecedarian. Truculent: A truculent person is a worthy adversary because he is fierce, ferocious, and cruel. You could just say cruel, but that would be obtuse and betray a lack of good words. The only thing worse than truculence is a lack of good words, well that and being pusillanimous. Example: Truculent old Richard actually cussed at a colleague in front of a hundred other coworkers. Pusillanimous: Someone who is pusillanimous lacks courage. It's much stronger than timid because it means weak spirit or mind. Latin suggests here that the weaker the mind, the more fearful a person is. Example: In a pusillanimous move, George pardoned a criminal for fear of what he might say if left in prison. If someone is parsimonious, truculent, and pusillanimous, one might call that person Machiavellian. Machiavelli was a Florentine renaissance writer who penned The Prince, a book that detailed the most underhanded, scheming way to rule a country. The book outlined the worst characteristics of humanity and suggested that behaving in such a way was the only effective form of leadership. Almost 500 years later, much controversy still surrounds this work. However, the English language has adopted Nicclo Machiavelli's name as the word describing all that is deplorable in a personality. Example: Carl lies, slanders, cheats, and steals; his "playbook" might be the most Machiavellian thing the world has ever known.