This document provides guidance on writing descriptive paragraphs. It defines descriptive paragraphs as explaining how someone or something looks or feels. It discusses the importance of unity, coherence, and outlines. Sample descriptive paragraphs are provided to illustrate these concepts, including paragraphs describing TV watching in the 1960s, a person's parents, and a favorite summer vacation place at the beach. The conclusion reiterates that descriptive paragraphs aim to help readers visualize what is being described through sensory details.

1. Western University Academic Year 2011-2012
Contents
Descriptive Paragraph .......................................................................................................................................................................... 2
I. What is a descriptive paragraph? ................................................................................................................................................ 2
II. Unity .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 2
Sample paragraphs: ......................................................................................................................................................................... 2
III. Transition Words Used to Signal Visual Description (Coherence) .............................................................................................. 3
IV. Outline .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
V. Samples of descriptive paragraphs ................................................................................................................................................. 3
Sample 1.. ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Sample 2. ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 4
Sample 3. ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 5
VI. Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................................................... 5
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2. Western University Academic Year 2011-2012
Descriptive Paragraph
I. What is a descriptive paragraph?
A descriptive paragraph explains how someone or something looks or feels. For example, you might need to
describe a city for a paragraph about life abroad, a person’s appearance for a paragraph about that person, etc.
II. Unity
Unity is an idea that a writer discusses a single topic.
Sample paragraphs:
Daredevil Sports
1. Daredevil sports are also becoming popular. Young people especially are increasingly willing to risk life and
limb white-mountain biking, back country, snowboarding, or high-speed skate boarding. Soccer is also
becoming popular in the Unite State, where it was not well known until recently. One of the riskiest new
sports is skysurfing, in which people jump out of airplanes with graphite boards attached to their feet.
Skysurfing and bungee jumping for the amount of thrills and risk.
Enemies to friends
2. Sometime enemies become friends. For example, when I was young, I was beaten very often by girl who was
much stronger than me. I wish to take revenge upon him; that was on my mind for a very long time. But it
was a problem for me because of my being unaware of the way to do it. Usually, she started a fight by
accusing me of something. I felt confused when she did that, and she knew that I could not stop being afraid.
One day, she tried to kick me in the stomach, but I twisted my body and made a counter-kick in her knee. She
gave loud scream of pain.
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III. Transition Words Used to Signal Visual Description (Coherence)
above at the side behind by farther left
right across at the top below center front
middle there adjacent back beneath close to
here next to under around beside down
in nearby underneath at the bottom backup beyond
far away inside outside within
IV. Outline
Relaxing at the beach
Where is your favorite summer vocation place? The beach is the perfect place for me. The air is hot, but
the water is cool, wet, and fresh. First, I enjoy swimming and surfing in the ocean. When I am tired, I come out
and lie on the beach. The sand is soft and white. The beach is noisy with seagulls and children laughing, but it is a
pleasant noise. I even like the beach and sweet from everybody’s suntan lotion. I feel peaceful and relaxed. When
I want to relax in summer, I go to the beach.
Topic Sentence
The beach is the perfect place for me.
Supporting Sentence
The air is hot, …………………………………………………………………..everybody’s suntan lotion.
Concluding Sentence
I feel peaceful and relaxed. When I want to relax in summer, I go to the beach.
V. Samples of descriptive paragraphs
Sample 1.The sample below is an opening paragraph from a student essay on thedevelopment of entertainment
media. In it, she describes TV-watching in her family to makea point about how central TV was as a form of
entertainment in the 60’s.
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Entertainment in the 60’s
As I was growing up in the 60’s, television was the only entertainmentmy family knew of the electronic
sort. The 7 o’clock nightly news wassuch an important part of our family that my dad knocked a wall
down andbuilt a huge cabinet in its place just to accommodate our 19-inch black andwhite. No one was
allowed to talk or make a sound when the televisionwas on; all eyes were glued to the moving and
flickering image. The boxcommanded absolute respect. In the daytime, “the television needs itsrest” my
mother would say, as she patted its pseudo-wooden top andcovered it with a doilie she had made herself.
There is no doubt that TVwas as central to our lives as it was to the lives of all our friends during
thatperiod. (adapted from an essay by Angeline Chan, used with permission.)
Notice the writer’s use of action verbs (knocked, glued) and her use of sensory words (19-inch, black
and white, huge, talk, sound, flickering)) to paint a picture of the scene in herliving room. In the final
sentence, she states the main point of the paragraph: that TV wascentral in families’ lives during the
60’s. The appearance of a topic sentence at the end of aparagraph, rather than at the beginning is
common in descriptive paragraphs, and it workswell for this kind of development.
Sample 2.
My Parent
When I was young, I admired my parents for their strength and kindness. They were not very big. In fact,
they were tiny and thin with pointed nose. They were strong though. They lived by themselves and still
did a lot of the chores around their house. When I was a child, I saw them almost every day, and they
were very happy people and were always smiling and joking, and they often made me laugh. My parents
were also very patient, and they would listen to all of my problems. They gave me very good advice
whenever I needed it. I did not need to be afraid to tell them anything, because they never got mad at me.
They just listened and tried to them because they had interesting to tell about their own childhood and life
experiences. When I was young, my parents were my favorite friends.
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Sample 3.
My favorite summer vocation place
Where is your favorite summer vocation place? The beach is the perfect place for me. The air is hot, but
the water is cool, wet, and fresh. First, I enjoy swimming and surfing in the ocean. When I am tired, I
come out and lie on the beach. The sand is soft and white. The beach is noisy with seagulls and children
laughing, but it is a pleasant noise. I even like the beach and sweet from everybody’s suntan lotion. I feel
peaceful and relaxed. When I want to relax in summer, I go to the beach.
VI. Conclusion
Descriptive Paragraph explains us to know how to describe persons, things, places, animals by using adjective,
similes, and prepositional phrase. In so doing, sensory details are important because they can help the reader see,
hear, feel, smell, and taste what is being described. This is the goal of a descriptive paragraph.
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Reference
-www.english studies.com/descriptive paragraph
-www.descriptive paragraph.com/pdf
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