1 071-eng-wb-t2(Descriptive Writing)

DESCRIPTIVE

WRITING

GRADE 7 Term 2

SURNAME, NAME: __________________________________________________

CLASS: ____________________________________________________________

COMPLETE

I C

“Limitations live only in our minds. But if we

use our imaginations, our possibilities become

limitless.”

Jamie Paolinetti

2 071-eng-wb-t2(Descriptive Writing)

TERM 2 CALENDAR

November 2016

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Notes:

1 2 3 4 5 Nov 21st: Term 1 starts

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

December 2016

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Notes:

1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Dec 30th – Jan 2nd New Year’s Holiday

Dec 9th -Dec 16th-Take Home Period

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Dec 27th term 2 Assessment

January 2017

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Notes:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Dec 30th – Jan 2nd New Year’s Holiday

8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Jan 23rd – Feb 3rd Midterm Holiday

15 16 17 18 19 20 21

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

29 30 31

3 071-eng-wb-t2(Descriptive Writing)

DESCRIPTIVE WRITING

In this workbook, you will learn about the magic and beauty of Descriptive Writing. When you are finished you will

be able to:

Use different types of writing, depending on your audience

Identify and understand different language techniques

Use different language techniques in your own writing

Plan an essay, then edit and revise it

Use correct spelling, grammar and punctuation in your writing

CONTENTS

SECTION TITLE

PAGE

NO.

Introduction 3

How descriptive are you? 4

Sensory Details 6

Similes 8

Metaphors 9

Adjectives 10

Vivid Verbs 11

Identifying Descriptive Writing 12

Final assignment 15

Rubric 17

Proofreading and revising 18

Evaluation 19

Notes 20

4 071-eng-wb-t2(Descriptive Writing)

The purpose of descriptive writing is to make our readers see, feel, hear, smell, and taste what we have seen,

felt, heard, smelled, and tasted. These are the FIVE SENSES! Whether we're describing a person, a place, or a

thing, our aim is to reveal a subject through vivid and carefully selected details.

“Your test begins … now.” It’s time. Your heart is racing, beating a thousand times per second, ready to jump out of your chest onto your desk.

Your palms feel like used gym socks, hot and sweaty and unusable. Papers rustle all around you. Someone coughs,

and suddenly your throat is as dry as a desert, dusty and cracking and desperate for water. You can’t get up, but

you don’t know where to begin. You close your eyes to try and focus. I know this stuff. I studied. I read the book. I

will be fine. You open your eyes and reach to pick up your pencil, but it is a poisonous snake just waiting to betray

you, so you leave it. There is a tapping from behind you, a non-stop tick-tick-tick-tick that is drilling into your head,

going deeper and deeper searching for vocabulary and persuasive writing techniques to steal. You take one deep

breath and open the test to read the first question, but your eyes start to get blurry. There is a fog rolling through

your head. What if I DON’T know the answer? What if I didn’t study enough? What is that tapping sound? What if I

fail? The room starts spinning around you, and the tapping won’t stop. The jackhammer in your chest keeps poun-

ding away, and your tongue is like sandpaper. You look down at your test through the hurricane around you, and

suddenly …

The room stops spinning. The fog clears. Your heartbeat slows down, the tapping stops, and your pencil is just a

pencil. You read the first question again. I know the answer.

You start writing.

How do you feel after reading that? Why do you think you feel that way? What made you feel that way?

That paragraph was an example of Descriptive Writing. This workbook will be all about

teaching you how to identify, understand and create descriptive writing.

HOW DESCRIPTIVE ARE YOU?

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Look at the three images below and write down as many words or phrases as you can think of that describe

them in the bubbles .

DESCRIPTION ACTIVITY

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1.SENSORY DETAILS (Five Senses)

Write down at least six to eight adjectives you can think of related to the five senses.

DESCRIPTIVE WRITING TECHNIQUES

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Select one of the two pictures below and describe it in five ways—one way for each of the five senses. You can

use the adjectives from the previous activity to inspire you!

Include AT LEAST three sentences for each category. Check the box next to the picture you choose.

T

A

S

T

E

TOUCH

S

M

E

L

L

SIGHT

SOUND

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FIVE SENSES ACTIVITY

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A simile compares two things, using the words “like” or “as.” A simile is an easy way to make the reader understand

something that might be very hard to describe, because the writer can compare it to something the reader

understands.

Example: The sky is as _____________ as ______________.

Colour Noun/Phrase

The sky is as grey as ash.

The sky is dark like a blanket over the world.

In the space below, fill in the blanks to complete each simile. Create two examples per picture.

THE CAVE

1. The cave is as _________________ as ___________________________.

2. The cave is _________________ like ____________________________.

THE BABY’S EYES

1. The baby’s eyes are __________________like ________________________.

2. The baby’s eyes are as __________________as _______________________.

THE MOTORCYCLE

1. The motorcycle is as ________________ as _____________________.

2. The motorcycle is ________________ like ______________________.

2. SIMILES

THE SUNSHINE

1. The sunshine is as _________________ as ____________

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2. The sunshine is _________________ like

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LOVE

1. Love is as _________________ as ____________

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2. Love is _________________ like

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3. METAPHORS

A metaphor is a comparison of two things that are not alike, NOT using “like”or “as.” In a metaphor, the author

simply says one thing IS another thing. Like similes, metaphors are an easy way to make your readers understand

something that might be confusing, and also to make your descriptions much stronger and more vivid.

It’s often a good idea to include a short explanation of your metaphor to make yourself clear.

Example: He was a bulldog, he never gave up until he got his way.

The sky was on fire, the sunset cast red and orange light everywhere.

Fill in the blanks below to complete the metaphors about each picture. You will create 3 metaphors per picture.

THE STARS

1. The stars are ________________________

___________________, they _____________

_____________________________________.

2. The stars are _________________________

___________________, they _____________

_____________________________________.

THE SKYSCRAPERS

1. The skyscrapers are ____________________

________________, they _________________

______________________________________.

2. The skyscrapers are____________________

________________, they _________________

______________________________________.

THE ROLLER COASTERS

1. The roller coasters are____________________

________________, they _________________

______________________________________.

2. The roller coasters are____________________

________________, they _________________

______________________________________.

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Adjective Comparative Superlative Sentence

good better than … the best … I am the best dancer I know.

bigger than …

the most

wonderful ...

That cat is smellier than

garbage.

With your teacher and classmates, complete the table below using interesting and specific adjectives. You will be

able to use them in your final draft.

Brainstorm a list of adjectives—descriptive words—in the space below. Be creative!

4. ADJECTIVES –COMPARATIVES-SUPERLATIVES

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5. VIVID VERBS

What are vivid verbs?

Vivid verbs are a great way to create interest and excitement and make your readers easily be able to

visualize in their own mind.

Vivid verbs or common verbs

A vivid verb is a verb that a reader will find more interesting and that is more specific to the common verbs we use all the time, like "walk". Vivid verbs will help you avoid repeating the same (common) verb in your writing.

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. When the hungry dog saw the pizza crumbs on the floor, he quickly ran to eat them.

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2. The little girl walked with her friends to the fun fair close to their house.

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3. I looked in the basement. It was scary.

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General Verbs Vivid Verbs Touch graze, caress, stroke

Cry whimper, blubber, bawl

See glare, gaze, glimpse

Like adore, admire, cherish, admire

Dislike loathe, despise, scorn, hate

Eat gorge, nibble, gobble

Run dash, dart, sprint, jog

12 071-eng-wb-t2(Descriptive Writing)

IDENTIFYING DESCRIPTIVE WRITING

ACTIVITY

In the space below, write a descriptive paragraph about the best or worst New Year holiday you’ve ever had.

Make sure to use sensory details, similes, metaphors and descriptive adjectives in your writing.

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The following passage, a description of Ebenezer Scrooge, comes from Scene 1 of A Christmas Carol. Read it, then

fill in the chart below with as many descriptive phrases as you can find.

“Oh! But he’s a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, is that Scrooge! A squeezing, wrenching, grasping,

scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel has ever struck out

generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. The cold within him freezes his old

features, nips his pointed nose, shrivels his cheeks, stiffens his gait; makes his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and

speaks out shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty rime is on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin.

He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he ices his office in the dog-days and doesn’t

thaw it one degree at Christmas.” (A Christmas Carol, p. 10)

Adjectives Vivid Verbs Similes Metaphors Sensory Details

Wrenching

Grating

Freezes

Ices

Hard and sharp as a flint

A frosty rime is on his head

The cold within him

13 071-eng-wb-t2(Descriptive Writing)

Describe your favourite

place!

Map your ideas in the cluster below

Pick a place and write it on the line

in the cloud

Start describing!

WRITING PRACTICE

My Favorite Place:

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________________

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Metaphor

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___________________Simile

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Vivid Verbs

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Adjectives

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Comparative /Superlative

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14 071-eng-wb-t2(Descriptive Writing)

Just before you write, answer these questions:

What are the main sights and sounds in your place?

Are there any parts in the place that stand out?

What colours are important?

What smells and tastes do you connect with this place?

What feelings do you have about it?

What happens in this place?

TITLE: My Favorite Place

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15 071-eng-wb-t2(Descriptive Writing)

Now it’s time to combine everything you have learned to write your own descriptive story.

In the space below, you will create a descriptive essay about

one of the following themes:

The inside of a spaceship

Your memory of a place you visited as a child

An unusual room

A cemetery in a small town

Backstage during a concert

An extremely vivid experience of your own

My topic will be: ______________________________________

Brainstorm your topic in the space below:

Finally, think of 2-3 metaphors and 2-3 similes that you could include in your story. Write them in the table below.

FINAL ASSIGNMENT

Sensory Details Similes Metaphors Adjectives –Comparatives -Superlatives

Vivid Verbs

16 071-eng-wb-t2(Descriptive Writing)

TITLE: ___________________________________

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1 2 3 4

Audience and Purpose

(1-30)

Contains details that are unfocused or do not work in support of a clear main impres-sion.

(1-7)

May create a main

impression, but does not adequate-ly support it with sensory details.

(8-15)

Creates a main

impression, sup-ported by sensory details.

(16-20)

Creates a memorable

main impression,

supported with effec-tive use of many sen-sory details.

(21-30)

Logic of organization

(1-25)

Lacks organization,

writing is confusing and difficult to follow;

may be too brief to

assess organization.

(1-9)

May have

organization in

parts, but lacks

organization in

other parts.

(10-14)

Is consistently

organized, although

perhaps

simplistically.

(15-19)

Well organized,

with strong

transitions helping

to link words and

ideas.

(20-25)

Elaboration

(1-25)

No sensory details

used in support of

main idea; no

figurative language.

(1-9)

Details in support of main idea not

consistently effec-tive;

attempts at figura-tive language not always successful or interesting.

(10-14)

Sensory details

support main idea;

figurative language

used to create

comparisons.

(19-15)

Vivid, sensory details

support main idea;

creative use of

figurative language

provides interesting

comparisons.

(25-20)

Grammar, Punctuation and Word usage

(1-20)

Numerous errors in

punctuation and gram-

mar distract and/or

confuse the reader.

Word usage cannot be

gauged in such poor

quality work.

(5-1)

Errors in punctua-

tion and grammar

may impair reada-

bility. Word choice

is extremely simple.

(10-6)

Capitalization is correct, punctua-tion is smooth, spelling of common words is correct, more difficult words are generally

correct, grammar is essentially

correct, good word choice.

(15-11)

Capitalization is accu-

rate, punctuation is

smooth, spelling is

correct even on more

difficult words, gram-

mar is essentially cor-

rect, great word

choice.

(20-16)

RUBRIC

18 071-eng-wb-t2(Descriptive Writing)

PROOFREADING AND REVISION

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 …

For revising, use your ARMS ...

C U P S

Capitalization: names, places, months, titles, I, sentences

Usage: nouns and verbs matched correctly (I am, you are, etc.)

Punctuation: periods, commas, question marks, quotes, etc.

Spelling: check everything—use the dictionary if you need to!

A R M S

Add: sentences and words to strengthen your arguments

Remove: unnecessary or incorrect sentences and words

Move: change the placement of sentences and words

Substitute: trade in sentences and words that work better

Original: _______________________________________

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Move: ________________________________________

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In the space below, pick four sentences from your essay and revise them using your ARMS.

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Do you have any other comments or feedback about the booklet?

What parts of the booklet were

easy for you?

What parts were ok? What parts were difficult for

you?

What do you want to see less of? Offer an

alternative.

What do you want to see more of in the

booklet?

20 071-eng-wb-t2(Descriptive Writing)

NOTES

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21 071-eng-wb-t2(Descriptive Writing)

NOTES

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