英语作文之Description.doc

PAGE \* MERGEFORMAT PAGE \* MERGEFORMAT 1C h a p t e r 11 DescriptionDescriptionThe writer of description creates a word-picture of persons, places, objects, and emotions, using a careful selection of details to make an impression on the reader. If you have already written expository or argumentative essays in your composition course, you almost certainly have written some descriptive prose. Nearly every essay, after all, calls for some kind of description; for example, in the student comparison/contrast essay (pages 233–236), the writer describes two kinds of stores; in the professional process essay (pages 215–219), the writer describes the embalming procedure in great detail. To help you write better description in your other essays, however, you may want to practice writing descriptive paragraphs or a short descriptive essay.HOW TO WRITE EFFECTIVE DESCRIPTIONWhen descriptive prose is called for in your writing, consider these four basic suggestions: Recognize your purpose. Description is not free-floating; it appears in your writing for a particular reason—to help you inform, clarify, persuade, or create a mood. In some essays you will want your description as objective— without personal impressions—as you can make it; for example, you might describe a scientific experiment or a business transaction in straight factual detail. Other times, however, you will want to convey a particular attitude toward your subject; this approach to description is called subjective or impressionistic. Note the differences between the following two descriptions of a tall, thin boy: the objective writer sticks to the facts by saying, “The eighteen-year-old boy was 6′1″ and weighed 125 pounds,” whereas the subjective writer gives an impressionistic description: “The young boy was as tall and scrawny as a birch tree in winter.” Before you begin describing anything, you must first decide your purpose and then whether it calls for objective or subjective reporting. Describe c