Descriptive Writing Flashcards
All 18 cards in this deck
How is a description different from a story, and which suits a 'Write about a time when…' task?
A description captures a place or moment through details and mood; a story needs a character and a sense of change. Edexcel's tasks ask you to write about a time when something happened, so most answers are narratives or recounts, but a strongly descriptive piece built around one moment can work if it still answers the task.
Why is it better to describe one small moment or space than a whole place?
It gives you room for depth and subtle detail, which is what the higher levels reward. Touring a whole city or a whole day turns into a list of things you saw, with no single image developed.
What is the "five-senses checklist", and why do examiners criticise it?
Writing one paragraph per sense ("I could see… I could hear… I could smell…"). It is mechanical and predictable, and the "I could" frame keeps the reader at a distance. Use a sense only where it adds to the mood, and build it into the image: "Bleach and wet coats" rather than "I could smell bleach."
What is "zooming in" in a description, and what does it do?
Moving from a wide view to one small, telling detail, such as a single glove on a railing. It focuses the reader's attention and lets a small object suggest a bigger feeling, such as loss, without you having to state it.
How can a description have a shape if nothing happens?
Give it a thread of change: time passing (dawn to morning), light or weather shifting, moving through a space (gate to centre), or a single figure arriving or leaving. The reader feels progress without a plot.
How should you use people in a description?
As brief, telling details that bring the place alive: a cleaner leaning on a mop, a child counting coins. Keep them small. If they start talking and doing things, the description drifts into an unplanned story.
What does "show, don't tell" mean in a description?
Let the details create the mood rather than naming it. Instead of "The kitchen felt lonely", show it: "Two mugs on the draining board; one of them hadn't been used." The reader works out the feeling, which makes it stronger.
What is pathetic fallacy, and how can you use it without a cliché?
Weather or surroundings that reflect a mood. Storms for danger are predictable. Try a subtler or contrasting version: bright, careless sunshine over a sad scene can make the sadness sharper.
How do you build a strong atmosphere in a description?
Decide on one dominant mood before you write, then choose details, verbs and sounds that all serve it. One deliberately contrasting detail (a child laughing in a silent waiting room) can make the mood stand out further.
How should you use the images on a picture task without just listing what is in them?
Treat one image as a starting point: choose one corner of it, invent what's beyond the frame, change the time of day, or follow one figure. You don't have to use the images at all. A response that inventories every object in a picture reads like a list.
In "Rain had reduced the market to a few stubborn stalls.", what technique is used and what is its effect?
Personification: the rain "reduced" the market and the stalls are "stubborn". It suggests the weather has been winning a battle and makes the remaining stallholders seem defiant, setting a mood of decline with a touch of grit.
In "Somewhere behind the flats, a dog barked once, then thought better of it.", what technique is used and what is its effect?
Personification: the dog "thought better of it". The single bark followed by silence makes the quiet feel deliberate and slightly unnerving, as if something has hushed the street, with a dry hint of humour.
What if you're writing about a person, such as 'a time when someone helped you'?
Treat the person like a place: one moment, one setting, one mood. Show them through a few telling details (hands, clothes, a habit, how others react to them) rather than a head-to-toe inventory, and let the place they're in reflect who they are. Don't give them a life story.
Why shouldn't you describe a person from head to toe?
A list of features ("She had brown hair, blue eyes and a red coat") tells the reader nothing about who the person is. Choose two or three details that reveal character, such as bitten nails, a carefully mended coat, or a laugh that's too loud, and develop them.
How can you reveal a person's character without telling the reader what they're like?
Through action, habit and objects: what they do with their hands, how they move, what they carry or keep. "He straightened the salt and pepper pots before he sat down" shows someone anxious or particular, without saying so.
How can other people's reactions help you describe a person?
Showing how others respond (people stepping aside, a child going quiet, a shopkeeper's smile) tells the reader about the person's effect on the world around them. It's subtler than describing them directly, and it builds atmosphere at the same time.
In "Her hands, which had kneaded bread for sixty years, rested on the table like two folded maps", what techniques are used, and what is their effect?
A relative clause ("which had kneaded bread for sixty years") compresses a lifetime of work into one detail, and the simile of "folded maps" suggests the lines on her hands record a long, well-travelled life. Together they create quiet respect without telling us how old or hardworking she is.
How can you structure a description of a person?
Use a shift in focus, as you would for a place: for example, start with a wide view of them in their setting, zoom in to one revealing detail, step back to show how others see them, then end on a small change or gesture that echoes the opening.