Narration Exposition Stages Process in Writing

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2. Organization of Descriptive

Descriptive writing appeals to the senses, so it tells how something sight, sound, smell, touch, andor taste. Most descriptive writing depends on visual details-what what the writer has seen and wants to the readers to visualize in their minds. The following list contents descriptive words for each of the five senses. Note that some of the words are more specific than others from the table below. 28 Table 2.2 List of Descriptive Words. Sight Sound Smell Touch Taste Light Noise Musty Soft Salty Glare Bang Fresh Velvety Sweet Moonlight Tinkle Rain Washed Sharp Sour Based on the table above, it can convey the essence of the subject by using sensory details to appeal to our reader’s imagination. As much as possible, we should try to evoke all five senses. Rise B. Axelrod and Charles R. Chooper also give the similar sense in using sensory to describe, there are: 29 a. The sense of sight. When people describe what they see, they identify the objects in their field vision. b. The sense of hearing. In reporting auditory impressions, writers seldom name the objects from which the sounds come without also naming the sensation: the murmur of a voice, the rustle of the wind, the squeak of a hinge, the sputter of an engine. Onomatopoeia is the term for names of sounds that echo the sounds themselves: squeak, murmur, hiss, boom, tinkle, twang, jangle, rasp. Sometimes writers make 28 George Braine, Writing From Sources, USA: May field Publishing Company, 1996, p. 98. 29 Rise B. Axelrod and Charles R. Chooper, Op. Cit., pp. 373—379. 14 up words like plink, chirr, sweesh-crack-boom, and cara-wong to imitiate sounds they wish to describe. c. The sense of smell. The English language has a meager stock of words to express the sense of smell. In addition to the word smell, only about ten commonly used nouns describe the sensation, odor, scent, vapor, aroma, fragrance, perfume, bouquet, stench, stink. Few verbs describe receiving or sending odors- smell, sniff, waft- but a fair number of detailing adjectives are available: redolent, pungent, aromatic, perfumed, stinking, musty, rancid, putrid, rank, foul, noisome, acrid, sweet, and cloying. d. The sense of touch. The sense of touch tend not to name the sensation directly or even to report the act feeling. Probably this omission occurs because so few nouns and verbs describe tactile sensations besides words like touch, feeling, tickle, itch, and tingle. Nevertheless, a large stock of words describe temperature hot, warm, mild, tepid, cold, arctic, moisture content wet, dry, sticky, oily, greasy, moist, parched, texture gritty, silky, smooth, crinkled, coarse, rough, soft, sharp, and weight heavy, light, ponderous, buoyant, feathery. e. The sense of taste. Other than taste, savor, and flavor, few words name the gustatory sensations directly. Certain words do distinguish among the four types of taste- sweet saccharine, sugary, cloying; sour acidic, tart; bitter acrid, biting; salty briny, brackish, while several other words describe specific tastes piquant, spicy, pungent, peppery, savory, and toothsome. Spatial order is the arrangement of items in order by space. 30 In a description, writers often use spatial order to organize their ideas. Just as there are words and phrases to show time order and to show spatial organization. They are 30 Alice Oshima and Ann Hogue, Introduction to Academic Writing 2 nd ed., New York: Longman, 1997, pp. 50—53.