is to enable the reader what something looks like. It attempts to paint a picture with words. In this sense, the description also attempts to put the reader directly in
touch with the physical world within the readers‟ senses. Description helps the readers visualize a scene or a person and understand the related sensation or an
emotion.
2. The Characteristics of Descriptive Text
As we have already discussed, a descriptive text is a text which lists the characteristics of something. So, in descriptive paragraph, we must make very
clear the location of the objects being described. It must be exist the attributes of a thing to present the topic and the forms which are used.
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According to Harry H. Crosby, to understand the descriptive text, we need to know the characteristics as following:
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a. Communicative Purpose: to describe a particular person, place, or thing
b. Generic Structures
- Identification, to identify the phenomenon will describe
- Description; to describe the items, the qualities, subject features, whole
attitude, and adjectives. c.
Linguistic Features focus on specific participant, for example my house, my cat, the museum, etc.
When you set out to describe a person, an object, or a scene, you have got to decide at the outset how you are going to arrange the details. Sometimes the
natural contours of the objects; themselves suggest a way of proceeding. Description is also a powerful strategy, one that allows the writer to exercise a
great deal of control over the reader‟s perceptions. In addition, it is a strategy we use in our daily interaction. In our daily interaction, we may describe different
kind of things, place, and person.
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12
Regina L. Smalley, Mary K. Ruetten, Refining Composition SkillsRhetoric and Grammar Fourth Edition, San Francisco: Heinle Heinle Publishers an Internasional Thompson Publishing Company
ITP, 1997, p.73.
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Harry H. Crosby - Duncan A. Carter, The Commited Writer Mastering Nonfiction Genres, Boston: McGraw Hill Book Company, 1996 p. 7.
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Donald Pharr Santi Buscemi, Writing today, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005 p. 136.
a. Description of Things
In descriptive text, you will occasionally need to describe an animate subject, such as a person, animal, or insect. Meanwhile, you can describe a
person‟s appearance in many ways. You can tell about the person‟s style of clothing, manner of walking, color and style of many facial appearance, body
shape, and expression. You can also describe the person‟s way of talking. Just what you select to describe depends on your topic and purpose. For example, how
would you begin to describe your girlfriend to your cousin? her hair? her eyes? her voice? The following are some useful vocabulary words and expressions of a
person.
Table 2.1 Vocabulary Words and Expression
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Facial Expression
Facial Shape
Eyes Voice
Mouth Eyebrow
Scowl Frown
Smirk Worried
Pained Blank
Peaceful Round
Broad Narrow
Oval Flat
Beady Smiling
Snapping Empty
Hard Bulging
Staring Booming
Growling Deep
Melodious Full-lipped
Thin-lipped Set
Sensuous Thick
Arched Neatly
plucked uneven
b. Description of Place
The description must be organized so that the reader can imagine the scene being described. To make the paragraph more interesting, it can be added a
controlling idea that states an attitude or impression about the place being described. “Descriptive text must include the arrangement of the details in your
description depend on your subject and purpose.”
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15
Smalley, R.L., Reutten, M.K. Kozyrev, J.R. Refining Composition Skills: Rhetoric and Grammar 5
th
ed. 1997, p. 71.
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Regina L. Smalley, Mary K. Ruetten, Refining Composition SkillsRhetoric and Grammar1997, p.69.