unit2 Describing a Person, an Object, a Place

英语写作课程教案Unit2 Describing a Person, an ObjectGuidelines to RememberA good description can produce the following effects;1. Readers can reproduce the image in their mind.2. Readers can relive the experience as if they were there.3. Therefore, they can be affected emotionally by the descriptive words.DefinitionAs a rhetorical mode, description is not often used as the primary method of development. We usually think of description as something that helps other rhetorical modes: for example, in a narrative essay, description can make the setting or characters more vivid. In an analysis, description can help us highlight the essential differences between two items we are discussing. However, it is possible to use description as the primary method of development for an essay For example, in a process paper, description can ensure that the audience understands the finished product. In technical writing, it is often referred to as "describing a process." Still, except for this one exception, to think of description as the primary method of development for an essay may seem odd or impossible. It is not. Description can be a powerful method of developing an essay if we keep in mind a few conventions of the form and think about a few writing strategies as well.Conventions of the Descriptive Essay1. A descriptive essay has one, clear dominant impression. If, for example you are describing the future, you must decide if the future is threatening or wonderful; in order to have one dominant impression, it cannot be both. The dominant impression guides your selection of detail and is the central idea you express in your thesis sentence.2. Although most textbooks claim that descriptive essay can be either objective or subjective, I am not sure that is really true. Here, I am thinking of Robert Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Pirsig has a scene in which a student wants to write a description of a building. Pirsig points out how futile and boring that is since in describing just a single brick of the building one could take an eternity simply elucidating all the different textures, patterns, and colors of that one brick. An objective description is possible, in theory, but not in reality, he concludes. Because we are human. And in being human, we also filter what we perceive. That is the reality of the human condition. Therefore, the best descriptions, it seems to me, acknowledge the fact that human attention is selective: we perceive those things that are most salient to us (for one reason or another) and remember only those points. As writers, we can exploit that fact, and write descriptions that build a pattern, a pattern that suggest a thesis, a point of view.To me, this is what one means when one says that descriptions build upon a dominant impression.3. Because description is based upon our selective attention, description relies on emotion and on our experiences to convey its point. As writers of description, we should try to incorporate words (verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and nouns) that build an emotional state, reflective of our experience and knowledge of the world.4. The descriptive essay relies on concrete, specific detail to communicate its point. Description can incorporate all the senses, or can focus on just one. If you do focus on just one sensual impression, you should have a reason that ultimately is evident to the reader for your narrow focus.Strategies for Developing the Descriptive Essay1. Be subtle. Write the small details first, and let those accumulate in your readers' minds so that they come to see the dominant impression eventually. (Think of a mosaic here or a jig-saw puzzle.)2. Be consistent. Reread your description to ensure that each one of your smaller details is indeed supporting the dominant impression.3. Be systematic. Move your reader through space and time in an orderly (chronological) fashion. Move spatially in a recognizable pattern, such as from front to back, beginning to end, left to right, start to destination.4. Be aware of change. Everything changes. That might be the only consistent reality of life. Use change as the controlling idea in your selection of images and details.5. Be emotional. Remember that Aristotle, for good reason, taught us that there are three avenues by which we can persuade the reader, including the heart. Use your emotional response to your topic to guide your selection of details. Choose an emotion to be a dominant theme in your description. Organize and select details around that dominant emotion.Useful ExpressionsPeople1.Face:round broad narrow heart-shaped moon-shaped angular oval flat oblong square2.Eyesbig small beady bulging bloodshot empty sleepy sad smiling snapping flashing staring3.HairWavy blond loose long short gray black pigtail ponytail curly4.V oicebooming rasping squeaky harsh deep growlingmelodious plexionpale fair sallow ruddy dark rosy spotty creamy pink freckled boldObject1. measurements: width, height, length, depth, area, volume, weight,etc2. shape: triangular, oval, square, rectangular, rhombic, trapezoid, egg-shaped,etc.Place1.locational adverbs; here, there, everywhere, inside, outside, etc.2.locational prepositions: over, beyond, in, at, by, near, etc.3.locational phrases: to the east, in the center, in the eastern part of, etc.4.locational verbs; is situated/ located/ found/ surrounded by, encloses, surrounds,covers, extends, runs, flows, etc.Writing TaskChoose one of the following topics and write a paragraph describing:1.Tian’anmen Square2.the university where you are studying now3.your hometown。