DESCRIPTIVE PARAGRAPH

Definition: A descriptive paragraph has a group of sentences that work together to convey an overall
impression of a place, person, object, or idea.
Purpose: To describe something in such detail that readers can imagine what you are describing.
Practical Uses: You may be asked to describe a painting you saw in a museum as homework.

Key Elements to a Descriptive Paragraph

Organisation

Organisation styles for descriptive paragraphs include location (where things are in relation to
one another) and order of importance (the paragraph moves from least important to most
important).

The model paragraph is organised in terms of location as it moves from the floor, to the refrigerator, to
the sink. It is also organized in order of importance as it moves from the least messy to the messiest area
of the kitchen.
Transition words

Typical transition words for descriptive paragraphs are given.

Explanation and Example

for example
for instance
to illustrate
one example

Similarity
furthermore
additionally
and in addition

Location
nearby
above
adjacent to
below, beyond, farther on, opposite to,
there

moreover
besides that in
the same way
also
A Filthy Room

My sister-in-laws kitchen is the filthiest room Ive ever seen. First, the floor is an absolute mess.
The linoleum lies under a patchwork quilt of old food: sticky patches of turkey gravy, Gerbers strained
beets and tapioca pudding, Kal Kan Kitty Stew, and fudge ripple ice cream with marshmallow sauce.
Adding to the mess on the floor, at least half a dozen bags of trash sit around at any one time,
overflowing with slimy, brown banana peels, oily tuna fish cans, and mayonnaise jars that stink like a
sewage spill. A second disaster area is the refrigerator. On its door, peanut-butter-and-jelly handprints
compete for space with grimy Post-it notes held in place by chewed wads of grape bubblegum. And on
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top of the refrigerator, chocolate-stained cookbooks lie surrounded by a half-inch-thick layer of dust
studded with rotting flies. But the filthiest place in the kitchen is the sink. Because its so seldom
scrubbed, the porcelain has developed a shiny coating of gray-green, mucous-like scum that would turn
the strongest of stomachs. And my sister-in-law keeps the sink stacked high with disgustingly dirty
dishes: egg-encrusted plates, saucepans with week-old spaghetti and chili burned into them, chipped
coffee mugs filled with thick brown water that has pieces of toast and dead ants floating in it, and spoons
that look as if they had been dipped in motor oil, rolled in used cat litter, and left to dry under a baking
hot sun for a month. If there were an award for having the filthiest kitchen, my sister-in-law would win
hands down.

Exercise I: Using the model paragraph, answer the following prompts:

1. Identify the subject of the paragraph.
2. What is the overall impression the author has of the subject?
3. How many areas of the kitchen are described?
4. Identify two details that support the supporting sentence the floor is an absolute mess.
5. Does the concluding sentence leave the reader with an overall impression of the paragraphs
subject?
6. Identify a detail or two that brings the paragraph to life.

Writing the Descriptive Paragraph

One of your favorite places (real or not)
Your favorite artwork
A sacred place
A public restroom
A favorite photograph

Your childhood bedroom

An unusual place
An unusual person
An object you treasure
A piece of food left too long in refrigerator