FACTUAL DESCRIPTION

What is A FACTUAL DESCRIPTION?

A factual description describes a particular person, place or thing. Its

purpose is to ‘tell’ about the subject by describing its features without
including personal opinions. A factual description differs from an
information report because it describes a specific subject rather than a
general group.

Examples of factual description texts include:

• descriptions of a particular building
• descriptions of a specific animal
• descriptions of a particular place
• descriptions of a specific person
 FACTUAL DESCRIPTION
Features of A FACTUAL DESCRIPTION

Constructing a factual description

A typical description has an opening paragraph introducing the

subject of the description, followed by a series of paragraph
each describing one feature of the subject. There can also be a
final concluding section that signals the end of the description.

Grammatical features of a recount

Factual descriptions usually include the following grammatical
features:
• verbs in the present tense
• adjectives to describe the features of the subject
• topic sentence to begin paragraphs and organise the various
aspects of the description.
 FACTUAL DESCRIPTION
The FACTUAL DESCRIPTION scaffold

1 A general opening statement in the first paragraph

• This statement introduces the subject of the description to the audience.
• It can give the audience brief details about when, where, who or what of the
subject.
2 A series of paragraphs about the subject
• Each paragraph usually begins with a topic sentence
• The topic sentence previews the details that will be contained in the remainder of
the paragraph.
• Each paragraph should describe one feature of the subject.
• These paragraphs build the description of the subject.
3 A concluding paragraph (optional)
• The concluding paragraph signals the end of the text.
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MODEL OF a FACTUAL DESCRIPTION
Grammatical
Structures Deinonychus features

OPENING The model of Deinonychus, a dinosaur from the

TIMELESS
STATEMENT Creataceous period, can be found in the Museum of Natural PRESENT
INTRODUCING Science.
THE SUBJECT TENSE
Deinonychus is small by dinosaur standards. It is about 2.5
metres in length and stands about one metre high at the
shoulder.
ADJECTIVES
This reptile has a long tail, spindly legs and slender neck.
SERIES OF The head is large and the jaws are lined with sharp teeth.
PARAGRAPHS The tail, approximately 3 metres in length, has vertebrae
DESCRIBING surrounded by bundles of bony rods so the whole tail can be
THE SUBJECT
held stiff.
The toes of the Deinonychus are unusual. The first toe is
TOPIC
small and points backwards. The second toe has a huge sickle- SENTENCES
shaped claw and is raised. The third and fourth toes are in the
normal position.
Deinonychus is an interesting example of a fast-running
CONCLUSION dinosaur.