Description
(Factual genre)
Describes a person, place or thing

Structure
• Statement to inform the reader of the topic being described
• Opening sentence should engage reader’s interest
• A series of paragraphs each giving details of different aspects
• Does not contain opinion or evaluation

Language features
• Rich choice of words and synonyms
• Vary the foregrounding in sentences to add interest
• Opportunity to expand word choice
       o Nouns and noun groups
       o Adjectives
       o Adverbs and adverbial groups
• Often written in the present tense
• Verbs which express feeling and being / existing
• May contain subjective language


More information
More ideas and examples about descriptions can be found in:
• Targeting text (series), Blake Education, Glebe N.S.W.
• Anderson, M 1997, Text types in English, Macmillan, 1998.
• English Elements (series), Jacaranda Wiley, Milton, Qld.
• Whitfield, M 2001, Targeting writing across the curriculum, Blake Education, Glebe, N.S.W.
• Schill, J 1998, On track: working with texts, Heinemann, Port Melbourne.
• Excel essential skills (series), Pascal, Glebe, N.S.W.


Interactive example (Jenny Eather)

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