FACULTATEA DE AUTOMATICĂ ȘI CALCULATOARE

SEMESTRUL I – SEMINAR 2

DESCRIBING (1)

WARM UP ACTIVITY
1. Do we need to make a good description, now when we can make a photo and email it
instantly?
2. Have you ever made a description (orally or written)?
3. In which of the following situations do you think that we need a description beside an
image:
a) The picture is not clear and we need details
b) We have to present an activity
c) We need to find a person
d) We are lost in a big city
e) You have to present/explain a graphic
f) You have to buy a pair of shoes for a friend
g) You have to write a brochure or a leaflet or any other advertising material

TASK 1
There are different types of descriptions. Here it is a short list. Can you give them an informal
definition? Can you add new examples to the list?

1. Physical Appearance_____________________________________________
2. A person ______________________________________________________
3. Place Location ___________________________________________________
4. Building________________________________________________________
5. An object ______________________________________________________
6. A graphic _______________________________________________________

1. PHYSICAL APPEARANCE.

What does he/she look like?

We refer to different features/ characteristics. Below there is a table complete it. The first one was
done for you.
 Feature Adjective and adverbs
Age Teenager, mature, young, in his/her 20, old, senior citizen, middle age
infant
Height

Built/shape

Hair

Eyes

Face

Particular signs A read scar

General appearance

If you want to be more accurate, you should add some adjectives like: dark (hair, face); striking
(features);

TASK 2 Make 3 sentences about one of the person bellow

2. DESCRIBING A PERSON

When you describe a person, you refer to both his/her appearance and character.

TASK 3 Read the text and write your own opinion about such a person. Would you like to
work for him? Give arguments for your answer.

Harold Green is consider to be the meeting man, because as any other executive spends half his life
in meetings. If there was a king of meetings, it would have be him. Harold Green is a remorselessly
driven workaholic who believed that facts and analytical rigour could –and surely would –conquer
all.

Every month more than fifty ITT executives flew from all over the world to Brussels to send four days
poring over the figures. Clock in the meeting remained resolutely on New-York time. They gathered a
long a 90-foot long table in a large room where the curtains were drawn. Harold Green and the other
ITT executives survived on a diet of hamburgers and statistics. He has never complained about this
type of life if the sales are growing.

TASK 4
a. Which adjectives can describe such a person?
b. There is no physical description in the fragment above. Can imagine how such a
person looks like?

3. DESCRIBING PLACES

When describing places you have in mind different features. A descriptive composition
about a place or a building should consist of several paragraphs in which:
A) building is identified – give the name of the building (ex: The House of Parliament)

- location is situated on the river, downtown, in the north-

west

B) You give the reason for choosing It – it’s a historical place, a representative place

C) a detailed description in which the main aspects (sights, facilities, free time activities,
architectural style, building materials) is given

D) you mention your feelings/opinion, final thoughts/recommendation

Your description will be more interesting if you use a wide variety of adjectives.
For example: enormous, delightful, rewarding, impressive, well known, exclusive, and
exceptional.
1. Work in pairs and list words and phrases under the headings. You can give examples
from your hometown, a nice place you have just visited or Bucharest

Business
Geography Climate People Landmarks
activity
north windy friendly shipping Westminster
Abbey
mountains

A. Describing a place
TASK 5 Read the text and identify the main ideas. Can you add some adjectives?

Politehnica University of Bucharest  is a technical university in Bucharest, Romania. It is

situated in the north-west part of the town, on the river Dambovita, which crosses the
Romanian capital from west to east. Politechnica is the largest university in Romania and
one of the oldest and the largest in Balkan region.
It traditions are connected to the founding of the first higher technical school in Wallachia.
The University was founded in 1818 as "Academic School for Philosophy, Mathematical
Sciences and Surveying Engineers".[ Later the technical superior school was renamed few
times, in 1864 as School of Bridges and Roads, Mines and Architecture (based on the older
technical school of Gheorghe Lazăr, from 1818). Among other faculties, the one dealing with
exact sciences included courses such as:
applied trigonometry, geodesy, mineralogy, engineering graphics, descriptive geometry,
mechanical elements applied to ordinary machines, principles of building roads and bridges,
elements of architecture,
The Polytechnic School was set up by transforming the "National School of Bridges and
Roads" into the "Polytechnic School of Bucharest". In its initial stage, it consisted of four
sections:

 Civil Engineering;
 Mechanics and Electricity;
 Mines and Metallurgy;
 The Industrial Section.
The name "Politehnica" was introduced in 1920 when the university was
renamed Polytechnic School of Bucharest. An important transformation took place in 1948,
when several Politehnica or even specialities became independent, or even moved to other
cities. Some of the new universities, institutes or faculties had their roots in the old
"Politehnica of Bucharest". Some establishments, such as: Technical University of Civil
Engineering of Bucharest; Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism; University of
Agronomic Sciences; Faculty of Forestry - Transylvania University of Brașov; School of Mines
- Petroșani; Oil & Gas University of Ploieşti; Faculty for Food Chemistry - University of Galați;
Faculty for Textile Industry - Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iași, were initially
faculties or departments of Politehnica. .
The university is structured into faculties. The faculties are distinct academic entities, each
having its own admission criteria, largely distinct staff and limited interaction. However,
there are a number of commonalities: all the faculties provide only engineering degrees,
there is a largely common curricula that is observed in the first year of studies, there are
shared teaching facilities and shared student facilities. Currently there are fifteen faculties.
Politehnica University is classified by the Ministry of Education as an advanced research and
education university.[4] Teaching is conducted in Romanian and at the Faculty of Engineering
in Foreign Languages teaching is conducted in one of the languages: English, French, and
German.

TASK 6
Which features are mention in order to make the description more accurate?
a. _________________________________________
b. __________________________________________
c. __________________________________________
d. __________________________________________

TASK 7 Look at the following pictures. Do you recognize them? How can you describe them?
B. Describing a city
TASK 7 Read the following text:

Saint Andrews, Scotland became a royal burgh in 1620, but had been a market town for
centuries. It grew from a religious settlement. The legend says that St. Rule, a Greek monk
brought here the relics of Saint Andrew, who became the saint patron of Scotland
The town is known all over the world as a place of learning. The university is the oldest in
Scotland and was founded in 1410-11. It was here where the first woman enrolled as a
student in Britain (1862). Many of the university buildings have been replaced and many
more added, but three of the old ones survived since the time of Mary, Queen of Scots.

HOMEWORK
1. Describe your hometown. Mention: location, nr of inhabitants, landmark, aspects that are
characteristic for your town, historic facts, things that we can do there. (200-300 words)

2. Describe an important building (from your town, Bucharest, some building that impressed you
during your trips). Mention – location, architectural styles, building materials, historical aspects, the
is used as a…, It used to be< name of the architect) 150-200words

GRAMMAR SUPPORT - DETERMINARS