Chapter 9

Description: Presenting
Impressions
 Purpose

• Sometimes stands alone example in

advertisements

• Sometimes enriches other writing example

in telling us more about a subject or object
such as
Eliza Bliss was a tall, lean, skinny, yellow, toothless, bald-headed, rat-eyed
professional liar and scoundrel . ( Mark Twain’s Agent)
 Sensory Impression
• Details that appeal to each of the five
senses
• Sight
• Sound
• Smell
• Touch
• Taste
 Sensory Impressions
• The sound of hot dogs sizzling on a
grease-spattered grill gave way to the
whirling buzz of a cotton-candy machine.
We watched as the white cardboard cone
was slowly transformed into a pink, fluffy
cloud. The sticky puffs dissolved on my
tongue into a sugar-like sweetness. The
salty smell of kettle corn lingered in the air.
Class Exercise:
Working in pairs relate each sentence to the sensory impression(s)
expressed. Underline the words that lead you to the sensory impressions
you discover.
Working in pairs describe the scene in the picture in four to five sentences.
Each group will share with the class.
 Dominant Impression

• Descriptions evoke an overall mood or

feeling such as joy, anger, terror, grief
• Answers questions about the subject or
predicate – Who? What? Where? How?
Example: The old man was thin and gaunt with deep wrinkles in the back of his neck.
The brown blotches of the benevolent skin cancer the sun brings from its reflection on
the tropic sea were on his cheeks. The blotches ran well down the sides of his face
and his hands had the deep-creased scars from handling heavy fish on the cords.
 Vantage Point

• Fixed Vantage Point

- Observer does not move
Ex. – view from your bedroom window,
view from a park bench
 Fixed Observer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8A373_Wk-g
 Vantage Point

• Moving vantage point

Ex. – view from a moving train, walking
through mall
 Moving Observer
http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Samantha_Brown/Video/Sam_Tours_Cozumel
_By_Segway
 Vantage Point

• Describe only what you can see from your

vantage point.
 Selection and Arrangement of
Details
• Select the details that point toward the
main impression or mood you intend to
create.
• Arrange the details in a time sequence or
some spatial arrangement, from left to
right, from top to bottom, etc.
 Writing a Description
• What do I want to accomplish?
• What dominant impression will I develop?
• What sequence should I follow in
presenting my impressions?
• Am I overloading with adjectives?
Ex. A dented, cylindrical, silver-gray, foul-
smelling, overloaded trash can sat in the
alley.
 Class Discussion
• Purpose
• Sensory Impressions: details that appeal
to each of the five senses
• Dominant Impression
• Vantage Point
• Arrangement of Details