DESCRIPTIVE WRITING

a style of writing that tells what something or someone looks like

THE CHAO PHRAYA RIVER
 THE SIGHTS AND SOUNDS OF
THE CHAO PHRAYA RIVER
(Taken from the Great Writing 2 textbook, 4th ed. by Folse, et al. )

On our trip to Bangkok last year, my friends and I took a boat trip on the Chao Phraya River, which is

the principal river of Thailand. This busy river is crowded with river buses, water taxis, fishing boats, and tourist

boats. Every day local people use these boats because they are faster than the thousands of cars that overfill

Bangkok’s busy streets. Our river boat was so crowded that we could hardly move, yet we seemed to fly down the

river, enjoying the cool breeze. The scenery along the shore surprised me. My mind had a hard time accepting the

sight of massive, brand-new skyscrapers and tall modern hotels so near the beautiful golden palaces and temples

that are more than 200 years old. While the city of Bangkok is loud from all of the noise of so many cars, the river

is actually peaceful in spite of the boat activity. I will never forget the beautiful red sun setting as we arrived at our

final destination. Because of all the things I experienced that day on our trip, I highly recommend that you take a

boat trip along the Chao Phraya River.

 Characteristics of Descriptive Writing

• Tells what a place looks like or feels like

• Tells what a person looks like
• Paints a picture in the reader’s mind
• Uses adjectives and prepositions of location
• Includes details about the 5 senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, touch
• Uses spatial (space) order to organize the details (top to bottom or left to
right)
 BEGINNINGS
Topic Sentence: topic + controlling idea
topic: the place or the person
controlling idea: overall impression/opinion about the place or person

EXAMPLES:
1. The busy river is crowded.
2. My living room may be small, but it is tidy and well-organized.
3. Jane Doe is clearly an outdoorsy person.
 DETAILED SUPPORT
Many details in your supporting sentences should relate
to your main idea!
Jane Doe is clearly an outdoorsy person. Her hair is short, blond, and curly. Her
face is very tan, especially her forehead. Her eyebrows are very fair, and she has lots of
small wrinkles around her large blue eyes. Her small straight nose is slightly peeling. Her
nose and cheeks are covered with freckles. She has two deep lines around her smiling
mouth. Below her mouth, she has a small white scar going down to her chin. In short, this
woman seems to enjoy being outdoors.
Paragraph taken from Writing to Communicate 1 by C.A. Boardman, Pearson, 2008.
 ENDINGS

 Remind the reader of your topic and your controlling idea.

In short, this woman seems to enjoy being outdoors.
Jane Doe outdoorsy person

 Make a suggestion or recommendation.

I highly recommend that you take a boat trip along the Chao Phraya River.
(repeats topic)