Descriptive EssayPlanning. In descriptive essay there is no underlying "story" to hold your composition together so it is necessary to think of a central idea to which everything you describe can be related. In descriptive writing there is no single event which will keep the reader in suspense as there is in a story. Whether or not your essay will be exciting to read will depend entirely on the interesting details you include. In your first paragraph you should consider the subject in general and deal with details in the paragraphs that follow. Your description may take the form of a personal impression or may be purely imaginary. The general outline for descriptive essay should be as follows: Introduction. Development. Conclusion. It is absolutely necessary to make out a plan noting but a few ideas under each heading. In this way you will avoid repeating yourself. Examine carefully the plan below: Title: A Walk on Sunday Morning. Central Idea: A day spent in the city can be quite so interesting as one in the country. Plan: Introduction. 1. Decision to spend day in the city: square — gardens. First impressions. Development. 2. Arrival at square: people — pigeons — statue. Incident: boy and pigeons. 3. Leave square. Public Gardens: different atmosphere. 4. Pond most interesting. Various boats. 5. Rest. Join crowd-man-model of ship. Conclusion. 6. Midday. Leave for home. Surprise that city could be so pleasant. Write an essay on one of the following subjects (write a plan, for your teacher to refer to it if necessary): The Conquest of Space. An Imaginary Journey in a Balloon. The Man or Woman you Would Like to Marry. Sleeping in the Open. The Crowd outside a Cinema. A Thunderstorm. The Indoor Game you Like Best. A Trip down a Big River by Boat. CONVERSATIONAL FORMULAS Expressing and reacting to opinions True... but... This is my way of looking at it. I think it goes further than that... a lot further. Yes, you're right. Well, you see what I mean. That's one way of looking at it. But... Yes, if you like... You may be right... All the same... Just a minute... Come off it... James thinks that... In Margaret's opinion... Margaret feels that... His view is...
Group discussion If you ask me... Wouldn't you say that... Don't you agree that... As I see it... I'd like to point out that... I sometimes think that... Would you agree that... Do you think it's right to say that...? I didn't quite follow what you mean, I'm afraid. I don't quite see what you mean, I'm afraid. I don't quite see what you are getting at. Narrative technique What happened to him was... WTiat he did was... You can guess how he felt. What do you think he did? Imagine my surprise when he... You'll never guess what happened next. He wondered/He tried to find out/He hinted that... Did I ever tell you about the time I... That reminds me of the time I... Funny you should mention this, because something similar happened to me once... Anyway... As I was saying... To get back to the story... To cut a long story short... Anyway, what happened in the end was... Agreement Yes, I agree entirely here. I couldn't agree more. Y ou know, that's exactly what I think. Y es, that's true. I fully agree. I am of the same opinion. It stands to reason. It really looks like that. I won't deny that. That's my way of looking at it too. What you say is perfectly true. It goes without saying that... That's a fine way of putting it. That's a good point. That's just what I was thinking.
Disagreement There may be something in what you say but... I see your point but... You don't seem to realize that ... but that's not the point... Not in the least! Just the other way round! I can't possibly... I shouldn't say so. I've got some reasons to disagree. I've got an argument to oppose. It's not at all the same thing. On the surface of it really is... but... On the one hand... On the other hand... Well, I'm not so sure. Well, I wouldn't go quite that far... I wouldn't say that exactly. It might be right but... That's totally unfounded. You can't be serious.
Instructing people how to do things First of all you... The first thing you have to do is... After you've done that you... The next thing you do is... Oh, and by the way, don't forget to... Make sure you remember to... Oh, and be careful not to do...
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