Extra Credit (2 points): Descriptive Paragraph of an Evocative Setting or Experience

(minimum 250-300 words)

Capture an evocative setting by using sensory details and figurative language.  Appeal to the senses of hearing, smell, and touch as well as sight.  Possible terms for your topic sentence include "frenzied," "lush," "serene," "ghostly," "depressing," "comforting," "thrilling," "terrifying," or "soothing." If you choose a panoramic scene or relatively long and complicated event, narrow your focus to some small feature of the scene or experience which speaks for the whole.  Suggested topics: a family holiday gathering; the cooking of a meal (by you or someone else); an attempt to do something for the first time; a setting in nature; cleaning the garage; visiting a new country; or an attempt to do something dangerous.  These are just suggestions.  

While a topic sentence is important for all expository paragraphs, for this particular descriptive paragraph, you may write a summary topic sentence to guide your choice of details and maintain unity in the paragraph and then discard the topic sentence when you've finished. An effective opening sentence would draw the reader in with a sensory detail such as a sound.

Miscellaneous Sensory Vocabulary

TOUCH: clammy, grainy, gritty, moist, tickly, slimy, velvety

SOUND: blare, chatter, clang, crackle, gurgle, murmur, purr, rattle, squeak, bellow

TASTE: bitter, briny, minty, sour, spicy, vinegary, yeasty

SMELL: greasy, acrid, musky, woodsy, musty, sterile

SIGHT: bleary, dappled, flicker, foggy, glitter, inky, spark

TO CREATE METAPHORS AND SIMILES: Ask yourself "It sounds like a what?" "It smells like what?" "It feels like what?"