Writing

Level   : Junior High School

Objective: by the end of the lesson you are able to identify the descriptive text and make your own descriptive text.

Descriptive text

The generic structure:

• Identification: identify the object that being described in specific. (Example: I have a new pet, it is a cat. I call him Boo.)
• Description: describe the object in detail. (Example: Boo has four legs, he usually eats fish. etc.)

The language feature

The descriptive text uses simple present tense. This is the formula of simple present tense:

The formula of present tense
Positive      : S + V1 (s/es). (example, “I love my cat”)
Negative    : S + DO/DOES + NOT + V1. (example, “My cat eats fish”)
Question    : DO/DOES + S + V1. (example, “Does your cat eat fish?”)

Positive      : S + be + adj/adv. (example, “My cat is tame”)
Negative    : S + be + NOT + adj/adv. (example, “He is not lazy”)
Question    : be + S + adj/adv. (example, “Is your cat tame?”)

This is the example of descriptive text

Our Aquarium

There is an aquarium in my boarding house. Some fishes live inside it, we also put some decoration like stones, synthetic plants, a small statue inside the aquarium. We clean it twice a month, and change the water too. It makes the fishes more healthy. The aquarium stands on the table in the living-room. So, we can always see the aquarium while we are watching the television. In short, we love our aquarium and will keep it as well as we can.

Let’s have an exercise to test your descriptive text understanding.

Exercise 1

1. What is the purpose of the text? It is …

A. to describe an aquarium in general.

B. to describe the writer’s aquarium.

C. to entertain  the reader with a story.

D. to tell the past event.

2. The first sentence belongs to …

A. Orientation.

B. Identification.

C. Reorientation.

D. General classification.

3. What does the writer do to keep his fish healthy?

A.Watch the fish

B. Touch the fish

C. Move the aquarium

D. Feed the fish, clean the aquarium and change the water if its necessary

Exercise 2

Now rearrange the jumbled sentences below.

Example : Love-fish-my-I –> I love my fish.

1. Change-water-the-a month-twice-i.

2. Fish-breath-cannot-gills-without.

3. Has-she-fish-tiny.

Exercise 3

Now, make your own description text.