HOW TO WRITE A GCSE DESCRIPTIVE ESSAY (ENGLISH LANGUAGE)
The important discriminator between a descriptive essay and a narrative essay is that a
descriptive essay does not have a plot as it is not a story. It is , as its name indicates, a
description. The examiner is therefore looking at your ability to elaborately describe
something or someone. The aim is to evoke a vibrant and vivid picture in the reader’s (the
examiner’s) mind by evoking all five senses (description could include odours, feel, sounds,
taste….not only the visual).
Plan out your essay carefully before you start to write.
To set the scene you could focus on:
What you can see (the visual)
Odours
Sound and silence
Movement and stillness
Light and dark
These are the things that give a scene animation (brings it to life).
Write a description of the seaside (including description of boats specifically:
The visual:
Children playing / frolicking
The expansive sea
The golden sand
The pebbled beach
The sandcastle-covered beach
The array of boats
The plethora of boats
Boats of all shapes and sizes
The sun-kissed sand
Mile upon mile of golden sand
The platinum blonde sand
The foot-step imprinted sand
White-capped waves
Smells/odours:
Salty air
Coconut sunscreen
Pungent smell of tangled, decomposing seaweed
The pungent vapours of rotting seaweed
Sound (and silence):
, The sea lapping against the rocks
Waves crashing (onomatopeia)
The sails of the boats rustling and flapping in the wind
Seagulls and other sea life
Someone fishing - casting, reeling, catching
The moments of peaceful silence between these sounds
The thunderous waves
The clashing of the waves (onomatopoeic)
The roaring waves
Movement (and stillness):
The moored boats drifting gently
The boats actively moving
The bobbing of the boats / the bobbing boats / the boats bobbed
Waves crashing against the rocks
The ebb and flow of the waves
Ebbing and flowing
Clouds changing shape / the morphing of the clouds/ the elongating clouds
The rolling clouds
The billowing clouds
The enveloping clouds
The fickle clouds transforming before your very eyes
The downy clouds floating past
The shape-changing clouds
The graceful dance of the clouds
The clouds shifting their shapes like creatures from ancient mythology
The trick-playing clouds as they transform their shape
Fishermen at work; the casting of their rods
Children playing/ laughter
The stillness of the rocks
The stillness of a seagull sitting on a rock
The stillness of the people looking out to sea
Light (and darkness):
Sunlight, rays of sunshine
Translucent rays of sun
An expanse of azure blue that melded with the sky on the distant horizons
Gleaming, glistening sea
The sapphire sea
The blue-green sea
Light shades of the blue sea
Reflections
Lights on the boats
The darkness of rocks facing away from the sun
The darkness of shoals of fish underwater
The sea glistens like a cluster of diamonds
The shimmering diamond clustered sea
The important discriminator between a descriptive essay and a narrative essay is that a
descriptive essay does not have a plot as it is not a story. It is , as its name indicates, a
description. The examiner is therefore looking at your ability to elaborately describe
something or someone. The aim is to evoke a vibrant and vivid picture in the reader’s (the
examiner’s) mind by evoking all five senses (description could include odours, feel, sounds,
taste….not only the visual).
Plan out your essay carefully before you start to write.
To set the scene you could focus on:
What you can see (the visual)
Odours
Sound and silence
Movement and stillness
Light and dark
These are the things that give a scene animation (brings it to life).
Write a description of the seaside (including description of boats specifically:
The visual:
Children playing / frolicking
The expansive sea
The golden sand
The pebbled beach
The sandcastle-covered beach
The array of boats
The plethora of boats
Boats of all shapes and sizes
The sun-kissed sand
Mile upon mile of golden sand
The platinum blonde sand
The foot-step imprinted sand
White-capped waves
Smells/odours:
Salty air
Coconut sunscreen
Pungent smell of tangled, decomposing seaweed
The pungent vapours of rotting seaweed
Sound (and silence):
, The sea lapping against the rocks
Waves crashing (onomatopeia)
The sails of the boats rustling and flapping in the wind
Seagulls and other sea life
Someone fishing - casting, reeling, catching
The moments of peaceful silence between these sounds
The thunderous waves
The clashing of the waves (onomatopoeic)
The roaring waves
Movement (and stillness):
The moored boats drifting gently
The boats actively moving
The bobbing of the boats / the bobbing boats / the boats bobbed
Waves crashing against the rocks
The ebb and flow of the waves
Ebbing and flowing
Clouds changing shape / the morphing of the clouds/ the elongating clouds
The rolling clouds
The billowing clouds
The enveloping clouds
The fickle clouds transforming before your very eyes
The downy clouds floating past
The shape-changing clouds
The graceful dance of the clouds
The clouds shifting their shapes like creatures from ancient mythology
The trick-playing clouds as they transform their shape
Fishermen at work; the casting of their rods
Children playing/ laughter
The stillness of the rocks
The stillness of a seagull sitting on a rock
The stillness of the people looking out to sea
Light (and darkness):
Sunlight, rays of sunshine
Translucent rays of sun
An expanse of azure blue that melded with the sky on the distant horizons
Gleaming, glistening sea
The sapphire sea
The blue-green sea
Light shades of the blue sea
Reflections
Lights on the boats
The darkness of rocks facing away from the sun
The darkness of shoals of fish underwater
The sea glistens like a cluster of diamonds
The shimmering diamond clustered sea
