Step 1: Choose a question
Step 2: Plan
Sentence types Structural methods to include
❑ Simile start ❑ Motifs
❑ Preposition start ❑ One line paragraphs
❑ Triplet ❑ Short sentences for effect
Planning for ‘describe’
❑ Short ❑ Anaphora
✓ Zoom out: describe the weather and setting. Think
❑ Subordinate clause start ❑ Parallelism
about how you are crafting the mood.
❑ Adverb start ❑ Lists
✓ Zoom in: choose one aspect to describe in detail.
✓ Link to 2nd zoom in: move into your 2nd image that you ❑ ‘ing’ start
will zoom in on. Think about how you are transitioning ❑ ‘ed’ start
to each different ‘zoom in’.
✓ Link to 3rd zoom in Engaging openings
✓ Link to 4th zoom in ❑ In the middle of action
✓ Zoom out again: try and use circular structure here. You ❑ Dialogue Imagery to include
can either return to the mood you established at the ❑ Anaphora ❑ Pathetic fallacy
beginning or alter it slightly. ❑ Slow reveal ❑ Symbolism
❑ Tension / suspense ❑ Sensory imagery
❑ Set the scene: weather / ❑ Metaphors
setting ❑ Similes
❑ Personification
Ambitious vocabulary – my examples Engaging endings
❑ Short sentence
❑ One line paragraph
❑ Weather
❑ Circular structure - return to mood at the beginning or change?
Links and transitions
❑ Repeating words and ideas between paragraphs - these act as a thread.
❑ Repeating short sentences
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Brainstorm ideas in each box
Add a list of descriptive techniques Describe the scene and atmosphere as you walk through a busy
Include key vocabulary city.
Add in transitions This is your plan.
Think about any motifs that you can Add any notes that will help
1. Zoom out. Start with a panorama you when you write up your
use across each section.
description.
2. Zoom in (link/transition) 4. Zoom in (link/transition)
3. Zoom in (link/transition) 5. End with a panorama. Zoom out – echo your
opening in some way.
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Brainstorm ideas in each box
Add a list of descriptive techniques
Describe a beach in bad weather.
Include key vocabulary
Add in transitions This is your plan.
Think about any motifs that you can Add any notes that will help
1. Zoom out. Start with a panorama you when you write up your
use across each section.
description.
2. Zoom in (link/transition) 4. Zoom in (link/transition)
3. Zoom in (link/transition) 5. End with a panorama. Zoom out – echo your
opening in some way.
5. End with a panorama.
Zoom out – echo your
opening in some way.
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Brainstorm ideas in each box
Add a list of descriptive techniques Describe a group of people waiting for a delayed train at a busy
Include key vocabulary station.
Add in transitions This is your plan.
Think about any motifs that you can Add any notes that will help
1. Zoom out. Start with a panorama you when you write up your
use across each section.
description.
2. Zoom in (link/transition) 4. Zoom in (link/transition)
3. Zoom in (link/transition) 5. End with a panorama. Zoom out – echo your
opening in some way.
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Brainstorm ideas in each box
Add a list of descriptive techniques
Describe a park at dawn, just as the sun begins to rise.
Include key vocabulary
Add in transitions This is your plan.
Think about any motifs that you can Add any notes that will help
1. Zoom out. Start with a panorama you when you write up your
use across each section.
description.
2. Zoom in (link/transition) 4. Zoom in (link/transition)
3. Zoom in (link/transition) 5. End with a panorama. Zoom out – echo your
opening in some way.
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Brainstorm ideas in each box
Add a list of descriptive techniques
Describe a quiet library interrupted by an unexpected noise.
Include key vocabulary
Add in transitions This is your plan.
Think about any motifs that you can Add any notes that will help
1. Zoom out. Start with a panorama you when you write up your
use across each section.
description.
2. Zoom in (link/transition) 4. Zoom in (link/transition)
3. Zoom in (link/transition) 5. End with a panorama. Zoom out – echo your
opening in some way.
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Approach Sashay Luminous
Barge Ramble Majestic
Bounce Saunter Gargantuan ➢ Semicolons are used to separate two main clauses ➢ Appositives: The child, face covered with
Catapult Scamper Weathered with linked ideas chocolate, asked his mother for some milk.
Chase Scurry Unyielding The temple was bursting with life; the crowd’s loud ➢ Subordinate clause: Due to the rain, he
Clamber Scuttle Acrid chatter was a warm welcome. couldn’t play football that day.
Climb Shake Pummelled We use them to make clear the link between two main ➢ Use an ‘ing clause’ - Having found a hotel, we
Cower Skip Seeped clauses. They can replace FANBOYS or a full stop or a looked for somewhere to have dinner.
Crawl Slide Ablaze comma splice. ➢ Use a Simile - Like a surgeon before an
Dance Slither Bleak operation, he washed his hands thoroughly.
Dart Sparkle Flamboyant ➢ Colons are used to separate two main clauses ➢ Use a Prepositional phrase (A prepositional
Dash Soar Flaming where the 2nd clause explains the 1st phrase may help to indicate where
Dive Spin Inexplicable The roof of the pagoda was beautiful: it was covered in something is, in relation to something else) -
Drag Sprint Tumultuous vibrant colours and ostentatious sculptures. At the end of the lane, stood an old house.
Flee Stagger Iridescent - Or to introduce an item or series of items. ➢ Use an Adverb - Angrily, she threw her bag
Flounder Stomp Succumb I got what I was waiting for: silence at last. on the floor and stormed upstairs to her
Fly Stroll Voracious We use them for emphasis (a pause before the key room.
Frolic Toss Copious detail has some impact) ➢ Use a Connective - Since it is raining outside,
Glide Trample Desolate we’ll stay in and watch a film.
Hasten Tread Grotesque ➢ Dashes indicate a pause. Can be used in the same ➢ Use an ‘Ed clause’ - Painted in pink, the
Hike Trek Rush way as commas and brackets. house was hard to miss!
Hop Veer
Hurry Wade Colour imagery:
Inch Whirl Sapphire
Jump Whisk Bronze
Leap Writhe Marigold
Limp Pounce Ash rain, cloud, rainbow, temperature, pressure, overcast, shower, sunrise, dry,
March Prance Obsidian sunset, humidity, cold, heat, wind, cloudy, fog, breeze, humid, lightning,
Move Prowl Coal blustery, thunder, snow, thunderstorm, downpour, drought, moisture, drizzle,
Nod Pursue Azure warm, hail, icicle, climate, storm, flood, muggy, gale, atmosphere, mist,
Pace Malignant Ruby condensation, ice storm, gust, snowfall, whirlwind, hurricane, cyclone, balmy,
Parade Merciless Burgundy avalanche, frost, blizzard, spring, smog.
Plod Relentless Charcoal
Plow Stagnant Crimson
Glared Iridescent Sepia
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