Descriptive paragraphs are often used to describe what a person looks and acts like. Read this example descriptive paragraph; notice how descriptive paragraphs are arranged by putting together all the sentences about the same thing.
- THE WAYS TO WRITE A DESCRIPTIVE PARAGRAPHS
1. Start your paragraph with a general topic sentence that introduces the person.
A succinct introduction sentence at the start of your paragraph will help catch the reader’s attention and shift their focus to the person you’re about to describe. Keep this first sentence clear and concise, focusing on one aspect of their appearance so you don’t overwhelm your reader with too much description right away. You can also split your topic sentence into 2 sentences for clarity and flow.
2. Focus on the most striking part of their appearance first.
To hook your readers in even more, go straight from your general introduction to the most interesting or unusual part of the person’s appearance. Think of this as the thing that you notice first, or that makes the biggest impression on you when you first see it. If you’re writing a more creative piece, like a narrative, you can also use this as your introductory sentence. For example, you could write:
- “I didn’t usually notice people’s skin, but Natasha’s glowed. It was almost alien. Night could be falling, or we could be sitting in a dark classroom, and I’d still see her out of the corner of my eye, faintly golden.”
- “His arms looked too long for his body, and disproportionately muscular, like pale twin boa constrictors.”
3. Focus on physical details that hint at the person’s personality.
By carefully choosing your descriptive words, your paragraph can paint a vivid picture of the person while giving the reader a sense of who they really are. Search for strong, resonant words that get across the point you want to make and create a tone that fits with the person.
Showing Personality through Physical Description:
- Kindness or friendliness: “He had a tendency to slope his back and shoulders to smile right in my eyes.”
- Rudeness: “He towered over everyone else in the room, staring over everyone’s heads as though looking for something more interesting.”
- Ambition: “She walked with energy that seemed to start in her legs, striding purposefully, and went all the way up through her hair, which swept behind her in a smooth ponytail.”
4. Fill in any last details to give a good general picture.
Make sure that your reader has a good sense for the most important parts of this person’s appearance. You want to at least touch on key aspects of their body and clothing, as well as their face, since these are the parts of the person that the reader will be most interested in. Continue to use strong, descriptive words and challenge yourself to describe them in unique ways.
- To describe a face, for example, you could write, “Her nose and her two front teeth were just slightly crooked. She was constantly pulling her long hair forward and throwing it back again, blinking her bangs out of her eyes like she had no idea how they’d gotten there.”
- To describe someone’s body or clothing, you might write, “He was a big guy, but carried himself like he wanted to apologize for it. He hunched his shoulders and bent his neck over his phone, and wore gray clothes so he could blend into the walls.”
Even the general details you’re describing should only be mentioned if they add insight into the person or character’s personality or impression. For example, if their eye color doesn’t hint at any deeper part of them, you don’t have to include it.
5. Use figurative language and strong adjectives throughout your paragraph.
Metaphors, similes, and striking, descriptive language will help you paint a picture of the person without losing the reader’s interest. You want to evoke the spirit and appearance of the person without getting too wordy, and strong, well-chosen language and phrases are the best way to do that. Challenge yourself to include a turn of phrase you’ve never heard before, or use a word in a new way to bring out new dimensions of your character or person.
Using Figurative Language
- Simile: a comparison between two things using “like” or “as.”
Ex. “Her baby’s ears were as tiny and delicate as seashells.”
- Metaphor: using a word or phrase with an object, action or person that it can’t literally apply to.
Ex. “In class, Mrs. Sherman was an actress. She flew around the room and boomed out each story we read, using different voices and facial expression for every character.”
6. End the paragraph with a resonant description or conclusion.
The end of your paragraph is the part that will stick in your reader’s mind. Try to make your last sentence the most interesting one, either with an unexpected final description or by summarizing the material in a unique, surprising way. You could say, for example:
- “I’d known Lulu for years, but I’d never seen her wear a pair of shoes. In the summer, I’d watch the soles of her feet turn black and callused from the asphalt, which baked so hot under the sun it would let off waves of steam. It had to burn, but she just rose up on her tiptoes and laughed.”
- “In spite of the loud voice, the confident set of his shoulders, and the easy smile, Henry was the saddest person I’d ever met.”
- MODELS OF A DESCRIPTIVE PARAGRAPH
One Cool Watch
Sandy’s watch is very fashionable. It is a windup watch. It ticks. It has a face with numbers and hands. There is a cute picture of a monkey on the face. It has a metal wristband. All these things are cool these days.
Sandy’s watch is very fashionable. It has a face with numbers and hands. It ticks. It has a metal wristband. There is a cute picture of a monkey on the face. All these things are cools these days.
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