a picture; in others, show character; with still others, secure your description by means of pointing out actions XVII. Write a description of a summer afternoon, trying to make your reader feel warm and lazy. XVIII. Describe the interior of some living room with aim to make it seem cozy and homelike to the reader. XIX. Describe another room which is cold and dreary and which people avoid. XX. Write two paragraphs, the first describing a vehicle of some kind (automobile, bicycle, carriage), the second telling how it is run. XXI. Look at the picture on the opposite page and make a list of all the details in it worthy of mention. Arrange these in some logical order. From this arrangement write a description of the picture. XXII. Follow the same process in constructing a description of some person. XXIII. Write a description of one of the sections of your school Move your point of view from one part to building. another as you describe. XXIV. Imagine yourself showing a stranger through another section of the building and bring out most of the descriptive detail through conversation. XXV. It is noon hour, and the laborers, hot and tired, are resting under the old wall. Imagine the scene and describe it. XXVI. Little Robert is eating his lunch alone on his stool. Towser, the dog, comes along, sits down in front of the youngster, and pricks up his ears earnestly. Robert is scared. Picture the scene in words. XXVII. With four children one in arms and many pieces of hand luggage, Mrs. Tyson Tyler boards the train for the city. Picture her departure. XXVIII. You are on the fifteenth floor of a building in the heart of the city. Describe the scene from a window. XXIX. It is summer time. The fields are filled with harvesters. From a hilltop you can overlook the interesting scene. Describe what you see. XXX. Describe each of the following objects, personifying them to some degree : XXXI. As you walk along the street, you see a wretched looking beggar who asks you for money. Describe his face before and after you gave him a coin. XXXII. A little street urchin is throwing dirt on the pavement. He doesn't see the policeman who has come up behind him. Describe the scene when he turns around and sees the officer within a foot of him. XXXIII. Bob is an awkward country boy visiting his aunt in the city. She takes him to a party, or the theater. Describe his behavior. XXXIV. In a railway station you were sitting next to a man who smoked some very obnoxious tobacco and who puffed vigorously in your direction. Describe the scene, telling the effect of his manners upon you. XXXV. Describe a seascape or a landscape as you have seen it in two widely different moods. Contrast these moods:— XXXVI. You see some one approaching you down the street. Describe him as he appears at first; then as he draws nearer and nearer; then as you see that he is an old friend. XXXVII. Describe the baseball diamond, comparing sections of it to letters of the alphabet, or to figures. XXXVIII. Describe a tramp: a. As he first impressed you. b. As he impressed you after conversing with him. c. As you described him to your mother on reaching home. XXXIX. Write a description on “Going to the Office" : a. The road to the office. c. When the mail arrives. d. After the mail stage departs. XLI. Write the descriptions suggested by the following groups of words. Arrange the points in order and give your description an appropriate title: XLIII. Rearrange and expand the following outline, and write a description from it, giving it an appropriate title. (a) General appearance: Shape. Color. Size. (b) Detailed appearance: Huge. Square. Brown. Useful. Windows. Roof. (c) Impression. XLIV. Select from your reading, in either prose or poetry, good descriptive passages. Outline them and explain what kind of description is represented by each, and the methods used in each. XLV. Write a description of a hill or mountain seen from a distance. Write a description of it as you stand near its base. XLVI. Outline and write a description of a reading room or a railway station by means of a series of pictures, your point of view moving from group to group in some regular order. XLVII. Write a description of a pedlar: — a. In such a way as to create sympathy and pity for him. b. In such a way as to create scorn for him. XLVIII. Write a formal description of a friend, introducing elements to show action and habit. XLIX. Write an informal description of a friend, centering the description around some action of his. Introduce conversation if possible. L. Tell the story of a day's excursion, taking especial pains to make the descriptive details vivid. |