Advanced Writing with English in Use

Describingpicturesand objects • Module1B

Now read thes etwodescriptionsof thephotos. Thefirst is someonetalking

about thefa mily photo , and is writte nin a n informal style. Thephotogra ph is

being exhibitedin anartgallery, and the descriptionis takenfrom theexhibition

catalogue. Thephrasesprinted initalicsare some that youmightfinduseful in

yourownwriting.

Note alsothe tensesoftheve rbs.

• The pre sent continuousisuse dtodesc ribewhat i s happe ning ill a pict ure
  ( 1'/11!w uillgadonkci]rid e; she'su;ca r ill g).


• The present perfec t canheusedtodescri bewhat has just happened
  (thecoatshe Iw sjllst b een gicen).
  Fillthegapsin the two descriptions.Allthe mis sing words are adjectives. Use
  your imagination!This is a 'creative writing ' exe rcise , not a gra mma r test. Take
  ris ks withvocabulary!

Skeqness DonkelJ Ride

My favouritefamilyphotois this one, takenwhenI
was a little girl backin the '30s. I'm having a
donkeyride on the beach at Skegness. That' s my
cousinSylviaon the left ofthe photo, holdi ngthe
reins. We have alwaysgot on very well together,
e ven though sheis five years older than me. Andshe
has ne verlost that ( 1) gap-toothed grin.
In the photo, s he's wearinga (2) woollen
coa t she has ju st beengiven. I remember howproud
she was of it, with its (3) collarand cuff s.
Here, the coat is almost brandnew; twoyearslater
shewas stillwearing it, thoughthesleevesstopped
ju st belowher elbows and the blackhad faded to
something like the colourof that donkey. She was
veryfondof the hat,too, a dark(4) redwith
a broadsatinribbon,Itwasmeant tobe asummer
hat,but she see med towearit almost all year round -
shesaid itwas good at keepingthe rain off.

SaoPaolo, 1960

At first we ar e st ruc k by anatmospher e o f

st ressandoppression.Thephotographer

givesu s a gli m pse ofthetension, between

the in di vidual an dthe facel essCIty,.

represen t ed asmuchb ytheuniformbusiness

su its asbytheimpersonalnutldings, For a

momentwe believethatthesefourmenar e

theo n ly peopletobesee n, But (9) _

figuresca n be di scernedinthestreetbelow.

Andwe kno wthatevery carhas adriver,

a n dt h a t behindeve rywindo wintho se

Ove r my rightshoul der, also on a donkey, you

ca n seemy cousinDavid,just one year older than

me, and Auntie Jessie,Sylvia's mother.Auntie Jessie

seems to bepullingat a donke y' s ear s, in the same

(5) wayshewouldalwaysbepulling atmy

clothes or straightening my hair. Andif you look

veryclos ely, you can just mak e out the edge of ahat

directly behind my head. That's Uncle Harry.I don' t

know what he' s doing there- probably ju st waiting

for the pubs to openI

If you asked me why I like thi s photosomuch, I

co uldn't reallysay. More thananything else,I think

the picture sums upwhata (6) , adventurous

and(7) summer [ hadthatyea r, That week

wit h AuntieJessie was the first I hadspe nt away

from my parents, butI wasnever (8) , and

neverhomesick. Look at my style andcowboy

confide nceon that donkey !JohnWayne, eat your

heart out!

(10) buildings someoneis sitti ng,Th e

ca m e ra itse lfm us thave beenp lacedh ighin

oneo fthe ver ybuildingsthat appear to be

so e m p ty of life an dhumanity.

Theco n t rast betweenthe(11) _

su nsh ine an dt hesu rro u n d ing greyness

m akesthe picture work ,Thefour

b us inessm e n, perhaps ta king a sh ort break

fromtheirwork,a rewalkingo u to fth~

picturewiththe afternoon su nonthen

backs,andwe our selves are ledintothe.

(1 2) distancealong aline o f dazzling

light,

Types of writing • 43