Advanced Writing with English in Use

Describingplaces • Module 58

58 Describingplaces

1.0 Varyingyour sentences

A Prepositions ofpos iti on(behind,in front of, next to)can be very useful when

describing ascene, butthey arenott he only wayto describespatial

relationships.You can improve yourw riting by using a variety of struct ures.

Compare these two descriptions.

The reis a church ne xttotheriver,

andbe lowthe churc h ther e are the

last housesill the dllage. After the

house stherearc fie lds, andin the

di stancether e is alak e .The r e are

trees all round the lake.

TheriverlIows downpast a

church,thensnakes aroundthe

last house in the\i llagebefore

cuttingacros sthe fie lds towards

a lake surrounde dbvtre es.

1 Is there any difference betweenthe two scenes described?

2 What structuresare repeatedin the firsttext?

3 Which feature of t he landscapeis the 'organizing prin ciple' ofthe secondtext?

4 What r ep laces prepos itionsof placein the secondtext?

B In thisdescripti on,t he writerdescribes OfficerB's cabin andthe otherfacilities

on a transatlantic cargo ship.

H is cab in wa sa roomy st u dio apartmen tfurnish e dwith b ook-

cas es, a refriger ator ;a kings izedbed, a com fo rt a bleso fa,along d eskof

varnish edp ine, acabinet fordrinks a ndglasses, aco ffeetable an d his

own lavato ry a ndsho we r.

Justdownthehall, OfTicerBcouldswim ill the heat edp ool,putin

a sweaty ha lfa nhouro n the sq uash cou rt, work out ill the gyma n d

ope n his pores inthesa u na,before show ing up intheofficers' Ba r an d

Lo unge ,where Scotc h was lOp a glass,andw here anewfilmwas

sh own allthevideoat8.15each night.

This excellent and economical descriptionis writtenin two sentences.

1 Arethe two sentencesstruct uredin the same way?

2 Whyarethereno prepositionsof placein the firstsentence?

3 Whatdoes the second sentencehave in commonw iththe sentence

beginningThe river flows downpastachurch .. .?

4 Is the writertrying to tellus that Officer B is an athletic film-lover witha taste

for strongdrink? How do we know the second sentenceis nota narrative?

1.1 Writing practice

A Usingas your model t he exampleabove beginningThe riverflows dow n past

achurch ... write a description, in two sentences, of a landscapeorganized

around something(an animal, a vehicle, therain, etc.) movingacrossthe

landscape.

B Usingasyour modelthe 'OfficerB' text, write atwo-sentencedesc riptionof a

placewhereyou once stayedonholiday. In thefirst sentenceyoucould, for

example,describeyourroom, andin the second otherfacilities.Makesureyour

description does not sound like a narrative.

Typesof writing • 83