Descriptive Text

Read the text below and answer the questions.

          Dina is my classmate. She is thirteen years old. She is tall. Her hair is long. She is not fat.

          She is very helpful to her friens. Her friends often ask for her helps to solve math problems. 

All her friends and teachers like her.

          She likes reading stories, cycling and playing badminton.

Questions

1.       Who is Dina? .........................................                      

2.       Do her friends like her?....................................

3.       How old is she? ........................................

4.       How does she look? .........................................

5.       What colour is her hair? .........................................

6.       Is her hair long? .........................................

7.       Is she fat? .........................................

An Example of Descriptive Text

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Generic Structure
Definition and time	The Hanging Gardens of Babylon was a man-made structure that was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The Hanging Gardens originated in approximately 605 B.C.
Description of purpose	Babylon, the capital of Babylonia, was built between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, where modern Baghdad, in Iraq, stands today. King Nebuchadnezzar built the Hanging Gardens for his wife, Amytis, who was the Princess of the Medes.
Description of features and their use	The Hanging Gardens was built on arches overlooking the city walls. The lowest terrace was twenty-four metres off the ground and each succeeding terrace was three metres higher. There were about six terraces, so that the topmost terrace was forty metres off the ground.
Description of physical Features (appearance)	The first stage of the building was a series of brick archways that were the same height as the city walls. Underneath them lay a shaded courtyard. On top of these arches, the Babylonians built long brick terraces in rows. These terraces were lined with lead, to hold the water, then covered with thick layers of fertile soil. Many exotic plants and trees were planted. Each of flower-bed was the size of a tennis court and the area of each terrace was thirty metres long by five metres long by five metres wide.

Descriptive Text

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT

The aim of descriptive text is basically to give information. The social context of this text is to describe a specific thing, animal, or human being ( certain thing, our pets or someone we know well), it is different from report text which describes something in general ( for example a specific of animal species, an architect of certain era, and so on).

We use the descriptive text to describe a particular person, place or thing. It focuses on specific participants. The description includes parts, qualities and characteristics.

The relation between the writer/the author and the readers in a descriptive text is as the authority and the unknown readers/listeners. The medium of a written descriptive text can be an encyclopedia, scientific magazines, text books, and history texts.
The generic structure of a descriptive text is as follows :
• Classification or Definition
• Description of features in order of importance.

The vocabularies often used in a descriptive text are the words which are related to names of places : locations, destinations, the functions, the appearances and the evidences if needed (for building). For animals, the words are used to describe the classification, the physical appearances, habitats, behaviour, life cycles, and the function. The language is neutral or objective.

Descriptive Text often uses the form of be : present or past and one of have form. The present tense is often used in this kind of text, but sometimes we can also use the past tense to describe a certain thing which is extinct or not available nowadays. The passive form is also often used here.

The language functions, the grammar and also the words which are often used in a descriptive text are :

• Defining : a/the .......was a .....
• Describing features (properties) : adjectives
• Expressing cause and effect : because, so, as a result

Descriptive text is often equipped with photos, diagrams, maps and so on.