Writing Descriptive

Respuesta correcta: A) Every Saturday morning the market on Calle Unión fills with the noise of sellers and the smell of bread.

• A) Every Saturday morning the market on Calle Unión fills with the noise of sellers and the smell of bread.Correct. This sentence introduces the setting with time, place and vivid sensory detail, which is what a descriptive paragraph needs.
• B) There are many people in the market and the market is in the city.Wrong. The sentence is generic, gives no concrete detail and repeats the noun twice.
• C) I think the market is nice and it sells things.Wrong. The judgement is unsupported and the repetition of 'the market' adds no description.
• D) The market is a market and it is very busy on Saturdays.Wrong. The sentence repeats the noun and states nothing about the market itself.

Respuesta correcta: B) The bread arrives still warm, and the counter is dusted with flour.

• A) The bread is available for purchase at the bakery.Wrong. The sentence reports only the fact of sale, with no sensory information.
• B) The bread arrives still warm, and the counter is dusted with flour.Correct. Warmth and flour on a surface describe the scene through touch and sight, which is what vivid description means.
• C) There are several kinds of bread sold in the bakery.Wrong. The sentence is a plain enumeration with no sensory detail.
• D) The bakery sells bread to customers who visit it.Wrong. The sentence describes the transaction rather than what the place looks or feels like.

Respuesta correcta: C) The road is far narrower than it appears from the ridge above.

• A) The road is narrow than it appears from the ridge above.Wrong. 'Narrow than' omits the comparative element, since than cannot stand on its own.
• B) The road is more narrow than it appears from the ridge above.Wrong. 'More narrow' misuses the more pattern with a short adjective that takes -er.
• C) The road is far narrower than it appears from the ridge above.Correct. 'Far narrower than' is the correct comparative, with an intensifier before the comparative form.
• D) The road is the narrowest than it appears from the ridge above.Wrong. 'The narrowest' is a superlative and cannot be followed by than.

Respuesta correcta: D) Her grey hair is tied back, and she wears thick-rimmed glasses.

• A) Her grey hair is tied back, which is the mark of a real teacher.Wrong. The clause makes an unsupported claim about what the appearance signifies.
• B) Her grey hair is tied back, and that proves she is intelligent.Wrong. Drawing a character conclusion from grey hair is an inference, not a description.
• C) Her grey hair is tied back, and she is a stubborn old woman.Wrong. 'Stubborn' and 'old woman' are judgements and go beyond what can be seen.
• D) Her grey hair is tied back, and she wears thick-rimmed glasses.Correct. This sentence reports only observable features, which is what neutral description requires.

Respuesta correcta: A) Begin with the overall impression, move to the main pieces of furniture, and finish with the light in the room.

• A) Begin with the overall impression, move to the main pieces of furniture, and finish with the light in the room.Correct. This moves from general to particular and ends with an atmospheric detail, which is a coherent descriptive structure.
• B) Begin with three judgements about the room, then give the measurements of the door.Wrong. The judgements come before any description, so the reader has nothing concrete to attach them to.
• C) Begin with a story about the previous owner of the room, then describe the floor.Wrong. The history of the room is narrative material and does not belong in a description of the space.
• D) Begin with the light, then list every object alphabetically, then repeat the overall impression.Wrong. Alphabetical order is a list, not a description, and the closing repetition adds nothing.

Respuesta correcta: B) The stones are worn smooth by centuries of footsteps.

• A) The stones are calibrated to within two millimetres of tolerance.Wrong. A tolerance figure is technical measurement rather than description.
• B) The stones are worn smooth by centuries of footsteps.Correct. 'Worn smooth by footsteps' describes appearance and history together, which is the register of literary description.
• C) The stones are located at an altitude of three thousand metres.Wrong. An altitude figure is a specification rather than an impression.
• D) The stones are covered in a layer of siliceous deposit.Wrong. Naming a deposit describes material composition, which is a scientific register.

Respuesta correcta: C) Late roses had spilled over the low wall, and the path was thick with fallen petals.

• A) The garden was beautiful because the garden had flowers.Wrong. The revision explains that flowers cause beauty but still names no specific flower or feature.
• B) The garden was very beautiful and it was a very nice garden.Wrong. The revision repeats 'garden' and 'beautiful' without adding any concrete detail.
• C) Late roses had spilled over the low wall, and the path was thick with fallen petals.Correct. The revision replaces the bare judgement with concrete visual detail that lets the reader see the garden.
• D) The garden, being beautiful, was beautiful as well as green.Wrong. The revision repeats the adjective and adds only an unsupported colour claim.

Respuesta correcta: D) cobbles, lanterns, doorways, quiet

• A) utilisation, remedial, apportionment, contingencyWrong. These are formal administrative abstractions that clash with the subject described.
• B) super, amazing, brilliant, definitely goodWrong. The register shifts from positive to emphatic and finally to a blunt general judgement.
• C) granular, infrastructure, habitational units, equanimityWrong. These are technical and clinical terms that do not describe a village accessibly.
• D) cobbles, lanterns, doorways, quietCorrect. These are plain, concrete nouns with a consistent descriptive register suitable for the subject.

Respuesta correcta: A) She always checked the labels before returning a book to its shelf.

• A) She always checked the labels before returning a book to its shelf.Correct. The sentence shows a habit through behaviour, which reveals character without labelling it.
• B) She was the kind of person who was always helping other people.Wrong. The sentence labels the person directly instead of letting action show the quality.
• C) She looked like her grandmother, who had lived in the same street.Wrong. The sentence records a resemblance and adds no behaviour or judgement of character.
• D) She had straight dark hair and a long narrow face.Wrong. The sentence describes physical features only and characterises nobody.

Respuesta correcta: B) Rain arrived sideways and turned the street into a moving mirror.

• A) The weather was very bad and it rained all day.Wrong. The sentence names the weather directly and adds no description.
• B) Rain arrived sideways and turned the street into a moving mirror.Correct. The sentence shows the rain through its effect and movement rather than naming a condition.
• C) Rain was falling, which was the weather condition of the day.Wrong. The phrase 'weather condition' is technical wording rather than description.
• D) The climate of the region is wet and the rain was heavy.Wrong. The sentence gives a general classification instead of describing the particular day.

Respuesta correcta: C) The valley floor lies flat and brown; terraced fields step up the far side; a single track climbs between them.

• A) The valley contains farms, and the farms are on the side, and the farms are many.Wrong. The sentence repeats 'farms' three times without describing anything about them.
• B) The area has an altitude of four thousand metres; the average temperature is twelve degrees; the terrain is described as flat.Wrong. The sentences give statistics rather than a picture of the landscape.
• C) The valley floor lies flat and brown; terraced fields step up the far side; a single track climbs between them.Correct. The three sentences move across the landscape and use concrete nouns, giving the reader a clear picture in few words.
• D) There is a valley, and there are fields, and there are tracks in it.Wrong. The sentences begin with 'there' repeatedly, which reads as an unfocused list.

Respuesta correcta: D) The most beautiful stretch of the coast lies just north of the town.

• A) The path narrows where the cliff edge approaches.Wrong. The sentence describes a measurable change in the terrain without any evaluation.
• B) The path is lined with low stone walls.Wrong. The sentence reports an observable physical feature without evaluation.
• C) The narrowest path continues for a further two kilometres along the cliff.Wrong. 'The narrowest' is a measurable superlative and is objective.
• D) The most beautiful stretch of the coast lies just north of the town.Correct. 'The most beautiful' is a subjective ranking and does not belong in a passage aiming at objectivity.

Respuesta correcta: A) By seven the stalls were up, and the first customers were arguing cheerfully over the price of tomatoes.

• A) By seven the stalls were up, and the first customers were arguing cheerfully over the price of tomatoes.Correct. This returns to the atmosphere established at the beginning and adds a concrete detail, which closes a description effectively.
• B) The market is a market that sells fruit and vegetables.Wrong. The closing is tautological and describes nothing.
• C) There are many stalls and many customers in the market.Wrong. The closing reverts to a generic enumeration and repeats the noun.
• D) The market closed at six in the evening.Wrong. The closing gives a logistical fact and ends the atmosphere established earlier.

Respuesta correcta: B) Measurements state facts about a thing without conveying how it looks or feels to the reader.

• A) Measurements are always numerically inaccurate in student writing.Wrong. The weakness is not inaccuracy; a correct measurement still fails to describe anything.
• B) Measurements state facts about a thing without conveying how it looks or feels to the reader.Correct. This identifies the communicative difference, since a figure reports a property without creating an impression.
• C) Listing measurements takes more space, so it cannot be used in a short text.Wrong. Measurements are compact, so they save rather than consume space.
• D) Describing appearance requires more vocabulary than any other type of writing.Wrong. Describing appearance does not require more vocabulary than other kinds of writing.

Respuesta correcta: C) The veranda boards had silvered with age until they shone like old mirrors.

• A) The veranda boards are twelve centimetres wide and badly weathered.Wrong. The sentence gives a measurement and a general condition, which is specification rather than depiction.
• B) The veranda boards have oxidised and lost their protective coating.Wrong. The sentence is a technical observation about oxidation rather than a description of appearance.
• C) The veranda boards had silvered with age until they shone like old mirrors.Correct. The comparison to old mirrors describes appearance vividly while staying consistent with the description.
• D) The veranda is the veranda and the boards are boards.Wrong. The sentence is tautological and describes nothing at all.

Respuesta correcta: D) The length mimics the uninterrupted movement and noise of a crowded market, which a series of short sentences would not convey.

• A) Short sentences cannot be used in a description because they describe nothing.Wrong. Short sentences can describe effectively and are frequently used to great effect.
• B) A single sentence uses fewer words, so it leaves room for more detail elsewhere.Wrong. A single long sentence usually uses more words rather than fewer.
• C) Long sentences are always easier to read and are therefore the better choice for all audiences.Wrong. Long sentences are harder to read, so the claim is inaccurate in general.
• D) The length mimics the uninterrupted movement and noise of a crowded market, which a series of short sentences would not convey.Correct. This ties the structural choice to the effect the writer wants, which is the reasoning a justification requires.

Respuesta correcta: A) The clinic smelled of chlorine, and the clock above the door had stopped at four.

• A) The clinic smelled of chlorine, and the clock above the door had stopped at four.Correct. The sentence fixes a static impression of a place through smell and a visible detail, which is description.
• B) The waiting had gone on for hours, and she had counted every minute.Wrong. The sentence narrates the experience of an event over a period.
• C) At that moment she remembered that she had left her bag in the car.Wrong. The sentence narrates an act of remembering set in time.
• D) She opened the door and went in to see whether anyone was still waiting.Wrong. The sentence narrates a sequence of actions by a character.

Respuesta correcta: B) The hall's wooden benches were already filling up when we reached the top of the stairs.

• A) The hall had wooden benches and the benches were filling up when we reached the top of the stairs.Wrong. 'Benches' and 'up' are both repeated where a pronoun or a relative clause would serve.
• B) The hall's wooden benches were already filling up when we reached the top of the stairs.Correct. The revision names the benches once and adds a specific time reference, so no word is repeated without cause.
• C) There were wooden benches in the hall and they were filling up when we arrived.Wrong. The revision is grammatical but remains vague, adding 'there were' and losing the movement implied by 'filling up'.
• D) The hall had wooden benches which were filling up and the hall was full of people.Wrong. 'Hall' and 'people' repeat information already given, and 'full' contradicts the benches still filling.

Respuesta correcta: C) The plane finished its cut and the workshop went quiet for a second.

• A) There was a sound in the workshop when the cutting stopped.Wrong. 'A sound' is a bare label that says nothing about what was heard.
• B) The plane was in the workshop and it was quiet in there.Wrong. The sentence mentions the plane and the quiet but gives no sense of an interrupted noise.
• C) The plane finished its cut and the workshop went quiet for a second.Correct. The sentence shows the sound through its absence, which is a more precise effect than naming the noise.
• D) The workshop was a place where sounds happened during the day.Wrong. The sentence generalises about the place instead of describing anything in it.

Respuesta correcta: D) The fence had been repaired so often that every post leaned slightly to the left.

• A) The fence had been repaired so often that it seemed to say something about its owners.Wrong. Reading a character into the fence is interpretation at several removes from what is visible.
• B) The fence had been repaired so often that it looked as though it had given up.Wrong. The clause about giving up is a personification that interprets the fence's condition.
• C) The fence had been repaired so often that it was clearly neglected.Wrong. 'Neglected' is a judgement about the owners rather than a description of the fence.
• D) The fence had been repaired so often that every post leaned slightly to the left.Correct. Every post leaning to the left is a visible fact, and no judgement is added.