WRITING
Article 2
You may be asked to write a descriptive article about a place you know well. You must make sure that the style of the article is suitable for the people who are going to read it.
A Sample task
An international magazine is doing a feature on favourite childhood memories. Write an article of about 180 words describing a place you liked as a child.
B What is wrong with this article? Why would it get a poor mark?
I remember that there were a lot of rooms in the house. Downstairs there was a kitchen. The sitting room was next to the kitchen. There were three bedrooms upstairs. The dining room was next to the sitting room, opposite the kitchen. There was a dining room table in the dining room, and there were six chairs round the table. In the garden there was a tennis court and a swimming pool. The garden was big. My best friend used to live in this house, and it was about fifty miles from London. There were two bathrooms upstairs. 1 used to visit the house during my school holidays. It was nice.
C Compare what you have just read with the article below.
As time has passed, many of my childhood memories have faded, but the memory of one place is still as bright as ever. It was my best friend's house and it was very important to me when I was young. It was about an hour's drive from London, and because I only ever visited in the school holidays, I always associated it with being free.
The house itself was set in a large garden. Here we used to play tennis on warm summer days or enjoy lazy barbecues by the side of the cool swimming pool. Beautiful pale pink roses seemed to grow everywhere, and even now, the scent of roses takes me back to those happy days.
Inside the house it was always warm. The kitchen, which was where the family spent most of their time, was heated by a large cast-iron stove. The old wooden table, comfortable chairs and red floor tiles gave the kitchen a homely atmosphere.
They say your schooldays are meant to be 'the best days of your life'. For me, the days away were far better.
D Analysis
1 Paragraphs: What is the topic of each paragraph in the second article?
2 Use of adjectives: How many descriptive adjectives are there in the first article? How many are there in the second paragraph of the second article?
3 Which article shows how and why the place was important to the writer? What are some of the words and phrases that describe the writer's feelings about the place?
E Look at these examples in which two or more sentences with different ideas are joined as one sentence.
a) He was a man. He was nasty. He had a terrible temper.
>■ He was a nasty man with a terrible temper.
b) I lived in a house. It was old. It was always cold. > I lived in an old house which was always cold.
c) I have three brothers. They are older than me. They live in London.
>- I have three older brothers who live in London.
Now join these sentences in the same way.
1 There is a beach. It is sandy. It has a good restaurant.
2 The hotel is run by a woman. She is old. She makes everyone feel at home.
3 There are a lot of shops. They are wonderful. They stay open till late at night.
4 The Ramada is a hotel. It is first class. It has a marvellous swimming pool.
5 The resort has an airport. It is small. It is only open in the summer.
F Writing task
Write an article for a travel magazine about a holiday destination you know well. The article should make readers want to visit this place.
G Use this paragraph plan.
1 Introduction: You could say you have found a perfect place for holidays. Give an overall description of the place - where it is, how big it is, etc.
2 A closer look: Describe one or two of the special features of the place - the beaches, the countryside, the shops, etc. Use descriptive adjectives to give a feeling of the place (don't just list the number of hotels, etc.).
3 More detail: Describe one thing you remember well or particularly liked in more detail - perhaps a hotel, someone the readers may meet, or the town at night. Try to paint a picture with adjectives.
4 Ending: Say how you feel about the place, and suggest to the readers that they should visit it.
104  •  UNIT 13
FOCUS FOUR