a writing technique that involves starting description with a broad idea and gradually narrowing the focus to explore specific details

how a text is written to keep the reader engaged

shows that the action happened before now

Writing a desert island scene

English

Linguistic features of descriptive writing

Practising using figurative language

Planning a stormy scene

Writing a stormy scene

Planning a desert island scene

Illustrating descriptive scenes

In this unit, pupils apply ambitious weather vocabulary in a range of figurative settings. In 'Poetry Inspired by Weather', pupils will analyse a range of poems that include ambitious weather vocabulary.

In 'Weather: Cloudy, Dark and Rainy Words', pupils learnt a range of ambitious vocabulary for different weathers. In this unit, pupils will apply ambitious weather vocabulary in a range of figurative settings.

In this unit, pupils practise discrete narrative writing skills, basing their writing around typical stormy or desert island weather. Pupils practise using figurative language appropriately and with increasing sophistication; they also finish the unit by illustrating their descriptive scene writing.

Weather: descriptive writing

Which of these words are the adjectives in the following sentence? 'High above the vast ocean, the relentless, oppressive sun blazed like an angry dragon.'

Which of these adjectives has the closest meaning to 'gleaming'?

Which of these contain an element of personification?

Which of these is a fronted adverbial of manner?

Fill in the gap: 'The gleaming desert island emerged like a jewel __________ it invited explorers to come ashore with its mysterious allure.'

The tired trees, which swayed in the breeze, offered shade from the heat.

The tired trees swayed in the breeze as the sun blazed down.

As the trees swayed in the breeze, they offered shade from the heat.

Which of these is a relative complex sentence?

Which of these are examples of figurative language?

The beach was as serene as a sleeping baby.

Golden sands stretched endlessly towards the sea.

Seabirds soared overhead, gliding in the wind.

The waves teased the sand with foam fingers.

Seashells were spread across the sandy beach.

The seabirds glided above the vast expanse of blue.

The waves whispered secrets to the shore.

The waves crashed and crashed and crashed.

The beach stretched on like a vast canvas.

Match the stylistic device to the correct sentence.

Starter Quiz

Which of these are examples of figurative language?