Describing Setting and Location

Then the doorbell begins to ring and the people come in. The house fills with the alien scent of cigarettes, which will still be there in the morning along with a few uneaten candies and salted nuts, and with bursts of laughter that get louder as time passes. I lie in my bed listening to the bursts of laughter. What device is used here?

• specific nouns and adjectives

• metaphor

• words referencing senses

• personification

As she wiped the tears off her cheek, the bright sun disappeared in the horizon, a slow patter of rain fell into the pavement, and a cold wind blew right through her.

This description uses repetition. What syntactical structure or verbal pattern is repeated?

• noun+ verb

• adjective + noun + verb

• noun + verb + adverb

• adjective + noun + verb + prepositional phrase

This tower, which was patched unevenly with black ivy, arose like a mutilated finger from among the fists of knuckled masonry and pointed blasphemously at heaven. At night the owls made of it an echoing throat and by day it stood voiceless and cast its long shadow.

What techniques are used in this description?

• metaphor and personification

• compound/complex sentence and simile

• references to weather and nature and camera lens

• repetition and imagery

The house squatted at the bluff’s edge, its lines crooked from so many years spent leaning into the wind. Sand had scoured its skin so it showed more board now than paint. The open door sagged to one side like a slack jaw.

This description uses...

• simile

• metaphor

• personification

• verbal patterning

I entered the abandoned house. What I saw inside was a sore to my eyes. Wallpaper peeling off the wall, broken stairs leading to the second floor, doors falling off the hinges. This description is an example of ...

• metaphor

• personification

• specific adjectives and nouns

• repeated syntactical structure

As she rushed through the dark forest path, her right foot was caught on a log making her fall into the muddy ground.

What type of sentence is this?

• complex

• compound

• simple

• compound-complex

As they approached the City, the noise and traffic gradually increased. They threaded hurriedly along the streets between Shoreditch and Smithfield, it had swelled into a roar of sound and bustle. What language device is present in this description?

• reference to senses

• metaphor

• verb+adverb+preposition

• reference to weather and nature

We walked down the old stairs again, and when we reached the ground floor, Julián made his way to the library. The wooden shelves were empty, the fireplace choked with rubble. The walls, a deathly pale, flickered in the breath of the flame. Which is an example of a specific , detailed adjective?

• wooden

• fireplace

• breath

• rubble

The sun began to rise above the snow-covered trees, leaving the girl in shadow. She stood frozen, looking down at the carcasses of her beloved ducks. From a distance she could hear the wolves howling. This description uses the technique...

• personification

• camera lens

• specific adjectives and nouns

• references to senses

What is personified here?

• the squirrel

• the tree

• the flames

• the wind