Ways to Describe a Place

Describing a place

In descriptive essays, it is essential to engage the five senses. As cliche or obvious as this sounds, involving your sense of touch, taste, smell, sight and sound can make your writing much more vivid and clearer. Imagine that you are sharing what you are describing with the marker, or even your friend. You will need to put in as many details as possible. If you struggle with engaging all five senses, try aiming to include at least three.

Example: Describing the MRT

E.g 1.

The mrt carriage was very crowded and noisy. I closed my eyes tiredly because it was very early. When the mrt stopped, I jerked awake and almost fell down.

This description only contains the sense of sound and a some sense of touch. It is also very brief. When writing, try to break down what you're describing so you can be more detailed. If you are engaging the sense of sight, don't just plainly describe what you see – what colour is the object? How big is it? Is there anything unusual about it? If you're describing people, it is good to include what they are wearing and what they are doing at the moment. Remember, the better you weave in your details, the higher you will score.

E.g 2.

The mrt carriage was so full that it was practically bursting with commuters. Men dressed smartly in crisp button up shirts and plain ties were furiously typing away at their smart phones while students were either scrolling through the latest updates on social media platforms or staring blankly in front of them with bleary eyes (sight). The humdrum of the crowd (sound) threatened to lull me to sleep as I struggled to stay awake, miserably wondering why I had to be awake at such an ungodly hour. As the mrt ground to a halt and throngs of people rushed out, I held on for my dear life to avoid being swept away. My fingers tightened around the train handle until my knuckles started to turn a pasty white (touch).

See how the second example is more substantial? With tips like this, you'll never have to worry about falling short of the required word count again.