This module discusses the strange relationship between humans and language. After explaining how language is a symbiotic technology and what that means for communicating in general, formal and informal communicative contexts are discussed, as is the formal demand that communication be polite, concise, and coherent. Descriptive writing is then introduced as a way to understand general and specific ideas and their relation to one another. Examples are also provided of denotative and connotative meanings in order to better explain the important function an overall impression serves in descriptive writing. Writers rely on the five senses (seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and feeling) to describe their experiences and surroundings; writers use those kinds of sensory details to convey feelings about a place, a taste, a sound, a scent, a texture or sensation, a person, and even themselves. The overall impression is what draws all of these disparate elements together and gives a description its general purpose. Finally, the prewriting strategy of listing is introduced as a way to generate ideas for a description.

Module Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this module, the student will be able to:

1. Explain why writing is a kind of symbiotic technology.
2. Identify formal and informal communicative contexts.
3. Identify denotative and connotative meanings.
4. Identify a piece of descriptive writing’s overall impression.
5. Use listing to compose a descriptive paragraph using the five senses.
6. Apply the characteristics of effective descriptive writing.
7. Use correct grammar, syntax, and diction in writing a descriptive paragraph.