Checklist: Descriptive Writing YES NO

The writing meets the task described and the reader can see the picture o the
1
person, place or thing

2 The vocabulary links to the topic

3 The writing includes details – who, what, where, when, how

4 The writing includes adjectives and adverbs to describe

5 The writing includes verbs for action

6 The writing includes paragraphs and is in logical order

Sentences start in different ways and longer sentences may include

7 conjunctions. Some interesting words have been used.

Spelling, grammar and punctuation has been checked so that the writing is easy
8 to understand.

Important words and phrases from the checklist you need to know:

Task: a piece of work to be done or undertaken. Read the question carefully and ensure you have covered them in your
writing. Does the task asks you to write about one or two interesting places?

Vocabulary: the words used in the writing

details: further information about the topic, usually using the prompt words of who, what, where, when and how.

adjectives: words that describes or clarifies a noun and make the writing more interesting (e.g. A big, fluffy, white cat).

verbs: a word to describe an action (e.g. The boy is swimming).

paragraphs: organise sentences about the same main idea into groups to make your writing easy to understand. Miss a
line between each paragraph to show clearly where each new idea starts. If you were telling someone about yourself in
a letter, you might have separate paragraphs to tell about your family, your school and your hobbies.

logical order: write about information or events in an order that makes the best sense. Keep ideas about the same thing
together in the same paragraph.

interesting words: change boring words for better ones (big – enormous) and give details so the reader can picture
what you are writing about ( a house – a huge, white stilt-house with a blue tile roof).

conjunctions: words that join two short sentences together to make a longer one eg and, but, because, so.

grammar: complete sentences are used and written correctly. Tense is important – is it true now or happening now? If
so use present tense. Is it no longer true or has it finished? Use past tense. If it hasn’t happened yet, use future tense.

punctuation: Capital letters have been used to start sentences, names of people/places/titles/months/days of the week.
Full stops, questions marks or exclamation marks have been used to end sentences. Commas have been used in lists.