Describing Events
A descriptive composition about a festival, an event or a celebration should consist of:
v An introduction in which you give the name, time, place and reasons for celebrating.
v A main body in which you describe the preparations and the actual event in separate paragraphs, using present tenses to describe annual festivals, or past tenses to describe a festival you attended at some time in the past.
v A conclusion which includes people’s feelings, comments or final thoughts about an event.
v You can use a variety of adjectives and adverbs to make your description more vivid.
e.g. Cheerful fans shouted enthusiastically as the rock star arrived.
v You can use the passive to describe events when the activity is more important than the agent.
v e.g. After the parade, speeches were made and hymns were sung.
Useful Vocabulary
Adjectives: amazing, amusing, attractive, beautiful, brilliant, colorful, delicious, elegant, enjoyable, enormous, entertaining, excellent, exceptional, exciting, exhilarating, fantastic, glittering, glorious, huge, important, impressive, interesting, joyful, luxurious, magical, marvelous, national, original, outstanding, pleasant, prominent, remarkable, significant, sparkling, special, splendid, successful, thrilling, traditional, unique, unusual, wonderful.
Nouns: band, carnival, ceremony, church, costume, custom, entertainment, event, joy, limousine, occasion, parade, party, performance, preparations, prom, reception
Verbs: celebrate, dance, decorate, enjoy, gather, is held, look forward to, organize, rehearse, supply (food and refreshments), take part, take place.
Phrases: Bright lights sparkling; huge colorful flowers; gasp in wonder and admiration; in keeping with the theme of the festival; is held to commemorate; visitors from all over the world gather; look forward to this marvelous event every year; book hotel rooms; it was a festival which lifted everyone’s spirits; dance far into the night, raise awareness of…; but the best part of all was; another thing that made it a particularly enjoyable occasion was…; it brought back memories of my own childhood experience; a certain amount of preparation is required of those who take part, it will stay in my memory forever, it was an unforgettable experience.
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