Text types: Particular Descriptions

Describing people and things

Describing people and things using noun groups

In particular descriptions noun groups are used to describe a topic. Here are some noun groups used to describe the topics in the sample particular descriptions. These noun groups answer the question What is the character like?:

relating clause topic relating verb description of the topic - noun group She has a cute little black nose and soft, floppy ears.  He has big, brown wings. She has wrinkles around her eyes.

When a noun group is used to describe the topic, the Thing tells us what aspect of the topic is being described and one or more Describers tell us what this Thing is like:

When there is more than one Describer, we usually put a comma between them. We describe size first and colour last:

If we describe our opinion of the topic, the opinion Describer usually goes before all the other Describers. Here is a noun group which includes an opinion of Tess:

noun group which? Pointer what like? Describer what? Thing opinion size colour a cute little black nose

Sometimes we add an Intensifier to an adjective in a noun group. In the example below the opinion adjective is intensified:

If we classify the Thing (ie say what type it is) the Classifier  is placed last, immediately in front of the Thing. Here is a noun group which classifies the dog Tess and answers the question, What type?:

Sometimes we add more describing information after the noun in a Qualifier :

Sometimes we add two noun groups together to make a noun group complex. We usually join the noun groups with the conjunction and:

Sometimes a noun group complex has more than two noun groups. There is a comma after each noun group except the second last one. The conjunction and is used to add the last noun group:

Noun groups in particular descriptions often begin with a determiner or pointer. The most common determiner is the article . A noun group built around a singular noun can begin with an indefinite article (a/an). A noun group built around a plural noun, however, does not usually use a pointer at all except to indicate quantity. 

When a noun group uses the definite article the, we know the noun group is referring to a particular person, place or thing. Sometimes we know the particular person, place or thing because it is something everyone knows about. For example, when we say the Peak in Hong Kong, everyone knows which particular mountain peak we are talking about. We also use the definite article the when we have introduced the person, place or thing somewhere else in the text.

Another use of the definite article the is when we say someone or something is the most of anything (eg the best, the biggest):

Countable nouns are either singular or plural, while uncountable nouns are neither singular nor plural. Sometimes, when we build a noun group around an uncountable noun, we describe the quantity or a container for the uncountable noun. 

To see how noun groups are used to describe in the particular description My dog Tess, click here:

To see how noun groups are used to describe in the particular description Boris the Bat, click here:

To see how noun groups are used to describe in the particular description Granny Gong, click here:

To see how noun groups are used to describe in the particular description The Gong family flat, click here:

For more information about noun groups, see Grammar: Groups & phrases: Noun group: Overview