Homework, September 30th, 2016

Hi,

The following tasks are due on Monday, October 3rd. 

Good luck!

Read the descriptions below. They describe two parts of hotel: the lobby and the ballroom.

They made their way across the room and emerged into a lobby. There was a grandiose staircase that swept down from a mezzanine level, a fountain that would have been spectacular had it not dried up years before, couches and coffee tables, artwork on the walls, rugs on the floor, and a reception desk. It was a tired homage to the glitz and glamour of a long since forgotten era.

They wound their way through the cookers and counter tops, and came out into a spectacular ballroom. It was furnished with round tables and chairs with velvet-covered cushions, and from the ceiling hung an impressive chandelier. Each one of the tables was fully laid, but covered in dust, and there were cobwebs in the corners of the room, as if the scene had been frozen in time for many years. The room was a corpse, decaying and dead, but the person it was once was still just about visible.

1. Now go back through the two descriptions, underline all the adjectives you can find, then write them down in a list. The first adjective you will find is ‘grandiose’.

2. Have a look at the following exam-style question:

How does the writer create a sense that the location was once magnificent, but is now neglected and run-down?

You are going to answer this question by referring to the second description, but, before you do, read the following answer, which is based on the first:

The writer sets up a comparison between what the lobby used to look like and what it looks like now by using powerful adjectives such as ‘grandiose’ and ‘spectacular’ to describe its former glory, and describes how the staircase ‘swept’ down, almost as if it was moving, which is a form of personification. He then goes on to describe the fountain as ‘dried up’ and the whole scene as a ‘tired homage to the glitz and glamour of a long forgotten era’. This puts an image in our mind of people in expensive clothes looking very elegant in their opulent surroundings, but makes it quite clear that this picture no longer applies, which is actually quite tragic. He also uses alliteration in ‘couches and coffee tables’ to make the writing more rhythmic.

Notice how the answer mentions the use of adjectives before going on to refer to other details, such as personification and alliteration.

Now write your answer to the question based on the second extract.

2. Write two new descriptions of the two locations in your own words. Each description should be around the same length as the two provided (around seventy words).