We explain what the description is and what its main characteristics are. Also, the description types and more.
What is a description?
The description is a type of text, such as narrative or argumentative, which consists of a detailed explanation about something, in a way that allows recreating a clear idea of what is being described.
It can be a written or oral description in which the intention of the issuer is to expose the characteristics and essence, for example, of a character or a place so that the receiver can recreate it in his mind as plausible as possible.
Description Features
The description requires an issuer who knows about what it explains.
The description is characterized by:
- Put into words through language the ideas that a sender has in mind.
- An issuer knows about what is being described so that the representation is as accurate as possible.
- List the most important features of something, without having to describe it in its entirety.
- Be objective, subjective, or reflective of impressions and emotions.
- Be part of another text or be a piece in itself.
- Being a discursive tool that is included in essays, biographies, newspaper articles, among others.
Description types
Subjective descriptions reflect the issuer’s values and sentiments.
Among the main types of description are:
- Objective description. A detailed explanation of something from the rigor of the information and independently of what the issuer may think about it.
- Subjective description. A detailed explanation of something from the emotions and valuations that it provokes in the issuer.
- Prosopography. A detailed explanation of the appearance and external features of a living being.
- Utopia Detailed explanation of the way of being, psychological traits, and actions of a person.
- Literary portrait. A detailed explanation of both the physical appearance of a person, as well as the psychological traits, feelings, and morals of an individual. It can also be a self-portrait or a cartoon.
- Chronography Detailed explanation of time, that is, of the time in which the events that are narrated take place.
- Topographical description. A detailed explanation of a space or place, which allows recreating the characteristics perceptible through the senses and the idea of the environment or climate.
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