Description

Short description: Text for clarification; one of four rhetorical modes

Description is any type of communication that aims to make vivid a place, object, person, group, or other physical entity.[1] Description is one of four rhetorical modes (also known as modes of discourse), along with exposition, argumentation, and narration.[2]

## Contents

* 1 As a fiction-writing mode
* 2 Purple prose
* 3 Philosophy
* 4 See also
* 5 Notes
* 6 References

## As a fiction-writing mode

Fiction-writing specifically has modes such as action, exposition, description, dialogue, summary, and transition.[3] Author Peter Selgin refers to methods, including action, dialogue, thoughts, summary, scenes, and description.[4] Currently, there is no consensus within the writing community regarding the number and composition of fiction-writing modes and their uses.

Description is the fiction-writing mode for transmitting a mental image of the particulars of a story. Together with dialogue, narration, exposition, and summarization, description is one of the most widely recognized of the fiction-writing modes. As stated in Writing from A to Z, edited by Kirk Polking, description is more than the amassing of details; it is bringing something to life by carefully choosing and arranging words and phrases to produce the desired effect.[5] The most appropriate and effective techniques for presenting description are a matter of ongoing discussion among writers and writing coaches.

## Purple prose

Main article: Social:Purple prose

A purple patch is an over-written passage in which the writer has strained too hard to achieve an impressive effect, by elaborate figures or other means. The phrase (Latin: "purpureus pannus") was first used by the Roman poet Horace in his Ars Poetica (c. 20 BC) to denote an irrelevant and excessively ornate passage; the sense of irrelevance is normally absent in modern usage, although such passages are usually incongruous. By extension, purple prose is lavishly figurative, rhythmic, or otherwise overwrought.[6]

## Philosophy

In philosophy, the nature of description has been an important question since Bertrand Russell's classical texts.[7]

## See also

* Anthropomorphism
* Cliché
* Diction
* Grammatical modifier
* Grammatical voice
* Metaphors
* Nouns
* Objectification
* Personification
* Referential density
* Relevance
* Rhetorical devices
* Simile
* Species description
* Verisimilitude

## Notes

1. ↑ (Crews 1977)
2. ↑ (Crews 1977)
3. ↑ Morrell (2006), p. 127
4. ↑ Selgin (2007), p. 38
5. ↑ Polking (1990), p. 106
6. ↑ (Baldick 2004)
7. ↑ Ludlow, Peter (2007), Descriptions, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descriptions/

## References

* Baldick, Chris (2004), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-860883-7
* Crews, Frederick (1977), The Random House Handbook (2nd ed.), New York: Random House, ISBN 0-394-31211-2, https://archive.org/details/randomhousehand00crew
* Marshall, Evan (1998). The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest Books. pp. 143–165. ISBN 1-58297-062-9. https://archive.org/details/marshallplanforn00evan/page/143.
* Morrell, Jessica Page (2006). Between the Lines: Master the Subtle Elements of Fiction Writing. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest Books. p. 127. ISBN 978-1-58297-393-7.
* Ogilvie, Brian W. (2006). The science of describing: Natural history in renaissance Europe. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226620875.
* Polking, Kirk (1990). Writing A to Z. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest Books. ISBN 0-89879-435-8. https://archive.org/details/writingtoztermsp00polk.
* Rozakis, Laurie (2003). The Complete Idiot's Guide to Grammar and Style, 2nd Edition. Alpha. ISBN 978-1-59257-115-4
* Selgin, Peter (2007). By Cunning & Craft: Sound Advice and Practical Wisdom for fiction writers. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest Books. p. 38. ISBN 978-1-58297-491-0. https://archive.org/details/bycunningcraftso00selg.

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