Study Hub

Study Guides

This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.

Back to Study HubBrowse Year 8 English Guides

Year 8 - English

Writing a gothic description

A monster within: reading and writing Gothic fiction

Unit Summary

In this unit, pupils explore the Gothic. They start by learning what the Gothic is, before reading extracts from 'Frankenstein' and 'Jane Eyre', practising descriptive writing and reading 'The Tell-Tale Heart'. They finally learn how to write opinion articles and then write their own.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to write a multi-sensory and thrilling Gothic description.

Key Notes

  • In descriptions, you can focus on how the scene smells, feels, sounds and tastes, as well as just what it looks like.
  • Multi-sensory descriptions make the scene more vivid for your reader.
  • You can use figurative language to create vivid imagery for the reader.
  • Fronted adverbials can build tension by elongating the sentence and delaying the action.
  • To build tension, try describing small details quite comprehensively.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • imagery: words used to create a clear image in the reader's head
  • vivid: producing strong or clear images in the reader's mind
  • multi-sensory: involving more than one sense
  • to congeal: to begin to change from a liquid state to a more solid state
  • timid: showing a lack of courage or confidence

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • In descriptive writing, students often just describe what their protagonist can see. They often neglect the other senses.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

1. Explain this English learning goal in two key points.

In descriptions, you can focus on how the scene smells, feels, sounds and tastes, as well as just what it looks like. Multi-sensory descriptions make the scene more vivid for your reader.

2. Define this language term and use it in a sentence. 'imagery'

words used to create a clear image in the reader's head.

3. Correct this common English misunderstanding.

Mistake: In descriptive writing, students often just describe what their protagonist can see. They often neglect the other senses. Correction: To create the most vivid description possible, students should focus their description on the five sense, subtly moving between exploring how the scene feels, smells, looks, tastes and sounds.

More Lessons In This Unit

Browse all guides in the Year 8 English guide library.