Descriptive Phrases

Nouns and adjectives should generally be stressed in sentences because
they carry new information. Practice the following:
1. It’s a room.
2. He’s a driver.
3. It was a party.
4. She’s a girl.
5. It was a day.
6. It’s a computer.
7. He’s a man.
8. It’s a house.
9. She’s an actress.
10.It’s a movie.

It’s small.
He’s fast.
It was boring.
She’s tall.
It was long.
It’s new.
He’s young.
There are two.
She’s good.
It’s interesting.

Now, read the following sentences. Where should the stress go?
A: It’s a great book.
B: She’s a good mother.
In a noun / adjective pattern, the stress generally falls on the noun. Such aphrase is called a descriptive phrase. Practice the rest of these descriptivephrases:
1. It’s a small room.
2. He’s a fast driver.
3. It was a boring party.
4. She’s a tall girl.
5. It was a long day.
6. It’s a new computer.
7. He’s a young man.
8. There are two houses.
9. She’s a good actress.
10.It was an interesting movie.

Descriptive Phrases

Now, let’s take a look at some adverb / adjective descriptive phrases:
A: It’s a great book.
B: She’s a good mother.

It’s really great.
She’s very good.

In an adverb / adjective combination, the adjective is generally stronger. Practice with the phrases below:
1. It’s a small room.
2. He’s a fast driver.
3. It was a boring party.
4. She’s a tall girl.
5. It was a long day.
6. It’s a new computer.
7. He’s a young man.
8. There are two houses.
9. She’s a good actress.
10. It was an interesting movie.

It’s so small.
He’s pretty fast.
It was kind of boring.
She’s really tall.
It was somewhat long.
It’s brand new.
He’s very young.
There are only two.
She’s quite good.
It was really interesting.

Next, let’s put these adjective / noun and adverb / adjective descriptive phrases
in natural conversations. The descriptive phrases are underlined and thestressed words are in bold / italics.
A: How is the new apartment?
B: It’s really great.
A: How many bedrooms are there?
B: There are only two but one of them has a huge closet.
C: Check out my new laptop.
D: Hey, that’s pretty neat.
C: Yeah. I’m really happy to finally have a good computer in the house.
D: Yeah. It looks pretty expensive, though. How much was it?
E: That was an interesting movie.
F: Yeah, the acting was really good.
E: And the special effects were just amazing.
F: Actually, I thought the effects were too distracting.
G: He lives in that small room over there with that crazy dog of his.
H: That dog is totally insane. He pissed on my new bike yesterday.
Descriptive Phrases TVI: So how many new cars have you sold today?
J: Only two.
I: That’s not very good.
J: Well, I’m sure tomorrow will be much better.
K: How was the party?
L: It was kind of boring.
K: Really? That’s too bad.
L: I know.
M: We’d better go to bed. We’ve got a long day tomorrow.
N: I think I’m going to get up pretty early to prepare.
M: That’s a good idea. That’ll also give us a chance to grab some breakfast.
N: Right. I hate working on an empty stomach.
O: Did you see the new secretary?
P: Yeah, she’s so tall.
O: I know. She was taller than us and she wasn’t even wearing high heels.
P: Right. And we’re pretty tall.

Cinderella (revisited):
All the descriptive phrases have been underlined and the stressed words are inbold. All you have to do is practice.
A long time ago, there lived a man who lost his young wife to a terrible
sickness. After a few years, the man remarried. His second wife was quite
healthy, but also quite unkind. She already had two daughters who were just
as nasty as their snotty mother.
The man’s first wife had given him a beautiful daughter of his own before she died. Her name was Cinderella. She was very sweet and kind. Unfortunately, her jealous step mother hated her and forced her to do all the hard
work around the big house.
Doing all the chores by herself was very tiring for Cinderella. Her lazy
step sisters didn’t lift a finger to help her. They often just sat around all day intheir fine dresses doing nothing, and went to lavish parties in the evenings.
However, they grew more ugly as their hearts were very bitter, and this madetheir round faces quite sour.
Descriptive Phrases TV