Character A

Category: Descriptions

Like royalty,royalty, he sat there, surveyingsurveying the scene, the darkestdarkest and cruellestcruellest of that evil band, yet he had an air of eleganceelegance too. His face was long, lean and as pale as ash. There were deep grooves down the length of his cheeks. His IMG 0554eyebrowseyebrows were heavy, and beneathbeneath them his eyes were a surprisesurprising forget-me-not blue, but as hard and expressionlessexpressionless as marblemarble - except when he claweded at the air with his hook. There, in each eye, glowedglowed a spot of fire. He wore his hair long on his shouldersshoulders in fat, black, greasey corkscrewcorkscrew curls, like shineshiny black candles,candles, slung by their wicks beneath his large, gold-laced hat on which he carrycarried his symbol - the skull and crossbonescrossbones drawn in white on black. His long blue coat swung elegantlyelegantly from his wide shoulders and on his feet he wore hand-made shoes with silver buckles.buckles. The steel hook stuck out strangelystrangely from the lace frills which fell from the cuff of his sleeve.

Comprehension

Clarify these words: royalty, surveying the scene, darkest, cruellest, air of elegance, lean, pale as ash, deep grooves, expressionless, clawed, glowed, greasy, corkscrew curls, slung by their wicks, gold-laced, symbol.

Retell details from this character description.

Make inferences or give opinions about:

  • Why he looks like royalty.
  • What the band might be.
  • What colour you think ash might be.
  • Why he might have deep grooves down his cheeks.
  • Why the blue eyes might be surprising.
  • What kind of blue forget-me-not blue might be.
  • How eyes might look like marble.
  • Why he might claw at the air with his hook.
  • Why there might be fire in his eyes.
  • What his hair style is like.
  • What seems strange about that and his clothes.
  • The significance of the skull and crossbones.

 

What question could you ask about this description?

Visualise these uses of descriptive language: Like royalty, he sat there, surveying the scene; the darkest and cruellest of that evil band; an air of elegance; face long, lean and pale as ash; deep grooves down the length of his cheeks; eyebrows heavy; eyes a surprising forget-me-not blue; hard and expressionless as marble; clawed at the air with his hook, glowed a spot of fire; fat, black, greasy corkscrew curls; like shiny black candles, slung by their wicks; gold-laced hat; skull and crossbones, white on black; long blue coat swung elegantly from wide shoulders; hand-made shoes with silver buckles; steel hook stuck out strangely from lace frills which fell from the cuff of the sleeve.

Use the clues to help you draw a coloured sketch of this character.

Make a connection with this description.

Word Study

Verb endings: What happens when we add s, ed or ing to: carry, surprise, lace.

Other affixes: What happens when we add other prefixes and suffixes like ty, est, less, y, ly to these words: royal, dark,cruel, expression, grease, shine, elegant, strange.

Find some other prepositions like there, down. 

What two words make up these compound words: eyebrows, corkscrew, crossbones.