18. Are you a reliable witness? Study the picture for only twenty seconds. You are going to answer the questions about the picture right now. Do not look back at the photo.

A

The writer tries to tell you what he feels about things.

B

There is no place for emotions in the technical description. You say about things in as short a way as you can.You give a clear picture of the chair.

Remember that the writer shows his emotions and use such words as “pleasure”, “glad”, “friend”, “thankfulness” and many pronouns: “I”, “me”, “mine”.

He might write something like this:

Remember your reader should be able to make a chair similar to the one you describe or to make a sketch.

The purpose of a complete technical description is to give all the necessary details forgetting feelings.

1 a) What a pleasure it is for me, on coming home after a hard day’s work, to see my chair near the window, inviting me to a few minutes repose

1 b) Thus, the entire chair is made of pine.It stands 27 in. high. The top of the seat is 18 in. from the floor. Rounded legs connect the legs (except at the back). The seat is wide and solid: 21 in. wide in front, 16 in at the rear.

2 a) It isn’t a new chair; I’ve had it for many years. One of its arms is cracked a little, and the paint has long since worn off the parts where I rest my elbows and scrape my shoes.

2 b) The arms and back- rest are curved and are made of three parts connected by dowelling joints.

3 a) But nevertheless, it is an old friend whom I am always glad to see again and into whose arms I trust myself with thankfulness and pleasure.

3 b) The legs are square on two sides, rounded on the outside, and tapered on the foot.

Conclusions A: You know what the writer feels but you don’t know if the chair was like this or that.

Conclusions B: The writer doesn’t write “the chair has a back”, because all chairs have backs. Accurate measurement is the basis of all technical work.