Lesson video

Hi, I'm Mr. Buckingham, and I'm so glad you've decided to join me for today's lesson, which is an exciting one because we're going to be planning our own setting descriptions based on Victorian London.

Now, we know that the better the plan is, the better the piece of writing we end up with will be.

So let's try and set ourselves up for success with some brilliant planning today.

Let's make a start.

It's called Planning a Setting Description in "Sherlock Holmes" from our unit called "Sherlock Holmes:" Descriptive and Letter Writing.

By the end of today's lesson, we'll be able to plan the structure and content of a setting description in "Sherlock Holmes." So in this lesson one, we're going to look at the features of a good setting description before we make some notes to plan our own.

So we're going to need to draw on all our knowledge of Victorian London and the "Sherlock Holmes" stories to make some really rich descriptions.

And make sure you hang on to these notes for future lessons.

Let's get to work.

Here are our keywords for today's lesson.

My turn, your turn.

Present tense, adjective, third person, senses, and mood.

Well done.

So the present tense shows action happening.

Now, an adjective, as you know, describes a noun.

The third person is a perspective where we describe things happening without saying they're happening to us personally.

The senses are the physical abilities of sight, smell, hearing, touch, and taste.

And the mood of a piece of writing is the feeling which it gives the reader or the ideas that it makes them think about.

So here's our lesson outline for today.

We're going to start off by looking at the elements of a good setting description before we move on to planning our own.

So we're going to be writing a second description of Victorian London and Sherlock Holmes' study at 221b Baker Street.

So our setting description will start from a bird's eye view of London from above and then we'll end up in Holmes' study.

So it's like we're zooming into that study.

So we'll start off by looking at London seen from above.

We'll move into the street near Holmes' flat in 22b Baker Street, and then we'll go and describe the outside of their home and then the inside where his study is.

So you can choose what you're going to describe at each of these stages based on your imagination and also the historical knowledge that you've built up of Victorian London.

And we can combine both those things, our imagination and our knowledge, to create some really rich setting descriptions.

So a setting description can be written in the past or the present tense.

We're going to use the present tense, and that will make the reader really feel as if they're in Victorian London as we describe it.

Let me show you.

We could say this in the past tense, "fat rats were scurrying across the narrow streets." In the present tense, it sounds like this, "fat rats are scurrying across the narrow streets." By putting it in the present tense, going from were to are, we're making our reader feel like they're really there with those rats.

Here's another past tense version, "a nauseating smell rose from the open sewers." Instead in the present tense, I could say, "a nauseating smell rises from the open sewers." Changing from to rose to rises makes it feel like that's still happening, that smell is still there, which gives our reader that sense of being immersed in this setting.

So you can see that we're also using a range of adjectives to describe nouns in the setting.

I have the nouns rats, streets, smell and sewers, and they're described by the adjectives, fat rats, narrow streets, nauseating smell, and open sewers, because we know adjectives describe nouns.

And using rich adjectives like these helps to build a picture for our reader of what they're supposed to be thinking about as they imagine this setting.

So let's try and convert from past to present tense.

I'd like to convert each of these past tense sentences into the present tense and see if you can identify the adjectives that have been used as well to describe nouns.

Pause the video and have a try.

Well done, good job.

So in a, we've got serene ladies strolled past.

And the present tense, it would be stroll past.

We've got serene describing ladies and imposing describing museums. So serene and imposing are our adjectives.

In b, we would write ravenous urchins are searching for edible scraps, and ravenous and edible are our adjectives.

And for c, we say every dilapidated house gives off an overpowering stench, and dilapidated and overpowering are our adjectives.

Remember that dilapidated means falling apart and ruined, doesn't it? So here the house feels as though they're ruined and falling apart.

Really well done if you've spotted those adjectives and converted it to the present tense.

So in addition to nouns and adjectives, we can use a wide range of fronted adverbials and preposition phrases to say where details are located.

Let's look at some examples.

I could say this, "A packed omnibus trundles down the crowded, cobbled street." Now, down the crowded, cobbled street is a preposition phrase because it has a preposition down followed by a noun phrase, the crowded, cobbled street.

And connecting those two together makes a preposition phrase.

Here I've written "Down every alleyway, pickpockets skulk, ready to pounce." Now, down every alleyway is a preposition phrase, but here it's also a fronted adverbial because of the start of a sentence followed by a comma.

And I've got down as my preposition followed by every alleyway as a noun phrase there.

So it is a preposition phrase, but it's also fronted adverbial.

And it tells me where these pickpockets are.

I could say this, "Tired urchins beg for pennies in the light of a flickering gas lamp." Hmm, that one's just a preposition phrase, isn't it? In is my preposition, and then I've got a long down phrase, the light of a flickering gas lamp.

So it's a preposition phrase.

It's not a fronted adverbial, because it's not at the start of my sentence.

Here's a fronted adverbial.

On every side.

"On every side, dilapidated buildings loom, suffocatingly close." And I could say a preposition phrase here, "An impenetrable smog hangs over the slums." Over the preposition, the slums is noun phrase, together they make a preposition phrase.

So you'll notice also that we're writing in the third person.

We're not speaking as the narrator, the I or the me perspective.

Instead, we're describing what can be seen without saying that we ourselves are seeing it, and that's what makes it the third person.

So we've got lots of preposition phrases in fronted adverbials to say where items are, where details are and we're writing in the third person, two really important features of our setting description here.

So can you identify any fronted adverbials or preposition phrases used in these descriptions? Pause the video and have a look.

There might be more than one in each.

Have a go.

Well done, good effort.

So in a, we've got on one side of the city, that's our fronted adverbial, and then we've got over neat gardens, our preposition phrase.

In b, we've got on the other, our fronted adverbial, next to open sewers, our preposition phrase, and across cobbled streets.

Across cobbled streets is a preposition phrase because it combines the preposition across with the noun phrase cobbled streets.

And in c, we've got in Holmes' study as our fronted adverbial, we've got in warm armchair, and we've got onto an antique, mahogany table, both of those are preposition phrases because they have a preposition in or onto followed by the noun phrase.

And remember, preposition phrases can be placed at the front of the sentence sometimes to make a fronted adverbial.

Really well done if you managed to spot all of those.

Using this range of fronted adverbials and preposition phrases will make our descriptions really rich, because it allows us to show where lots and lots of details are in the setting.

So in order to give our reader a complete picture of the setting, we want to describe using a range of senses.

And remember, those are those bodily functions we have that allow us to sense what's around us.

So one important sense, of course, is hearing.

And this is really useful in setting description 'cause our reader can then build a picture of the sounds they might hear.

For instance, the wheels of the omnibus rattling on the cobbles, and the sound of Holmes' violin.

Sherlock Holmes is very famous for playing the violin beautifully.

So maybe we'll hear that wafting out of his study as we imagine being in the street outside his home.

We'll also want to do lots and lots of seeing, won't we? Of course, we might describe dilapidated houses that you can see, imposing buildings, dark alleyways, and serene streets in the wealthier parts of town.

And of course there might be some smells as well.

Maybe the nauseating odour of rotten food, may be the stench of human waste in those open sewers of the slums. I've only included three of the senses here.

I haven't mentioned touch or taste.

Those can be harder to use in a setting description.

If you'd like to try, then you're more than welcome to.

It's also important that all our descriptions build the mood we're trying to show in the setting we're describing.

And remember, the mood is what the reader feels as they read.

So what mood might we want to show for the wealthy and the poor areas of London that we describe? And what about for Holmes' study? Pause the video and have a chat to the person next to you.

Well done, good job.

You're right.

We might want to have different moods for these different areas of London.

For instance, if we're describing the wealthy parts of London, we might want to create a luxurious, calm mood.

It might be serene, it might be beautiful, mightn't it? If we're describing the slums, we might want to create a chaotic mood to show how difficult life was in those slums. And if we're in Holmes' study, we might want to create a calm and a cosy mood there.

So we're going to have to make sure our descriptions build those moods as we write.

So let's practise.

What sense is being used in each of these descriptions and what mood is being set? So you've got two things to answer.

What sense is being used and what mood is being set? And we might describe the mood in different ways, that's okay.

Let's just get a general idea of what mood we think we're aiming for in these pieces of writing.

Pause the video and have a think.

Well done, good job.

So in a, we've got, "From the street, the beautiful melody of Holmes' violin can be heard, drifting from an open window." So you've got a clue there heard, which tells us this is a hearing sense.

And I think we're setting a calm mood here, aren't we? We're not showing a distressing noise or a loud and scary noise, we're showing a beautiful noise, the melody of Holmes' violin being played.

In b, we've got, "In every dark alleyway, gangs of ruffians skulk, waiting for unsuspecting victims to wander past." So here, this is something we would see, isn't it? So we've got a seeing sense, and maybe a threatening or a slightly scary mood being created here.

And in c, we've got, "In the slums, the nauseating stench of human waste fills the air and the vile reek of rotten food is everywhere." So these words reek, stench are all telling us this is a smell sense that we're using.

And, I would say, the mood here is one of disgust, isn't it? These are appalling, unpleasant smells.

And those words nauseating and vile really add to that description and set that mood of disgust.

Really well done for spotting those.

Okay, let's do our first task for this lesson.

And this task is just a talk task.

So we're not going to write anything down here.

I've written a list of all the features we've discussed in a setting description.

We've discussed the present tense, the third person, adjectives, fronted adverbials and preposition phrases, the senses, and the mood.

I'd like you to find examples of each of these elements in the passage I've written here.

And think carefully about the mood.

What mood do you think is being set in this passage? Pause the video and see if you can find these examples of our features of a setting description.

Have a go.

Well done, great job.

Let's take a look at some of these together.

So do we have the present tense? Yes, we do.

For instance, we've got the verbs stands and is, those are both present tense verbs.

And I'm sure you found later more as well.

We have the third person because we haven't used I or we like we would in the first person.

And yes, we've got lots of adjectives.

We've got, for instance, brick-built and beautiful.

That's just two examples.

Do we have fronted adverbials and preposition phrases? Yes, we've got things like down a lamp-lit alleyway, which is fronted adverbial; and onto the wet cobbles, a preposition phrase.

Do we have the senses used? Yes, we've got steamy windows, that's a seeing sense; and we've got a beautiful melody played on a violin, that's a hearing sense.

And then what about the mood? Well, we have set a mood, and I think the mood might be maybe cosy and calm here.

For instance, we've used things like warm glow as descriptions to set that cosy, calm mood.

So maybe you spotted a similar mood as well.

Really well done for thinking carefully about all those important features of a setting description.

So we've discussed the different elements or features of a setting description, and now we're ready for the second part of our lesson.

We're now ready to start planning our own setting description, and we're going to follow this structure.

We're going to start off by describing London from above, showing that it's a city of contrast between the rich areas and the poor areas.

We're going to describe then a slum-like street near Holmes' house.

So we've zoomed in closer into the ground.

And finally, we're going to describe 221b Baker Street from the outside and the study where Holmes and Watson are sitting, perhaps waiting for a mystery to appear for them to begin to solve.

So we're going to start off with a distant view and zoom in to a near view.

We'll start by looking at London from above and we'll zoom in to a street, zoom in to a house, and then zoom in even more inside Holmes' study.

So each stage we're going to try and think about our senses.

What are we hearing, what are we feeling, what are we smelling, what are we seeing? And we're going to use a range of adjectives to try and include details that set that mood that we want to show.

And remember, that mood might change depending on what we're describing.

Let's think about Victorian London viewed from above.

That's gonna be the beginning of our setting description with a distant view.

And we've got here some pictures to help us.

Now, not all these pictures are actually of London, but they will help us to imagine.

We've got a picture showing us that smog, that impenetrable smog.

We've got a picture of the River Thames, winding lazily through London.

We've got the Tower Bridge, one of the new buildings built during the Victorian period in London.

And we've got a picture there of the slums, which many, many people lived in in London at that time.

So what could we describe seeing in this bird's eye view of London from above? Pause the video and have a chat to the person next to you, or have a think on your own.

Great ideas.

Maybe you said we could describe that smog, the River Thames, the new buildings which were built in the Victorian era, maybe the slums as well, and maybe we could also describe the huge size of the city.

Remember this was the biggest city in the whole world during the Victorian era, with millions of people living there.

So it would have a huge expanse of land that it covers if we see it from above.

So these are gonna be really useful things to describe in our bird's eye view.

Let's have a think about each of those features which you might see in our bird's eye view, and have a think about how we can describe each of them using our senses and some rich vocabulary.

So I've got the features down the left-hand side, and I'm going to give you an example before you have a think.

If we're describing the smog, we could say something like this, "a thick blanket of choking smog hangs thickly." So there I've described the smog as choking, which gives an idea maybe of how it feels to have that smog around you.

And then I've got hangs as my present tense verb there to describe what it's doing.

So I wonder if you can do the same for the other four ideas: the Thames, the new buildings, the slums, and the city as a whole.

Have a think of a rich description you could make of each of those.

Pause the video and have a try.

So maybe for the River Thames, you could say something like, "the wide, grey River Thames, brimming with festering human waste." I'm trying to show that it would be probably quite unpleasant to smell.

But also, what does it look like? It's wide and grey as it winds through the city.

For the new buildings, I could say, "imposing museums and theatres line serene streets." So there I'm describing the wealthy parts of town.

I'm trying to make them seem very beautiful and pleasant to be in.

For the slums, I could say, "hordes of shabby, dilapidated houses." So I've just picked out one feature of the slums there.

And for the city as a whole, I could say, "it's a vast metropolis," that's a word for a huge city, "spreading in all directions," which is how it would look if we saw it from above.

So hopefully you've come up with some ideas like those, which we can use later on as we plan our description.

So now let's imagine that 221 Baker Street lies just off a busy street, which is close to a slum.

And I've got an example here of what that busy street might look like.

So what can we describe seeing, smelling, and hearing here in this busy, slum-like street? Pause the video and have a chat to the person next to you.

Well done.

Maybe you mentioned shouts of street vendors as they try and sell things in the street.

Maybe you mentioned, as you can see in the picture, an omnibus full of people trundling down the streets.

Maybe you mentioned gangs of children, or criminals lurking in alleyways, or the gas lamps gently glowing or flickering, and maybe the stench of open sewers as they run down these streets.

All of those are going to really help us to build the mood of our slum description.

So what might each of these things be doing in our description? Let me give some examples.

If I've described the shouts of the street vendors, I could say those shouts are filling the whole street with noise.

That's what they're doing.

If I describe the omnibus full of people, I could say it's cluttering over the cobbles.

That's what it's doing.

So I wonder if you can try and do the same for each of these: gangs of children, the criminals, the gas lamps, and the sewers.

What are each of these things doing? And by describing what they're doing, we're going to really add to our description to give our reader a really detailed picture of this setting.

So pause the video and see if you can think what each of these might be doing.

Have a go.

Well done, great effort.

So for the gangs of children, maybe they are roaming the alleyways, begging for bread.

For the criminals, I could say sharpening their knives and flexing their garrotes.

Remember, a garrote was what people used to strangle someone from behind.

And gas lamps could be flickering dimly, casting a small circle of light.

And for the open sewers, they could give off a nauseating, suffocating stench.

So can you see how using verbs to say what a noun or a thing is doing allows us to add much more description to it to give our reader a much more detailed picture and to build that mood really well? Really well done.

A few ideas there.

So let's start our task.

We're going to write notes to plan a description of the city as a whole, that first part of our setting description, and then zooming in slightly to the street near Holmes' flat.

So there's two areas we've discussed so far.

And we can plan which fronted adverbials to use as well.

Let me show an example.

So I'm going to use this grid here.

I'm going to start off with that view of London from above, and we're going to talk about what can be seen and describing the contrast between the rich areas and the poor areas.

Then we're gonna zoom into that street, that slum-like street, and describe what can be seen and heard and smelt there, and who is doing what or what things are doing what.

So, for instance, for my view of London from above, I could say in the sky, there's my fronted adverbial, there's thick smog.

Below, we've got that vast metropolis and the grey, wide River Thames.

On one side, I'm showing the contrast here, we've got imposing buildings and serene streets.

And on the other, I've got those decaying, that means rotting almost, slums filled with misery.

Now notice how these aren't complete sentences, they're notes, but I have planned the fronted adverbial, I have planned the things I want to describe, and I have used adjectives as well to describe them.

I can do the same for the street.

I could say I've got the shouts of market vendors and the clatter of the omnibus.

I could say I've got gangs of children begging for scraps.

I could say in the air, another fronted adverbial, I've got nauseating stench of the sewer.

And on every corner, gas lamps flicker and thieves skulk.

Then notice how I'm already putting verbs here in the present tense, which is going to help me when I come to write.

I've said what different things are doing.

The children are begging, I've got the gas lamps are flickering.

So that's helping me to build that picture and that description.

So we're going to write notes to show these detailed descriptions we want to include in our writing.

Pause the video and see if you can complete your own notes for just these two sections.

Have a go.

Well done, fantastic job.

So here's another example of what you might have written.

Maybe for your view of London from above, you said, "in the sky, dark smoke billowing from factories," "below, city stretches in every direction and sewage-filled river," "to the left impressive museums, filled with cheerful ladies and gentlemen," and, "to the right, vast slums huddle, filled with millions of hungry people." Notice how, again, I've set up that contrast between the wealthy and the poor areas of the city.

For the description of the street zooming in, I could say I hear the "shouts of children and the sound of horses' hooves on the cobbles." Here I've got my smell, "nauseating odour of rotting food and vile stench of human waste." Now I'm talking about things I see, "down dark alleys, gangs of ruffian skulk, waiting for victims." That's what they're doing.

"In the flickering light of gas lamps, families huddle for warmth." So I've planned my fronted adverbial there.

"On omnibus, rich gentlemen look away from the misery of the slum." So maybe they're so disgusted they don't even want to look at it.

And finally, "all around, there's poverty, disease and misery." So hopefully there you can see I've really tried to build a mood of this slum-like street as being chaotic and a miserable, unpleasant place to be.

Really well done for doing the same thing.

Good job.

We're going to use our imaginations now and we're going to imagine that we turn off that busy, chaotic street down a small, quiet, calm alleyway.

And we're going to imagine 221b Baker Street is located on that small alleyway.

So we're going to start off by describing what it looks like from the outside and then we'll zoom in to Holmes' study, where he sits, waiting with Watson for a mystery to appear.

So I've got some pictures here which give us an idea of what maybe this flat, this building might look like from the outside.

What can we describe seeing and hearing here in this quiet, calm alleyway? Pause the video and have a chat to the person next to you.

Well done, good ideas.

So using these pictures and our imagination, maybe we could describe brick-built houses, the glow of the guest lamps, the light from the windows, the sound of Holmes' violin maybe drifting out of those windows, and maybe we could hear, through the windows, the clinking of glasses and plates as people inside eat and drink.

So all of those build towards a mood, don't they, which is much more calm, much more pleasant, much more tranquil than the mood of the street we've just left behind.

So we're trying to show our reader a change of mood as we change the setting to zooming closer to Holmes' study.

So how could we describe each of these features now using some rich vocabulary? For instance, those brick-built houses I could describe as tall, elegant brick-built houses.

Can you come up with a description for each of those other features which is going to build towards this calmer, more pleasant mood? Pause the video and have a careful think.

Well done, good thinking.

So maybe for the gas lamps, we could say the gentle glow of the gas lamps.

For the light from the windows, the warm light shining from the windows.

For the violin, the melodic sound of Holmes' violin.

It's beautiful and tuneful.

And for the plates, the gentle clinking of glasses and plates.

So all of these descriptions are building into that calm mood which contrasts so much with what we've described of the slum-like street before.

Really well done.

Now, let's head inside at last.

We've zoomed in really close now and we're inside Holmes' study.

And we've got a picture here which imagines what that study might look like.

So we're going to imagine Holmes and Watson sitting here in the evening, maybe enjoying a drink and maybe waiting for a mystery to come along for them to discuss and solve together.

And we need to use our imaginations here to try and set a really cosy mood.

So what could we describe seeing and hearing here in this cosy, calm study? Pause the video and have a chat.

Well done, good ideas.

Maybe you thought that you could describe some plump leather armchair for them to be sitting in.

Maybe an ornate, that means beautifully carved, wooden desk.

Maybe there are antique artefacts and furniture all around the study.

Maybe there are overloaded bookcases overflowing with many, many books.

Maybe there's a crackling fire in one corner.

And maybe we can hear the sound of a gently ticking clock on the wall.

So all of those ideas really help to build into that cosy mood.

Well done for your ideas, too.

Now, I wonder, what might Holmes and Watson be doing in the study as we watch them, as we describe them sitting there? Pause the video and have a think what they might be doing as they sit.

Good ideas.

Maybe we could say that they're relaxing in those plump armchairs.

Maybe they're sipping on a glass of golden, warming liquid.

Maybe Watson is waiting for Holmes to speak.

Maybe Holmes is setting down his violin gently.

He's finished playing, he's now ready to talk.

Maybe he's filling his pipe with pungent, that means strong-smelling, tobacco.

And maybe he's clearing his throat ready to begin speaking.

Maybe they're about to have a discussion about a case he's already received.

We can imagine whatever we like here.

So those descriptions of what they're doing will really help us to set this mood as well.

We can see that they're doing nothing very exciting, nothing very dramatic, nothing very active, and that helps us to make the calm, cosy setting even more obvious to our reader.

Really well done for your ideas there.

So let's do a second part of this task.

We're going to write our notes to plan a description of Holmes' street, that beautiful, calm alleyway, and the study he in Watson are sitting in.

So, again, we can plan which fronted adverbials to use as well.

And here's our example.

We're going to start off with Holmes' street, what can be heard and seen here, and then Holmes' study, what can be heard and seen and maybe, if you like, a smelt.

So we could say down a arrow alleyway, there's our fronted adverbial, we've got an elegant brick house.

We've got the gentle flickering of gas lights on the cobbles.

We've got from the windows, warm glow escapes.

And from inside, beautiful melody.

So I've got some hearing and seeing there with some fronted adverbials to help me.

I'm gonna move inside now.

I've got inside, Watson sitting on a plump leather armchair.

I've just written a note so I haven't included that verb sitting, but I know it's going to be there when I come to write my actual piece of work.

I could say in the grate, that means the fireplace, the fire gently crackles.

On every wall, there are overloaded bookshelves and antiques.

And in a wooden chair, Holmes fills his pipe.

And maybe you could describe the smell of the fire or of that pipe if you'd like to add a smelling sense as well.

So pause the video and see if you can record your notes with some rich descriptions, some fronted adverbials, some preposition phrases, and maybe some actions that Watson and Holmes are doing as well.

Pause the video and have a try.

Well done, really good job.

Here's another example of how you might've done that.

Maybe for the street, you could've said, "just off the main street, a calm little street," or alleyway, we could say.

"On the cobbles, the gentle lamplight flickers." "From inside, soft light escapes." "All through the alleyway, plaintive melody of a violin." That means kind of a beautiful, quiet melody.

Inside, we've got, "Holmes sits down and places violin on ornate table." "By a blazing fire, Watson sips a warm drink." "Clock on the wall, ticking gently." "Scent of burning wood." That's the smell of the fire.

"All around the room, antiques and luxurious furniture." And, "on heavy wooden desk, pile of thick leather-bound books." So notice all those fronted adverbials and preposition phrases we've got there.

We've got some rich description, we've got some action as well that's happening at the same time.

All of this is building towards that calm, cosy mood that we want to see in these two sections.

Really well done for making that plan so detailed and vivid.

Great job.

So let's just summarise our learning for this lesson.

We've learned that a setting description allows us to show our reader in detail what a particular place looks and feels like.

We've said that our setting description will begin by looking down on London and then zoom in towards Holmes' study.

We've said that our setting description will be written in the present tense and in the third person and it will make use of adjectives and other descriptions to show the senses and set a particular mood in each setting.

And we've learned that fronted adverbials and preposition phrases help us to show where items are in our setting description.

You've done a fantastic job to create a detailed plan for your setting description today.

It's going to build into a fantastic piece of writing and give your reader a brilliant, detailed picture of all these different settings, and even more importantly, show them the mood of each setting and the feelings you might have if you were in it.

Really fantastic job and I hope to see you again in a future lesson.

Goodbye.