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A Busy Market

Descriptive Writing

Intermediate

20 minutes

CSSE

Independent

The Prompt

“Describe a busy outdoor market. Bring it to life using all your senses.”

Planning Hints

4 tips to help you plan your response

Think about the chaos: colours, sounds, smells all competing for attention.

Include people — stallholders calling out, shoppers haggling, children running.

Organise your description: move through the market as if walking through it.

Use specific, precise details rather than vague generalities.

Starter Sentences

Suggested opening lines to get you started

“The market was a riot of colour and noise that hit you the moment you turned the corner.”

“Every stall was a small kingdom, each stallholder its proud ruler.”

“You smelled the market before you saw it: roasting chestnuts, fresh bread, and the sharp tang of cheese.”

Key Techniques to Demonstrate

Techniques the examiner will be looking for in your response

Annotated Model Answer

A high-quality example response with techniques highlighted

You smelled the market before you saw it: roasting chestnuts, fresh bread, and the sharp tang of cheese that clung to the air like a dare. Then you turned the corner and the rest of your senses caught up. Colour first. Pyramids of oranges glowing like miniature suns. Bolts of silk in emerald, sapphire, and deep, burning crimson draped over wooden frames. Jars of honey arranged from palest gold to treacle-dark, each one catching the morning light and holding it captive. Then sound. The market had its own language: stallholders barking prices, the rhythmic chop-chop of a butcher's knife, a radio somewhere playing music that nobody was listening to but everybody was humming along with. A woman in a floral apron called out "Three for a pound!" with the confidence of someone who had been saying it every Saturday for thirty years and would continue for thirty more. Between the stalls, the crowd moved like a river — eddying around bargains, pooling at popular corners, occasionally spilling into the road. A boy no older than me weaved through the legs of adults, a paper bag of doughnuts clutched to his chest, sugar dusting his chin like snow. An elderly man examined a watch with the concentration of a surgeon. Two women laughed over a shared joke, their shopping bags bumping together. Underfoot, the cobblestones were slick with squashed fruit and puddles from the morning's rain. A gust of wind sent a stack of paper napkins spiralling into the air, and for a brief moment they danced above the crowd like white butterflies before drifting back down among the chaos. I bought nothing. I didn't need to. The market itself was the thing worth having — a feast for every sense, a place where the whole world seemed to gather under canvas and tin and call itself a neighbourhood.

Hover or tap the highlighted phrases to see the technique and explanation

Techniques Used in This Answer

Simile (x5)

Personification

Onomatopoeia

Ready to Write?

Practice this prompt under timed conditions, just like the real exam. You have 20 minutes.

Planning Templates

Suitable for descriptive writing

4-Paragraph Plan (CSSE Style)

A focused structure for shorter writing tasks (15-20 minutes). Ideal for CSSE where you only write 2 compulsory paragraphs, but this plan gives you 4 strong ones if time allows.

4 steps|2-3 minutes