1. Observing the unfamiliar-The Tool
English 2 (ENGL 0205)
Assignment 1
Sharon Chow Ci Yung (0313387)
The Screwdriver
FNBE JUL 2013 - ENGL 0205 English 2

2. For my first English 2 assignment, I was required to write a descriptive essay about a
tool which I have to observe over a week. This first thing that came across my mine is
that I got to choose a tool that I don’t come in contact in my daily life with so that I can
easily learn about the tool that I have chosen through my own observations. After giving
in some deep thoughts, I decided to choose screwdriver as the tool that I am going to
observe and write about. As an eighteen year-old university student, I would hardly
have any chances to use a screwdriver.
The first thing I did was taking out the screwdriver that had been lying in my toolkit for
months. If it wasn’t because of this assignment the screwdriver would have stayed there
till I graduated from university. I took out it out from the toolkit, wiped off the dust and
carefully placed it on my desk. I felt so nervous as if I were a surgeon and was about to
perform a surgery on my patient, in my case, a screwdriver. My very first observation
was the tool was quite heavy though it was quite small-sized.
I kicked off my observation through touch. The handle of the tool was at room
temperature while the shaft of the tool was rather cold. Both the handle and shaft of the
tool had a smooth surface. I used the tool to knock my desk and it gave out a ‘tak tak’
sound. After knocking it against my table, it was still in one piece without any missing
part which proved that it had a solid and hard structure.
Then, I decided to place it back onto my table. I decided to keep my hands off the
screwdriver for a moment and just observe it through my sight. From what I have
FNBE JUL 2013 - ENGL 0205 English 2

3. observed, the screwdriver mainly consisted of two parts, the handle and the shaft. The
screwdriver that I was observing had a handle made out of wood and a steel shaft. The
wooden handle was red in colour and the shaft was silver in colour. Both the handle and
the shaft were cylindrical in shape. At the edge of the shaft, there was a flat tip which I
thought would be used to tighten a screw.
Later on, I realised there were some visible thumbprints on the shaft of the screwdriver
and some scratches on the handle of screwdriver. Judging from the fact it was a brand
new screwdriver that my mum bought for me when I first moved to live on my own in a
hostel, I guessed the owner of the thumbprints would no doubt be me. The scratches on
the other hand, I must have caused them when I knocked it against my desk.
After I was done touching and looking at my screwdriver, I came out of quite an odd
idea of smelling it. I doubt the fact that there would be a hand full of people out there
who would start smelling their screwdriver out of no reason. Since I had a reason, which
was for the sake of my assignment I would do it although my housemates might think I
had some mental issues since they gave me some weird glances when I started
smelling it. After sniffing the tool from head to toe or should I say from handle to shaft, it
didn’t gave out a particular scent. The shaft of the tool did gave out a slight metallic
scent though. Overall, the screwdriver did not have a strong odour that would suffocate
anyone who smelled it.
Lastly, I realised I had been relying too much on my sense of touch throughout my life.
By observing the screwdriver using my other senses such as sight and smell, I could
discover a lot of details of the tool that I would have overlooked just by touching it. By
FNBE JUL 2013 - ENGL 0205 English 2

4. smelling the screwdriver, I realised that sometimes I should definitely think out of the
box. It was truly a fun and unforgettable experience in as I had to sniff a screwdriver to
complete an assignment.
FNBE JUL 2013 - ENGL 0205 English 2