COMM 1 Readings

1.1 Why Do Academics Continue toInsist on 'Proper' English?

Because I'm the only linguist in my English department

and since I deliver regular pronouncements on the state

of the English language for the local public-radio affiliate,

I catch most of the questions and complaints about

grammar called in to the English department by

university employees, concerned citizens, and the

occasional state legislative aide. Most of their queries

have to do with placement of commas, capitalization, or

the proper use of that andwhich. Those are not

momentous issues, but they are important to the callers.

Recently I fielded a call from a senior editor at a university press whowanted to know why her secretaries couldn't or wouldn't use properEnglish when they spoke on the telephone. What especially irked herwas their insistence on saying "they was." The editor was alarmed thatthey were not learning correct English in high school.

The editor's concern about her secretaries' use of language makes mewonder why diversity in English remains so unacceptable in this era of"political correctness" in academe. My caller's reaction to "they was"

and other examples of what is generally diagnosed as non-standardEnglish is not surprising, but it seems inconsistent with other liberalattitudes.

For example, the university press for which the editor works, likemany other presses, publishes its share of books concerning politicallycorrect and culturally diverse topics. But few of those works deal expli-citly with linguistic variety and language change. Had the editorknown anything about sociolinguistics, the study of the ways gender,class, and other social variables affect use of language and attitudes to-ward it, she might have understood her secretaries' reluctance or theirinability to use standard English on the telephone.

I assume they come from a background where "they was" is normal,and any deviation from it is considered impersonal or rude. Further-more, I'd guess they have little incentive to change their way of speech:Using "proper" English would not improve their job status or theirpay, and they would probably feel uncomfortably pretentious. But myconcern is not so much why the secretaries speak as they do or how tochange their behavior, but rather why this kind of language use so an-noys their boss.

Why is linguistic diversity not one of the diversities that academe haschosen to honor as it continues to broaden its curricula and perspect-ives? Educators (and editors) frequently categorize people who say"they was" or "she don't" as linguistically impoverished, socially de-prived, educationally backward, and only marginally employable. Butof course this isn't necessarily so. I know lots of people who use thesestigmatized forms of English who make more money than mostacademics.

Even as we celebrate cultural difference in American history, society,and literature, we fear and reject diversity in the American language,

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where "correctness" and standardization remain the academic goals.It's fine to explode the canon and rewrite the syllabus in the name ofcultural pluralism or to restructure the classroom to accommodate thedifferent learning styles of students. It's even acceptable now in mostdisciplines to "rewrite" standard English to make it more fair in mat-ters of race, gender, age, and ethnicity. But it still borders on the un-ethical to allow students to practice linguistic diversity unchecked.Let's face it: Most English instructors believe that failing to enforcelanguage standards could cost them their jobs.

Not to worry, though: Despite their minimal training in grammar andthe usage and history of language, most English teachers warm to thetask of serving as language police. Even the most politically en-lightened literature instructors join their more conservative counter-parts in complaining about students' poor command of English.

By this they usually mean not an inability to reason cogently or mar-shal evidence in an argument, but poor spelling, apparently randompunctuation, inappropriate diction and idiom, limited vocabulary, andinconsistent application of standard conventions for writing footnotes.

Although students have certain academic rights, language rights arenot among them. And while instructors now think twice about denyingthe validity or value of the personal histories that students bring withthem to class, deconstructionists -- who encourage a playfulness withlanguage -- draw the line at solecism that is not self-reflexively ironic.Even radical Marxists and Freudians don't hesitate to invalidate thelanguage that students use to express their highly personal and cultur-ally diverse experiences.

Furthermore, many otherwise enlightened instructors still insist thatthree spelling errors or a slip in grammatical agreement means a fail-ing paper. Red ink remains the rule, not the exception, the rationale

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most often being that non-standard language gets in the way of logicand argumentation. But that is true only if readers and listeners let itbe true.

For example, in language as well as in mathematics, double negativesform positives only in certain limited instances. A "not unkind re-mark" is almost -- but often not quite -- a kind one. It is true that mul-tiplying two negative numbers results in a positive one. However,when you add two negative numbers the result is an even greater neg-ative. Similarly, in most cases multiple negation serves as an intensifi-er. "They don't like no grammarians," while non-standard, cannot nor-mally be interpreted as a positive. Also, its meaning is not unclear.

Putting it bluntly, upon close examination standard English is a mythor, at best, an imperfect and vague set of rules of etiquette that manyof us try to follow in our own haphazard way. The truth is that lan-guage varies, whether we like it or not. Not only does English usagevary at the offices of a Midwestern university press, but it also variesin the United States, in other English-speaking countries, and in therest of the world where English serves as a lingua franca. Recognizingthis diversity, many language experts have begun to speak not ofWorld English but of World Englishes. That is all the more reason torespect linguistic diversity; to treat it as the expected, not theexception.

The use of non-standard English is often incorrectly linked to a declinein intellectual standards. Unbending supporters of standard Englishinsist that without enforced measures of correctness, language will de-cay, communication will break down, and civilization as we know itwill disappear. Literacy, already imperiled, will deteriorate even fur-ther. And scores on standardized tests will plummet.

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But, although warnings that linguistic diversity will produce culturaldecay have been bandied about for centuries now, variety in languageis a sign of health rather than disease. Language dies not when it ismisused, but when it is silenced. It is more likely that English willmeet its end through the inappropriate splitting of atoms, not infinit-ives; through international discord, not subject-verb disagreements.

Nonetheless, "they was," "ain't," double negatives, and similarly stig-matized constructions continue to evoke negative responses and causeconcern. And just as predictably, people continue their nonstandardusage; language doesn't readily change in response to top-down stric-tures. If it did, teachers and editors wouldn't have to keep repeatingthemselves.

When I recall the linguist James Sledd's assertion some years ago thatnot everyone might find standard English as attractive as academicsseem to, I wonder whether education ought to involve enforcement oflanguage standards at all. Not because I have anything against stand-ard English: The existence of standards and the debate that surroundsthem are as natural as the existence of linguistic diversity. My point isthat standards and diversity are essential and both need the attentionof the academy.

Ironically, the enforcement of language standards frequently tends tobackfire, producing diversity where uniformity was intended. Stu-dents, convinced that the words that they normally want to use areprobably wrong, make new mistakes as they try to avoid their instruct-ors' censure. This in turn increases the case load of the languagepolice.

Even so, I doubt that language diversity will become politically correctin academe in the near future. English teachers cling tenaciously to thegatekeeping function served by the proper use of language. Further,

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when queried, most parents, whatever variety of language they use,want their children to learn "good" English (or French or Spanish orJapanese) in school. And people still carry with them the notion thatin matters of language, there is just one right way of speaking andwriting. So strong is linguistic insecurity that when I ask my students -- who have been practicing their language skills for 18 to 30 or moreyears -- whether they feel they use language well, most say no, theycould do better.

So, what advice did I give my caller, who wanted her employees to usestandard language? Although I'm not sure that a behavioral approachto language change would help, my advice to the editor was to call hersecretaries assistant editors.

Since language generally conforms itself to situation and because "ed-itor" carries more formality and prestige than "secretary," perhaps atitle change would elicit the desired linguistic response. That wouldprobably work, though, only if the renamed editors also took on edit-orial responsibilities. What I am sure of is that as difficult as it is toturn "they was" into "they were," it is just as difficult to convinceteachers and editors that subject-verb discord is not pathological.

Dennis Baron is professor of English and linguistics at theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Available at: http://www.english.illinois.edu/-people-/faculty/de-baron/essays/stde.htm

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2 Why Read? – HaroldBloom

It matters, if individuals are to retain any capacity to form their ownjudgments and opinions, that they continue to read for themselves.How they read, well or badly, and what they read, cannot dependwholly upon themselves, but why they read must be for and in theirown interest. You can read merely to pass the time, or you can readwith an overt urgency, but eventually you will read against the clock.Bible readers, those who search the Bible for themselves, perhaps ex-emplify the urgency more plainly than readers of Shakespeare, yet thequest is the same. One of the uses of reading is to prepare ourselves forchange, and the final change alas is universal…

The way we read now, when we are alone with ourselves, retains con-siderable continuity with the past, however it is performed in theacademies. My ideal reader (and lifelong hero) is Dr. Samuel Johnson,who knew and expressed both the power and the limitation of incess-ant reading. Like every other activity of the mind, it must satisfyJohnson's prime concern, which is with "what comes near to ourself,what we can put to use." Sir Francis Bacon, who provided some of theideas that Johnson put to use, famously gave the advice: "Read not tocontradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to findtalk and discourse, but to weigh and consider." I add to Bacon andJohnson a third sage of reading, Emerson, fierce enemy of history andof all historicisms, who remarked that the best books "impress us withthe conviction, that one nature wrote and the same reads." Let me fuseBacon, Johnson, and Emerson into a formula of how to read: findwhat comes near to you that can be put to the use of weighing andconsidering, and that addresses you as though you share the one

nature, free of time's tyranny. Pragmatically that means, first findShakespeare, and let him find you. If King Lear is fully to find you,then weigh and consider the nature it shares with you; its closeness toyourself….

Ultimately we read — as Bacon, Johnson, and Emerson agree — in or-der to strengthen the self, and to learn its authentic interests. We ex-perience such augmentations as pleasure, which may be why aestheticvalues have always been deprecated by social moralists, from Platothrough our current campus Puritans. The pleasures of reading indeedare selfish rather than social. You cannot directly improve anyoneelse's life by reading better or more deeply. I remain skeptical of thetraditional social hope that care for others may be stimulated by thegrowth of individual imagination, and I am wary of any argumentswhatsoever that connect the pleasures of solitary reading to the publicgood.

The sorrow of professional reading is that you recapture only rarelythe pleasure of reading you knew in youth… The way we read nowpartly depends upon our distance, inner or outer, from the universit-ies, where reading is scarcely taught as a pleasure… A childhoodlargely spent watching television yields to an adolescence with a com-puter, and the university receives a student unlikely to welcome thesuggestion that we must endure our going hence even as our goinghither: ripeness is all. Reading falls apart, and much of the self scatterswith it….

[Here’s the first] principle of restoring reading: Do not attempt to im-prove your neighbor or your neighborhood by what or how you read.Selfimprovement is a large enough project for your mind and spirit:there are no ethics of reading. The mind should be kept at home untilits primal ignorance has been purged; premature excursions into act-ivism have their charm, but are time-consuming, and for reading there

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will never be enough time. Historicizing, whether of past or present, isa kind of idolatry, an obsessive worship of things in time. Read there-fore by the inner light that John Milton celebrated and that Emersontook as a principle of reading, which can be [the second]: A scholar is acandle which the love and desire of all men will light… You need notfear that the freedom of your development as a reader is selfish, be-cause if you become an authentic reader, then the response to yourlabors will confirm you as an illumination to others…. Emerson saidthat society cannot do without cultivated men and women, and proph-etically he added: "The people, and not the college, is the writer'shome." He meant strong writers, representative men and women, whorepresented themselves, and not constituencies, since his politics werethose of the spirit…

We read, frequently if unknowingly, in quest of a mind more originalthan our own….

Find now what comes near to you, that can be used for weighing andconsidering.…

To read human sentiments in human language you must be able toread humanly, with all of you. You are more than an ideology,whatever your convictions… No writer before or since Shakespeare hashad anything like his control of perspectivism… Johnson, admirablyperceiving this, urges us to allow Shakespeare to cure us of our "deliri-ous ecstasies." Let me extend Johnson by also urging us to recognizethe phantoms that the deep reading of Shakespeare will exorcise. Onesuch phantom is the Death of the Author; another is the assertion thatthe self is a fiction; yet another is the opinion that literary and dramat-ic characters are so many marks upon a page. A fourth phantom, andthe most pernicious, is that language does the thinking for us….

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We read Shakespeare, Dante, Chaucer, Cervantes, Dickens, Proust,and all their peers because they more than enlarge life… We readdeeply for varied reasons, most of them familiar: that we cannot knowenough people profoundly enough; that we need to know ourselvesbetter; that we require knowledge, not just of self and others, but ofthe way things are. Yet the strongest, most authentic motive for deepreading of the now much-abused traditional canon is the search for adifficult pleasure. I am not exactly an erotics-of-reading purveyor, anda pleasurable difficulty seems to me a plausible definition of theSublime, but a higher pleasure remains the reader's quest… I urge youto find what truly comes near to you, that can be used for weighingand for considering. Read deeply, not to believe, not to accept, not tocontradict, but to learn to share in that one nature that writes andreads.

Retrieved from http://www.toddseal.com/rodin/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/bloom_why_read_0809.pdf

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3 Principles of WritingEffective Paragraphs

Introduction

Most of us already know what paragraphs are, and we probablyalready have some expectations about what makes a good and effectiveparagraph. For one, we know that paragraphs are composed of sen-tences. For another, we probably expect these sentences to relate toeach other and follow some kind of order. In this module, we will learnabout paragraphs more fully—that is, what functions they perform andwhat principles to remember in writing good and effective paragraphs.

Paragraph Functions/Types

While we are discussing paragraphs here, we have to keep in mindthat paragraphs do not exist in isolation. They exist with other para-graphs to create a longer piece of work, which we call an essay. Thistells us how important paragraphs are: they are the building blocks ofessay development. In addition, they also provide the structure neededto develop the subject matter of an essay. To understand how para-graphs develop the subject matter of an essay, think of them as sign-posts on the road. With each paragraph, we give our readers a sense ofwhere they are in the essay—that is, if they are in the beginning, themiddle, or the end—and help them move from one point to the nextfrom the beginning until they reach the essay’s conclusion.

In this regard, we can say that there are four paragraph types based onthe functions that paragraphs serve in the development of the essay.These are the introductory, body, transitional, and concluding

paragraphs. Introductory paragraphs introduce the subject matter;body paragraphs develop it; transition paragraphs move readers alongfrom one aspect of it to another, and concluding paragraphs sum upand restate it. In this way, the different paragraphs all support thesubject matter, but they do so in different ways.

The more technical term for subject matter (that which gets de-veloped in the essay as mentioned above) is thesis or thesis statement.The thesis or thesis statement is the main point of the essay. To reiter-ate, it is the main point that the paragraphs in the essay work towarddeveloping. It is important to remember what the thesis or thesisstatement is, because this is a concept that we will go back to manytimes in the different modules in this course.

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3.1 Part 1:The Topic Sentence andSupporting Details

While paragraphs do not exist in isolation, they should also be able tostand on their own. This means that paragraphs, even as they standalone, should work toward developing an idea following a particularorder. We can treat paragraphs as mini-essays where a main idea usu-ally expressed in a sentence called the topic sentence (something likethe thesis or thesis statement) is developed by providing supportingdetails. Supporting details may also function as paragraphs in thesense that a supporting detail may be used to introduce the main idea(just like the introductory paragraph) or conclude it (like the conclud-ing paragraph). The important point to remember is that all the sup-porting details provided should work toward developing the mainidea.

As mentioned, the main idea is often expressed in the form of a sen-tence called the topic sentence. It is generally preferred that the topicsentence be placed in the beginning of the paragraph (see boldface), soit signals to the readers right away what the paragraph is about. Oncethe topic sentence is given, the supporting details can now follow.Note the sample paragraph in the box below.

This arrangement may be represented by an inverted triangle, wherethe main idea is represented by the base of the triangle, and the detailsform the cone that supports and develops the main idea.

1 Slightly modified from the original paragraph available at

http://www.stlcc.edu/Student_Resources/Academic_Resources/Writing_Resources/Writing_Handouts/topic_sentence_parag.pdf

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3.2 Part 2:The Topic Sentence andSupporting Details

In some cases, the supporting details are given first; then, the topicsentence is provided at the end (see boldface). An example of the sameparagraph but with a slight modification is given below.

2,3 Slightly modified from the original paragraph available at

http://www.stlcc.edu/Student_Resources/Academic_Resources/Writing_Resources/Writing_Handouts/topic_sentence_parag.pdf

In most cases, the topic sentence is found in the beginning, and thenrestated at the end. The supporting details are provided in the middle.The representation that is most useful here is an hourglass.

Based on the same sample paragraph, note how the main idea is givenin the beginning and restated at the end.

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3.3 Part 3: The Topic Sentence andSupporting Details

In some cases, the topic sentence is found in the middle of the para-graph (see boldface), and is flanked by supporting details on bothsides like in the paragraph below. The useful representation here is adiamond.

However, this arrangement is generally not preferred or advised, be-cause it tends to disrupt the flow of ideas. Take note of the examplebelow. The example is still the same paragraph, but note the change inthe positioning of the topic sentence and the slight modification of itsstructure. While it can be argued that the topic sentence may be placedat the middle, doing so tends to disrupt the sequence of supportingdetails.

3.4 Characteristics of EffectiveParagraphs

1. The principle of Unity: All sentences in effective para-graphs are focused.

It is not enough that paragraphs have a topic sentence and supportingdetails. As already mentioned, the supporting details have to developthe topic sentence or the main idea of the paragraph. In order to dothis, the supporting details must relate to each other and to the mainidea that they are developing. This is the principle of unity. Simplyput, this principle makes sure that all the details in the paragraph areunified—that is, there are no irrelevant or incongruous details, no de-tails that stick out, because all the details are focused on developingone main idea.

1. The principle of Coherence: Effective paragraphsarelogical and consistent.

Coherence refers to the flow of ideas in a paragraph. Based on its Latinorigin,cohaerent, the term coherent means sticking together. It is im-portant that ideas in a paragraph flow in a way that is understandableto the readers—that is, we should be able to show ourreaders how ourideas ‘hang together’ in a way that do not leave our readers confused.

1. The principle of Completeness: Effective paragraphs aresufficiently developed.

The principle of completeness (also known as development) refers tohow adequately the main idea or the topic sentence has been de-veloped. If we read a paragraph,and we end up asking a lot of ques-tions about the main idea, or we feel like what we haveread is lacking,then it is most likely that the details provided do not completely devel-op the topic.

How will these characteristics be achieved? How can one write an ef-fective paragraph?

Guidelines in Writing Effective Paragraphs

1. Creating unified paragraphs

Have you ever stopped reading a resource because each paragraphconfuses you? How do you feel about reading a paragraph whichseems to convey multiple or ambiguous messages?

According to the discussions in SRJC Online Writing Lab, “a unifiedparagraph leaves a reader feeling secure that the writer is in controlof her argument and able to lead the reader toward a clear and satis-fying conclusion.”

This means, that a writer should always aim to have each paragraphhighlight or feature its own controlling idea because it reflects his/ hercompetence in terms of conveying a message and/or guiding the read-ers; at the very least, one can follow this general formula when writinga paragraph that has unity:

A TOPIC BEING DISCUSSED + WHAT THE WRITER WANTSTO SAY OR HIGHLIGHT ABOUT THAT TOPIC

The first step is to choose a topic to be discussed or presented and de-cide what aspect/s of it should be discussed. As for developing this

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topic, main, or controlling idea, the next step is to decide what mode/sof paragraph development to use. Now, it’s a bit difficult to dictatethis, but as a writer, you should be the one to decide what you thinkmay help you get your message across. The reader will just validate ifyour decision to use whatever mode is effective or not.

Regardless of the mode of paragraph development, what can furtherguide you though is to make it a habit to omit anything that does notsupport the controlling idea of a specific paragraph. You may opt tosave it for later (decide first what it does to your paragraph), place it inanother paragraph (or essay), or totally omit it, depending on the dir-ection it points to.

Let’s take a look at this sample paragraph5. Take note of the com-ments on the sentences.

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Discussion excerpt of the sample paragraph above:

The paragraph starts out pretty well. The controlling idea appears inthe first sentence, and the sentences that follow develop the con-trolling idea in greater detail until the sentence that begins "Last week,I went to see the sci-fi/horror film Alien. . ." This sentence begins adiscussion of degrees of fear that teens feel at horror films,not why horror films are most popular with teens, which isthe controlling idea of the paragraph. Given this controllingidea, the author is limited to a discussion of why horror films would bemore interesting to teens than to others. To make the paragraph uni-fied, the author would need to rewrite this sentence so that it more

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directly supports the main idea or remove the sentence altogeth-er….Note also that the clause "I think" is removed. This phrase is notnecessary to the paragraph since readers already know that they arehearing the author's opinion. Phrases like "I think" and "In my opin-ion" actually detract from the authority of an argument because theshift attention away from the argument the author is making and ontothe author's own thinking and writing process.

__________________________________________________

5The discussions here are highlights taken from the handout aboutparagraph unity in the English Department Online Writing Lab ofSanta Rosa Junior College available at http://srjcwritingcenter.com/paragraphs/unity/unity.html.

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3.5 Guidelines in Writing EffectiveParagraphs

2. Achieving coherence

Related to the concept of unity is the principle of coherence. To makesure that the ideas conveyed in a paragraph not only relate to the con-trolling idea clearly but also flows smoothly without obvious shifts orjumps, a writer must make sure that the arrangement, structure, orflow of each sentence is logical (makes sense). One can do this by us-ing effective transitional devices and by highlighting the connection ofthe previous information/ idea to the next one.

A number of other techniques that you can use to establish coherencein paragraphs are6:

a. Repeat key words or phrases.

Particularly in paragraphs in which you define or identify an import-ant idea or theory,be consistent in how you refer to it.This consistencyand repetition will bind the paragraph together and help your readerunderstand your definition or description.

b. Create parallel structures. Parallel structures are created byconstructing two or more phrases or sentences that have the samegrammatical structure and use the same parts of speech. By creatingparallel structures you make your sentences clearer and easier to read.In addition, repeating a pattern in a series of consecutive sentenceshelps your reader see the connections between ideas.

6The discussions here and in the next two pages are highlights takenfrom the handout about paragraph coherence availableathttp://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/paragraphs.shtml.

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c. Be consistent in point of view, verb tense, and number.

Consistency in point of view, verb tense, and number is a subtle butimportant aspect of coherence. If you shift from the more personal"you" to the impersonal “one,” from past to present tense, or from “aman” to “they,” for example, you make your paragraph less coherent.

Such inconsistencies can also confuse your reader and make your ar-gument more difficult to follow.

d. Use transition word or phrases between sentences andbetween paragraphs.

Transitional expressions emphasize the relationships between ideas,so they help readers follow your train of thought or see connectionsthat they might otherwise miss or misunderstand.

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The following paragraph shows how carefully chosen transitions (seecapitalized) lead the reader smoothly from the introduction to the con-clusion of the paragraph.

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3.6 Guidelines in Writing EffectiveParagraphs

3. Checking for Completeness

Again, as writers, we need to make sure that all important aspects ofour topic are covered, stated, and adequately presented, described, ordiscussed in our paragraph.

Take a look at the sample paragraphs and the accompanying discus-sions below.

7The discussions and sample 1 here are highlights taken from thehandout about paragraph completeness from previous COMM 1 mod-ules in UPOU.

8Actual sample paragraph taken from http://www.lonelyplanet.com/philippines.

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4 Introduction toNarration

Discussion

Examining the narrative elements, we can say that the story is about acertain compulsion the character had when she was a child: she usedto hide pennies in roots and trunks of trees. We are provided a seriesof events that surrounds this act of hiding pennies, which constitutethe plot. The story took place in Pittsburgh when the narrator wasabout six or seven years old; this would be the setting. There is onlyone character, which is the narrator herself. The point of view used isthe first person through the use of the first person singular pronoun I.We don’t really find any dialogue though, which is understandable asthere is no other character with whom the narrator is having a conver-sation. As far as the tone is concerned, the use of language probablymakes us want to wander back into our own childhood memories andrecall what sort of games we played back when we were about thesame age as the narrator.

Now that we have identified the elements of the paragraph above, wehave to remember that narratives are not just about these fiveelements; all these elements combine to lead to a main idea

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or to what some people would loosely call the point of thestory. When we tell stories, we do so not just for the sake of telling astory. Often, we have a reason for telling stories in the first place. Nar-ratives are therefore not there for their own sake, but for thepurpose of explaining, emphasizing, confirming, or illustrat-ing a main idea.

We learned that the main idea is articulated in the form of a topic sen-tence/ thesis statement. However, this is not always the case. In somecases, the main idea is implied, and the readers infer it from the storythat has just been told. This is true for the thesis as well. In somecases, the thesis is explicitly stated in the form of a thesis statement. Inothers, however, the thesis may also be implied, and it is up to thereaders to supply the main point of the whole essay.

Going back to the paragraph above, we probably won’t be able to un-derline a sentence that we can consider the topic sentence as we did inModule 2. In this case, it is up to us to supply the main idea. The ques-tion now is, how do we infer the main idea? How do we extract it fromthe text? In narratives, it’s not just the story itself that will lead us tothe main idea. As mentioned earlier, the narrative elements combineand work toward developing the point of the story. Thus, we get themain idea by examining all the different elements. Note that this pro-cess can be followed as well when identifying an implied thesis.

In getting the main idea of the above paragraph, we can begin by ex-amining the plot. We have established above that the plot revolvesaround the child’s compulsion to hide pennies for strangers to find.The question now is, what does this suggest? What do we make of achild who does this? We’ll probably think that a child who does this isone who is inquisitive and curious, and whose childhood is filled withmystery and wonder, because the act of hiding pennies in the nooks

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and crannies of trees then drawing signs for strangers to find these‘treasures’ suggests it.

The setting, as mentioned, is Pittsburgh when the narrator was ayoung child. There is more to this setting though. We already knowthat there are trees in this place—sycamore, to be precise. What thissuggests is that this place is probably a suburb in Pittsburgh, not acity, because sycamore trees are most likely to be found in a suburbthan in a city. That the place is a suburb suggests something of the oldworld, one that is yet untouched by the hustle and bustle of modernliving.

Combine this with the fact that the story was taking place when thenarrator was still a child. This would suggest an even more ‘old town’feel to the place setting. It makes the place even more untouched bymodern living and all its complexities. This would then suggest inno-cence and freedom. This leads us right back to the child’s penny-hid-ing compulsion. We begin to understand why the child was able to en-gage in this activity—because she was a child then, someone quite in-nocent, living in a world that was for the most part still as innocent asshe was.

As for the character, there is only one character here, and that is thenarrator. By now though, we know more about this narrator, becausewe have already analysed her story and the setting in which this childlived. As mentioned earlier, we don’t find any dialogue here becausethere is only character: the narrator when she was still a child. The useof the first person singular pronoun I is significant though. It rendersthe story personal, because it is told from the first person point ofview. It takes us even closer to the memory that is being narrated, be-cause it is after all the narrator’s point of view that we’re seeing.

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Finally, we can examine the tone of the paragraph. As stated earlier,the language use probably makes us want to go back to our own child-hood years, recalling games we played and the fun we had then. Wordslike precious penny and lines such as I would cradle it at the roots of asycamore, say, or in a hole left by a chipped-off piece of sidewalk areprobably the reason. The way all the other narrative elements combine(the compulsion itself, the setting, and the point of view used) alsobrings about this rather subjective, impressionistic tone that makes usnostalgic for our own childhood as well.

In the end, after examining all these elements, we can say that themain idea or the point of the story is mostly likely how the narrator’scompulsion of hiding pennies for strangers when she was a child sug-gests a childhood that is filled with mystery and adventure, and howthis childhood probably still has an effect on the narrator even nowthat she has grown up. Consequently, this makes us recall our ownchildhood, how we were back then and the things we did at that time,and the influence of this childhood on us even know that we’re adults.

The ‘Truth’ in Narratives

We also have to remember that the narratives we are talking abouthere, while they share elements with those stories in books andmovies, are different in the sense that these narratives are taken to bereal, not fictional. The assumption is that the story we are sharingreally happened to us (if we happen to be the character in the story) orto someone else (the other character in our story or the person whosestory we are sharing).

To exemplify this, we can surmise that in the paragraph above, thestory that the narrator shares really happened to her when she was achild (or at least, it is what happened in her memory of her childhood).In some narratives, the story may be about another person, like Ray

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Kroc’s story in the paragraphs we read in the practice exercise underModule 2, but the assumption is the same—Ray Kroc’s story reallyhappened and is not a product of one’s imagination.

However, the notion of ‘truth’ is not always straightforward. One’struth is generally differentfrom another’s. Two people may have wit-nessed the same thing, but when they write a story about it, they’llprobably write two very different narratives. There may be a differenceinfocus (e.g., one focuses on the head, the other on the heart), or a dif-ference in language use (e.g., some people have better language skillsthan others).

In addition, memory can be tricky. What we remember may be differ-ent from what actually happened. As mentioned above, the ‘truth’ inDillard’s paragraph lies in the belief that what she narrates reallyhappened, at least in so far as she remembers it from her memory. Thenotion of ‘truth’ is therefore complicated. However, for our purposeshere, we’ll just say that the ‘truth’ in narratives largely resides in thewriter’s claim of the truth—if the write says it happened, then it did.

‘Impressionistic’ vis-à-vis ‘Factual’ Narratives

If we compare the paragraph above to any of the paragraphs in theRay Kroc, we’ll probably notice that the Ray Kroc paragraphs have amore factual or objective tone. Such difference in tone is generallyachieved by the kind of language that writers use and their manipula-tion of the different narrative elements. However, the purpose also af-fects the tone—the Ray Kroc paragraphs appear on the McDonald’swebsite as a means of narrating the history of the company throughthe efforts of its founder, Ray Kroc. Clearly, the purpose here is differ-ent from that of the paragraph above. The paragraph above is a morepersonal type of writing that seems to want readers to be more reflect-ive as they recall their own childhood. We’ll return to the ‘subjective/

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impressionistic’ vis-à-vis ‘objective/factual’ distinction in fu-ture modules. For now, it’s enough that we’re able to make thisdistinction.

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5 Verb Tense, Time andPlace Adverbials, andTransition Markers

In the previous chapter, the focus of the discussion is on narrative ele-ments—how to identify them when examining narratives and how toapply them when we’re tasked to writeour own narratives. In this dis-cussion, we will have a language focus as we deal with features of theEnglish language that are crucial in narratives: Verb tense, time andplace adverbials, and transitions markers. These features of the lan-guage should help us in writingmore interesting and more effectivenarratives.

Verb Tense

Verb tense in English is a tricky thing, especially for Filipinos. This isbecause there is asignificant difference between tense in English andtense in many Philippine languages.

In many Philippine languages like Filipino, there are only three tenses:

past (pangnagdaan), present(pangkasalukuyan), and future(panghinaharap).

In English, there are 12:

The simple tenses – simple past, simple present, simple future,

The progressive tenses (sometimes refer to as the continuoustenses) - present progressive/continuous, past progressive/continu-ous, future progressive/continuous,

The perfect tenses - present perfect, past perfect, future perfect,present perfect progressive/continuous, past perfect progressive/con-tinuous, and future progressive/continuous.

Because of this difference, it is often hard for us to be as specific anddefinite about verb tense as native English speakers (although let’s notdiscount the fact that there are also instances where we’re more com-petent at using appropriate verb tenses than some of them are).

If you’re interested to recall and check how well you can use the Verbtenses in English, do the following bridge activities (you may skipitems if you feel that you are well-versed with the tenses):

1. Go to http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/tenses/tense_frames.htm for a review of the tenses of the verb andtheir uses. Start with the simple tenses (simple present,simple past, and simple future). You may proceed to theperfect tenses and the progressive tenses if you feel thatyou already have a good grasp of the simple tenses.

2. Look at the English tenses timeline chart available at ht-tp://www.world-english.org/english-tenses.htm. This chartsummarizes the discussions you have just read in activity #1.

3. Answer the tense exercise found in Monash University’s Lan-guage and Learning Online available at http://www.mon-ash.edu.au/lls/llonline/grammar/tense/5.xml to test how well you canapply the rules and guidelines on verb tenses.

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However, there are ways to help us in this predicament. First is tothink of tense as a time continuum; determine where the story we aretelling is in that time continuum, and then stay there. This means wedetermine the tense, and then we make sure that we are consistent inits use. Simply put, ifthe story is in the past tense, then we make surethat we stay in the past tense in telling thatstory, until the storychanges and there is a necessary shift to some other tense, in whichcasewe start using that other tense and use it consistently, until we arecompelled once again bythe time shift in the story to shift to anothertense.

One way of thinking about this more concretely is by looking at theverb tense of paragraphs.It is logical that a paragraph would be con-sistent in verb tense—that is, it makes use of onlyone tensethroughout—because paragraphs would logically be about things thatare for themost part taking place at the same time. This is why thesethings are in the same paragraph in the first place. This means thenthat tense shifts in one paragraph are generally not advised,because ifthe verb tense shifts, then the idea is that there is a shift in the time-frame of theparagraph as well, which should not be the case if we fol-low the principles of unity andcoherence discussed in Module 2.

Second is to think of tense as something exact—that is, whensomething happens, it doesn’t only happen in the past, the present, orthe future. Rather, it happens at a particular point in the past, present,or future. For instance, we may think of something that happened inthe past, but upon further reflection, we realize it actually happened inthe past of the past, meaning it goes even further back in the past.Now that we know that the event took place in the past of the past, weask the question, “Did it happen in relation to some other action?” If itdid, then it means that there was some other action to which it was re-lated. Now that we know all these things, we can then decide on whichtense to use. In this regard, we’ll probably use the past perfect tense to

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describe this action in the past in relation to that otheraction, espe-cially if the former took place before the latter. So we then say, for in-stance, I had finished eating when you arrived.

Given what we have just learned about verb tense and what we knowof narratives (as discussed in the previous module), we probably real-ize now just how important verb tense is in the telling of stories. Verbtense is crucial in establishing the narrative’s timeframe aswell as the shifting timelines in the story. We therefore have touse verb tense correctly so that the timelines in our narratives will notconfuse readers. Generally, the past tense is used when telling stories,because the assumption is that the story that is being relatedhappened in the past.

Time and Place Adverbials

To have a better grasp of the relationship between verb tense and nar-ratives, go back to the excerpt from “The House on Mango Street” andtry reading the supplementary text “My Watch: An Instructive LittleTale” by Mark Twain (refer to the next chapter for the text.

Time and place adverbials refer to words, phrases, and clauses that areused to signify timeand space. Expressions like last night, last sum-mer, and just a minute ago are examples oftime adverbials. Examplesof place adverbials are on the road, in the neighborhood, and onMango Street. Just like verb tense, time and place adverbials are im-portant in narratives. Not only do they set up the story, they also moveit forward (or backward)—from one point in time to another, and fromspace to space. In most narratives, the actions or events aresequencedchronologically with one event leading to another (although in somecase, somebackward motion may be used as well to establish the pastof the past, for instance). The use of time and place adverbials there-fore ensures that the chronology will be clear andstraightforward.

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Transition Markers

The list of transition markers is given in the previous chapter. Wealready know that they serve a very important function in achievingcoherence. In narratives, they have an even more important role. Asalready established, narratives relate a series of actions or events, andfor these actions or events not to confuse the readers, coherence needsto be tight and clear. It is in this regard that transition markers arevery helpful.

Just to recall, what are the possible transition markers to use if youwant to establish the following relationship between sentences in acoherent paragraph?

1. To summarize or restate - ____________________

2. To relate result - ___________________________

3.To compare - _____________________________

4. To contrast - ______________________________

5.To qualify - ______________________________

As additional practice, try answering the short matching exerciseavailable at http://www.niu.edu/writingtutorial/organization/quizzes/Transitions.htm.

You may go back to the related discussion on transitions available athttp://www.niu.edu/writingtutorial/organization/transition-s01.html if you’re not satisfied with the result of the exercise.

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5.1 My Watch: An InstructiveLittle Tale

My beautiful new watch had run eighteen months without losing orgaining, and without breaking any part of its machinery or stopping. Ihad come to believe it infallible in its judgments about the time of day,and to consider its constitution and its anatomy imperishable. But atlast, one night, I let it run down. I grieved about it as if it were a recog-nized messenger and forerunner of calamity. But by and by I cheeredup, set the watch by guess, and commanded my bodings and supersti-tions to depart. Next day I stepped into the chief jeweler's to set it bythe exact time, and the head of the establishment took it out of myhand and proceeded to set it for me. Then he said, "She is fourminutes slow-regulator wants pushing up." I tried to stop him—triedto make him understand that the watch kept perfect time. But no; allthis human cabbage could see was that the watch was four minutesslow, and the regulator must be pushed up a little; and so, while Idanced around him in anguish, and implored him to let the watchalone, he calmly and cruelly did the shameful deed. My watch began togain. It gained faster and faster day by day. Within the week itsickened to a raging fever, and its pulse went up to a hundred and fiftyin the shade. At the end of two months it had left all the timepieces ofthe town far in the rear, and was a fraction over thirteen days ahead ofthe almanac. It was away into November enjoying the snow, while theOctober leaves were still turning. It hurried up house rent, bills pay-able, and such things, in such a ruinous way that I could not abide it. Itook it to the watchmaker to be regulated. He asked me if I had everhad it repaired. I said no, it had never needed any repairing. He lookeda look of vicious happiness and eagerly pried the watch open, and thenput a small dice-box into his eye and peered into its machinery. Hesaid it wanted cleaning and oiling, besides regulating—come in a week.

After being cleaned and oiled, and regulated, my watch slowed downto that degree that it ticked like a tolling bell. I began to be left bytrains,

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I failed all appointments, I got to missing my dinner; my watch strungout three days' grace to four and let me go to protest; I gradually drif-ted back into yesterday, then day before, then into last week, and byand by the comprehension came upon me that all solitary and alone Iwas lingering along in week before last, and the world was out of sight.I seemed to detect in myself a sort of sneaking fellow-feeling for themummy in the museum, and a desire to swap news with him. I went toa watchmaker again. He took the watch all to pieces while I waited,and then said the barrel was "swelled." He said he could reduce it inthree days. After this the watch averaged well, but nothing more. Forhalf a day it would go like the very mischief, and keep up such a bark-ing and wheezing and whooping and sneezing and snorting, that Icould not hear myself think for the disturbance; and as long as it heldout there was not a watch in the land that stood any chance against it.But the rest of the day it would keep on slowing down and foolingalong until all the clocks it had left behind caught up again. So at last,at the end of twenty-four hours, it would trot up to the judges' standall right and just in time. It would show a fair and square average, andno man could say it had done more or less than its duty. But a correctaverage is only a mild virtue in a watch, and I took this instrument toanother watchmaker. He said the king-bolt was broken. I said I wasglad it was nothing more serious. To tell the plain truth, I had no ideawhat the king-bolt was, but I did not choose to appear ignorant to astranger.

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He repaired the king-bolt, but what the watch gained in one way it lostin another. It would run awhile and then stop awhile, and then runawhile again, and so on, using its own discretion about the intervals.And every time it went off it kicked back like a musket. I padded mybreast for a few days, but finally took the watch to another watch-maker. He picked it all to pieces, and turned the ruin over and overunder his glass; and then he said there appeared to be something thematter with the hair-trigger. He fixed it, and gave it a fresh start. It didwell now, except that always at ten minutes to ten the hands wouldshut together like a pair of scissors, and from that time forth theywould travel together. The oldest man in the world could not makehead or tail of the time of day by such a watch, and so I went again tohave the thing repaired. This person said that the crystal had got bent,and that the mainspring was not straight. He also remarked that partof the works needed half-soling. He made these things all right, andthen my timepiece performed unexceptionably, save that now andthen, after working along quietly for nearly eight hours, everything in-side would let go all of a sudden and begin to buzz like a bee, and thehands would straightway begin to spin round and round so fast thattheir individuality was lost completely, and they simply seemed a del-icate spider's web over the face of the watch. She would reel off thenext twenty-four hours in six or seven minutes, and then stop with abang. I went with a heavy heart to one more watchmaker, and lookedon while he took her to pieces. Then I prepared to cross-question himrigidly, for this thing was getting serious. The watch had cost two hun-dred dollars originally, and I seemed to have paid out two or threethousand for repairs. While I waited and looked on I presently recog-nized in this watchmaker an old acquaintance—a steamboat engineerof other days, and not a good engineer, either. He examined all theparts carefully, just as the other watchmakers had done, and then de-livered his verdict with the same confidence of manner.

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He said:

"She makes too much steam—you want to hang the monkey-wrenchon the safety-valve!"

I brained him on the spot, and had him buried at my own expense.

My uncle William (now deceased, alas!) used to say that a good horsewas, a good horse until it had run away once, and that a good watchwas a good watch until the repairers got a chance at it. And he used towonder what became of all the unsuccessful tinkers, and gunsmiths,and shoemakers, and engineers, and blacksmiths; but nobody couldever tell him.

Available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3189/3189-h/3189-h.htm

Analysis and Notes on Twain’s My Watch from the discus-sion provided by Capital Community College ( Availableat http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/composi-tion/narrative.htm_:

• A sense of immediacy: Although Twain's narrative iscouched in the past tense, we sense that whatever is goingon is happening in the very recent past or even now, as wespeak. This is especially true as he goes from jeweller tojeweller to get his watch fixed. The appalling movement ofhis watch after each repair feels real to us. AlthoughTwain's story is couched entirely in the past tense, the pasttense does not feel past to us in fiction. In fact, short storywriters and novelists call the simple past tense the "fictivepresent" or "fictional present" because when you're read-ing it, you feel as if you're reading something that is goingon – now.

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• The sense of reality: Although we might sense that Twainexaggerates the erratic movements of his watch and hisimagination is often fantastic, we also sense the reality ofhis condition. There's the shock of familiarity for you. Wehave heard automobile mechanics and computer techni-cians spout technical gibberish to us and been convincedthat we had to spend lots of money to have our beloveddevices brought back to life. Details, details, details. Show-ing instead of telling.

• Movement: Action is indispensable in a narrative essay,the sense of people and things moving through time andspace. Close study of short story writers will pay off in thelong run here. The non-intuitive device most of them use isknowing that when you want to describe something thathappens very fast, your text and your selection of detailsand descriptions of action must slow down. It would be in-structive to reproduce here comedian Eddie Murphy's de-scription of his auntie falling down the stairs – somethingshe apparently did repeatedly, predictably, and without in-jury. Murphy reproduces all the sounds she makes at everystep as his aunt bounces down the stairway, calling uponevery saint and deity she ever heard of and pronouncingruin upon the house and its residents. The bit is hilariousand takes probably a minute or more to describe whatmust have taken, in reality, only a couple of seconds. All ofus, to our horror, know that "slow motion" effect as weslide on an icy road; the trick is to recapture that in ourtext. Practice by describing such an event or describing thedetails of eating an Oreo cookie or fig newton cookie. Leavenothing out.

• In media res: Twain's narrative jumps right into thetelling. A Latin phrase, in media res, means just that, in themiddle of things, and describes the technique by which

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story writers begin their tale in the middle of the action.Here, Twain picks up the story about his situation aftersomething has already happened to get him to this placeand time. Then he will harken back to the beginning, thenecessary background. It's an age-old trick to get the read-er involved immediately in the action of the story.

• Quoted language: There is not much in the way of quotedlanguage in Twain's narrative. Notice, though, how thelittle bits of conversation with the various jewellers seem toleap off the page – especially at the very end. It's as if an-other sense has been called into play, as if you suddenlyhear as well as see and read. Using quoted language issomething that short-story writers and novelists must mas-ter before they get very far in their craft. It can be difficultto create this illusion of the spoken voice, but it's worth theeffort, as nothing can make an essay feel more alive,faster, than to give your reader a bit of voice. It lends tex-ture, dimension, to your essay.

• Knowing when to quit: Twain could undoubtedly havegone on and on with this kind of thing, but he was wise toquit when he did. Knowing when to quit is indispensable,but hard to learn. A good rule to live by: if you think yourreaders would like a little more, write the little bit moreand then delete it before you hand over your text toanyone.

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5.2 excerpt from The House onMango Street

by Sandra Cisneros

We didn’t always live onMango Street. Before that we lived on Loomis on the third floor, and before that welived on Keeler. Before Keeler it was Paulina, and before that I can’tremember. But what I remember most is moving a lot. Each time itseemed there’d be one more of us. By the time we got toMango Streetwe were six—Mama, Papa, Carlos, Kiki, my sister Nenny and me.

The house on Mango Street is ours and we don ‘t have to pay rent toanybody or share the yard with the people downstairs or be careful notto make too much noise and there isn’t a landlord banging on the ceil-ing. But even so it’s not the house we’d thought we’d get.

We had to leave the flat on Loomis quick. The water pipes broke andthe landlord wouldn’t fix them. We were using the washroom nextdoor and carrying water over in empty milk gallons. That’s why Mamaand Papa looked for a house, and that’s why we moved into the houseonMango Street, far away, on the other side of town.

Our parents always told us that one day we would move into a house, areal house that would be ours for always so we wouldn’t have to moveeach year. And our house would have running water and pipes thatworked. And inside it would have real stairs, not hallway stairs, but

stairs inside like the houses on T.V. And we’d have a basement and atleast three washrooms so when we took a bath we wouldn’t have to telleverybody. Our house would be white with trees around it, a great bigyard and grass growing without a fence. This was the house Papatalked about when he held a lottery ticket and this was the houseMama dreamed up in the stories she told us before we went to bed.

But the house onMango Streetis not the way they told it at all. It’s small and red with tight little stepsin front and windows so small you’d think they were holding theirbreath. There is no front yard, only four little elms the city planted bythe curb. Out back is a small garage for the car we don’t own yet and asmall yard that looks smaller between the two buildings on either side.There are stairs in our house, but they ‘re ordinary hallway stairs, andthe house has only one washroom, very small. Everybody has to sharea bedroom.

Once when we were living on Loomis, a nun from my school passed byand saw me playing out front. The laundromat downstairs had beenboarded up because it had been robbed two days before and the ownerhad painted on the wood YES WE’RE OPEN so as not to lose business.

Where do you live? she asked.

There, I said pointing up to the third floor.

You live there?

There. I had to look to where she pointed—the third floor, the paintpeeling, wooden bars Papa had nailed on the windows so we wouldn’tfall out. You live there? The way she said it made me feel like nothing.There. I lived there. I nodded.

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I knew then I had to have a house. One I could point to. The house onMango Streetisn’t it. For the time being, Mama said. Temporary, said Papa. But Iknow how those things go.

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6 Introduction toDescription

Description appears in all forms of prose. Whether you are telling astory, defining a term, contrasting two people, or arguing a point, de-scription comes in handy because it is “the basic device a writer uses toconvey sense impressions” (Penfield, 1999).

Describing something meansgiving vivid details about it so that thereader can see, hear, feel, and experience it as you did. Description re-creates something – a person, a place, an object – in such a way that itbecomes alive again for the reader.

In a narrative essay, especially one about a meaningful personal exper-ience, you will depend heavily on description to bring scenes and ac-tions to life, to depict the funeral of a beloved grandparent, for in-stance, or to convey what it feels like to have a tooth extracted. In anexpository essay (to be discussed during Weeks 9-10), you might usedescription to clarify a step in a process like cramming for an exam, orto make an example – for instance, of an annoying moviegoer – vivid.And in an argumentative essay (resources to be provided as supple-mentary readings during Week 11), the persuasive power can comefrom description, for it enables your reader to see a victim of rape orthe hardened criminal whose death sentence you are advocating.

In a descriptive essay, you use description as your primary pattern oforganization to create a deeply involved and vivid experience for thereader. It helps to begin by creating a tentative thesis or a statement ofyour essay’s main point. Your thesis will consist of your topic of de-scription and the single dominant impression you want to create. You

can usually elicit the latter by thinking about why you want to writeabout your topic in the first place.

For example, imagine that you want to write a descriptive essay aboutyour grandmother. You’ve chosen to write about her physical appear-ance, the way she talks, and the way she interacts with you. However,what you really want to convey is your admiration for her vivacity andwarmth. This is your reason for writing and the dominant impressionyou want to create. To achieve this, you might focus one paragraph onher laugh lines and the wrinkles around her eyes, another on the livelytones of her voice, and a third on the way she touches your shoulder toemphasize a point or the feeling of being hugged by her.

Your thesis could be as simple as this: “My grandmother is thewarmest, most vivacious person I know.” The topic of description is aperson, your grandmother, and the point of your description will be toshare your dominant impression of her as warm and vivacious.

Your thesis may be explicit – stated openly in one or two sentences.Your thesis may also be more subtle or implicit. For example, you maywrite a description of the ultimate chocolate cake, a description thatalluringly recounts its rich aroma, taste, and texture. Such a descrip-tion will very likely leave the reader with the thought, “Wow, that’s areally delicious cake!” That’s an implied thesis. Explicit or implicit, thethesis is the main point that you will build your essay on.

As a writer, you will select the most important details to support yourthesis, create sentences and paragraphs about these details, and thensequence the paragraphs so that everything not only contributes to buthelps create the thesis. You must choose a pattern of organization thatbest fits your topic.

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For example, you may arrange details according to spatial orgeographic relationships, so that the reader moves from one placeor area to another as s/he reads your description. This works bestwhen you are describing a place like your room, a haunted house, abeach, a tourist spot, etc. You may also use this to describe aspects of aperson (as in a panning shot from top to bottom) or of an image (awork of art, an old photograph, etc.).

You may also arrange details according to temporal or chro-nological relationships so that the reader moves from one point intime to another. This works best for topics that involvenarrative ele-ments, for instance when you wish to describe aspects of a larger loca-tion, for instance a university campus, in the order in which youviewed these. You may also use time order to describe a person’s as-pects based on which you encountered first, second, third, etc.

Thirdly, you may arrange details according to dramatic order,the way a film builds to a significant or climactic point just before theend.

In a nutshell, the descriptive essay contains the following elements:

• vivid descriptions• a thesis statement that is either explicit or implied• a dominant impression• relevant details that are organized either chronologically,

spatially, or dramatically

Just to see if you have a good grasp of the discussions we have so far,read this actual essay developed through description. Answer thequestions posted in the practice exercise after.

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7 Sample DescriptiveEssay

“The Monster” by Deems Taylor

He was an undersized little man, with a head too big for his body—asickly little man. His nerves were had. He had skin trouble. It wasagony for him to wear anything next to his skin coarser than silk. Andhe had seclusions of grandeur.

He was a monster of conceit. Never for one minute did he look at theworld or at people, except in relation to himself. He was not only themost important person in the world, to himself; in his own eyes hewas the only person who existed. He believed himself to be one of thegreatest dramatists in the world, one of the greatest thinkers, and oneof the greatest composers. To hear him talk, he was Shakespeare, andBeethoven, and Plato, rolled into one. And you would have had nodifficulty in hearing him talk. He was one of the most exhausting con-versationalists that ever lived. An evening with him was an eveningspent in listening to a monologue. Sometimes he was brilliant; some-times he was maddeningly tiresome. But whether he was being bril-liant or dull, he had one sole topic of conversation: himself. What hethought and what he did.

He had a mania for being in the right. The slightest hint of disagree-ment, from anyone, on the most trivial point, was enough to set him

off on a harangue that might last for hours, in which he proved him-self right in so many ways, and with such exhausting volubility, thatin the end his hearer, stunned and deafened, would agree with him,for the sake of peace.

It never occurred to him that he and his doing were not of the mostintense and fascinating interest to anyone with whom he came in con-tact. He had theories about almost any subject under the sun, includ-ing vegetarianism, the drama, politics, and music; and in support ofthese theories he wrote pamphlets, letters, books … thousands uponthousands of words, hundreds and hundreds of pages. He not onlywrote these things, and published them -- usually at somebody else'sexpense -- but he would sit and read them aloud, for hours, to hisfriends and his family.

He wrote operas, and no sooner did he have the synopsis of a story,but he would invite—or rather summon —a crowd of his friends to hishouse, and read it aloud to them. Not for criticism. For applause.When the complete poem was written, the friends had to come again,and hear that read aloud. Then he would publish the poem, some-times years before the music that went with it was written. He playedthe piano like a composer, in the worst sense of what that implies,and he would sit down at the piano before parties that included someof the finest pianists of his time, and play for them, by the hour, hisown music, needless to say. He had a composer's voice. And he wouldinvite eminent vocalists to his house and sing them his operas, takingall the parts.

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He had the emotional stability of a six-year-old child. When he feltout of sorts, he would rave and stamp, or sink into suicidal gloom andtalk darkly of going to the East to end hisdays as a Buddhist monk.Ten minutes later, when something pleased him, he would rush out ofdoors and run around the garden, or jump up and down on the sofa,or stand on his head. He could be grief-stricken over the death of apet dog, and he could be callous and heartless to a degree that wouldhave made a Roman emperor shudder.

He was almost innocent of any sense of responsibility. Not only didhe seem incapable of supporting himself, but it never occurred to himthat he was under any obligation to do so. He was convinced that theworld owed him a living. In support of this belief, he borrowed moneyfrom everybody who was good for a loan—men, women, friends, orstrangers. He wrote begging letters by the score, sometimes grovel-ling without shame, at other loftily offering his intended benefactorthe privilege of contributing to his support, and being mortally offen-ded if the recipient declined the honour. I have found no record of hisever paying or repaying money to anyone who did not have a legalclaim upon it.

What money he could lay his hands on he spent like an Indian rajah.The mere prospect of a performance of one of his operas was enoughto set him to running up bills amounting to ten times the amount ofhis prospective royalties. No one will ever know—certainly he neverknew—how much money he owed. We do know that his greatest be-nefactor gave him $6,000 to pay the most pressing of his debts in onecity, and a year later had to give him $16,000 to enable him to live inanother city without being thrown into jail for debt.

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He was equally unscrupulous in other ways. An endless procession ofwomen marched through his life. His first wife spent twenty years en-during and forgiving his infidelities. His second wife had been thewife of his most devoted friend and admirer, from whom he stole her.And even while he was trying to persuade her to leave her first hus-band he was writing to a friend to inquire whether he could suggestsome wealthy woman—any wealthy woman—whom he could marryfor her money.

He was completely selfish in his other personal relationships. His lik-ing for his friends was measured solely by the completeness of theirdevotion to him, or by their usefulness to him, whether financial orartistic. The minute they failed him—even by so much as refusing din-ner invitation—or began to lessen in usefulness, he cast them offwithout a second thought. At the end of his life he had exactly onefriend left whom he had known even in middle age.

The name of this monster was Richard Wagner. Everything that Ihave said about him you can find on record -- in newspapers, in po-lice reports, in the testimony of people who knew him, in his own let-ters, between the lines of his autobiography. And the curious thingabout this record is that it doesn't matter in the least.

Because this undersized, sickly, disagreeable, fascinating little manwas right all the time. The joke was on us. He was one of the world'sgreatest dramatists; he was a great thinker; he was one of the moststupendous musical geniuses that, up to now, the world has everseen.

The world did owe him a living.

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When you consider what he wrote—thirteen operas and music dra-mas, eleven of them still holding the stage, eight of them unquestion-ably worth ranking among the world's great musico-dramatic master-pieces—when you listen to what he wrote, the debts and heartachesthat people had to endure from him don't seem much of a price.Think of the luxury with which for a time, at least, fate rewarded Na-poleon, the man who ruined France and looted Europe; and then per-haps you will agree that a few thousand dollars' worth of debts werenot too heavy a price to pay for the Ring trilogy.

What if he was faithless to his friends and to his wives? He had onemistress to whom he was faithful to the day of his death: Music. Notfor a single moment did he ever compromise with what he believed,with what he dreamed. There is not a line of his music that could havebeen conceived by a little mind. Even when he is dull, or downrightbad, he is dull in the grand manner. There is greatness about hisworst mistakes. Listening to his music, one does not forgive him forwhat he may or may not have been. It is not a matter of forgiveness. Itis amatter of being dumb with wonder that his poor brain and bodydidn't burst under the torment of the demon of creative energy thatlived inside him, struggling, clawing, scratching to be released; tear-ing, shrieking at him to write the music that was in him. The miracleis that what he did in the little space of seventy years could have beendone at all, even by a great genius. Is it any wonder that he had notime to be a man?

Reference

Available online through the Counter-Currents Publishing, Ltd. site athttp://www.counter-currents.com/2013/05/the-monster/

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Practice Exercise (Quick analysis of the descriptive essay, TheMonster)

Based on your understanding of the discussions on Descriptive writingso far and on the essay that you have just read, answer the followingquestions:

1. What do you think is the main idea or thesis of this essay?What is the dominant impression given or point madeabout Richard Wagner?

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

2. Is the thesis explicit or implicit?

_____________________________________________________________________________

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7.1 Language Focus: Modifiers

A significant tool that you can use when using description to developyour paragraphs into an essay is the effective use of modifiers (the ad-jectives and adverbs you can use to provide a vivid image of your top-ic/ subject in the form of a word, phrase, or even clause). However,sometimes, writers tend to get carried away with the various descrip-tions they can associate with a subject or topic that they tend to writemodifiers in the wrong location, creating a potential misunderstand-ing (in the case of misplaced modifiers), multiple meanings (in thecase of ambiguous modifiers), or incomplete descriptions (in the caseof dangling modifiers).

Look at these two sample sentences. What are the modifiers in eachsentence? Do all the modifiers describe what they are supposed to de-scribe, based on how the sentences were written? What do you think iswrong in these samples?

• Placed in a window opening, office workers were kept com-fortable by an air conditioning unit of moderate size.

• We watched him frequently walk his huge dog around thatpark.

• Taking the entrance exam, the room was so hot and stuffythat Jennifer almost fainted.

Among the modifiers in the first sample sentence, the phrase “placedin a window opening” seems to describe “office workers,” whichshould not be the case because it should describe the air conditioningunit.

The problematic modifier in the second sample, on the other hand, isthe word “frequently”. We can never be sure if it describes how often

the “we” watched the “guy (as represented by him)” or how often the“guy” walks his dog.

The phrase “taking the entrance exam” in the last sample should havebeen describing the person (Jennifer) and not the room, so the personshould have been incorporated in that phrase (thus making a clause)instead of appearing in the main clause.

How then should these sentences be written in the first place? Take alook at the following recommended revisions and notice the changesmade:

• Placed in a window opening, air conditioning units ofmoderate size kept office workers comfortable.

• We frequently watched him walk his huge dog aroundthat park. OR

• We watched him walk his huge dog frequently aroundthat park.

• As Jennifer was taking the entrance exam, the roomwas so hot and stuffy that she almost fainted. (the originalmodifier in the form of a phrase is now turned into aclause)

To correct misplaced modifiers, place them in the position that theyshould be in within the sentence, depending on the word/ phrase thatthey should be describing. The golden rule is to place your modifier asclose as possible to the word/s that it should be describing or referringto.

In the case of ambiguous modifiers, simply choose what specific wordto describe within a sentence so the meaning will be exact and reviseyour sentence accordingly.

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Lastly, to avoid dangling modifiers (especially if they cannot be treatedas misplaced modifiers), make sure to expand the modifier into aclause by incorporating the word that it is referring to in the firstplace.

Practice Exercise (Problems surrounding modifiers)

Based on your prior knowledge on modifiers and the review discussionin this handout, analyse each sentence and write C if you think thesentence does not contain any error on its use of modifier. If there isan error, first identify the incorrect modifier then revise the sentenceaccordingly:

1. Other matters were discussed in the closing moments of the meet-ing of lesser importance.

2. Sometimes it is profitable to buy an older home in a nice neighbor-hood that needs alot of repairs.

3. While sleeping soundly, the alarm clock awakened Bobby.

4. The theatre director told us strictly to stick to the script.

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7.2 Supplementary Readings:Descriptive Writing

You may use these resources in your future write ups (whether for aca-demic or non-academic purposes).

• Descriptive essay – This resource, from PurdueUniversity’s Online Writing Lab available at ht-tps://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/685/03/,provides you with an overview of what a descriptive essayis and of what general guidelines you can follow as you de-velop your descriptive essay.

• Descriptive Writing – This resource available at ht-tp://www.hoddereducation.co.uk/media/Documents/In-ternational/CP-Eng-sample.pdf will provide you withplenty of sample descriptive paragraphs and essays thatyou can analyse through the exercises to understand themode further. At the end of the resource, you’ll also beprovided with techniques to follow in descriptive writing.

• The secret to good writing – This article from The At-lantic’s archive available at http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/10/the-secret-to-good-writing-its-about-objects-not-ideas/263113/ may further enrich yourunderstanding of the significance of being specific and con-crete in your writing, whether you’re using Description asthe main mode of paragraph development or anothermode.

7.3 Concrete, Specific, andSignificant Details

In order to describe something convincingly, you must remember thatyour job as a writer isto show, not tell. If you assert that a flower isvery beautiful, your readers may still have no ideaof what it looks like;“beautiful,” after all, is an abstract and relative term. Yes, the use ofmodifiers is a necessary tool to make your descriptions clear, but inthis case, do not relysolely on adjectives and adverbs (e.g. interesting,small, unique, colourful, very, too) that attempt to characterize the-flower’s attributes. Instead, show them the flower using concrete andspecific details.

To successfully describe the flower, you must first accurately see,sense, or imagine it – picture itin your mind. Then, you must conveyits essence with specifics – create a picture of it inyour reader’s mind.Ideally, the two pictures will match.

What is the difference between showing and telling? Consider thesetwo simple examples:

• Telling: I grew tired after the meal.• Showing: As I leaned back and rested my head against the

top of the chair, my eyelids began to feel heavy, and theedges of the empty plate in front of me blurred with thewhite tablecloth.

The first sentence tells readers that you grew tired after dinner. Thesecond sentence showsreaders the experience of being tired. The mosteffective descriptive essays are loaded withsuch showing because theyenable readers to imagine or experience something for themselves.

Good descriptive writing uses imagery or descriptive details that ap-peal to or are perceivableby the senses: sight, hearing smell, touch,and taste. For example, you could tell your readers,“The dog wasasleep” but you could show them much more by saying:

Lady Elizabeth lay elegantly draped on her red doggy cushion, notan immaculate white curl out of place.

This example communicates much more about the dog. It creates thatof a pampered, pedigreed pet. Details that are concrete, specific, andsignificant not only bring prose to life but can suggest an impression, ageneralization, or a judgment.

Details as Support

When you write any kind of essay, you must develop your main ideawith three or moresupporting points. For instance, the thesis examplegiven in the previous module, “Mygrandmother is the warmest, mostvivacious person I know,” may be supported by thefollowing topic sen-tences which tackle aspects of the topic:

• My grandmother’s facial expressions are always welcomingand lively.

• Her body language communicates how full of life she is.• Her voice is animated and full of pleasant tones.

These supporting points, expressed as topic sentences, must also bedeveloped with specific details. Such details appeal to your readers,excite their interest, and help you to explain your points. They providethe evidence needed to understand your ideas.

Far too often, the supporting paragraphs in essays contain vague gen-eralities rather than the specific details that are needed to engage and

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convince a reader. In any kind of essay, you should avoid such inef-fective paragraphs that ask your readers to guess about details. In-stead, you should write effective paragraphs that let your readervividly see, here, and sense these details. In other words, you shouldshow, and not tell.

Practice Exercise – Specific Details

For this practice exercise, go to the site indicated below and identifythe sentence that provides more specific details.

http://laflemm.com/dynamic/online_practice2.php?practice_id=4

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7.4 Language Focus: Connotationsand Diction (Word choice)

When you describe something, your diction – the words you choose –can communicate anemotional effect. Words have a standard or neut-ral meaning (denotation) and an emotional or suggested meaning(connotation). You need to be aware of different words’ positive ornegativeconnotations so that you may use such emotive words appro-priately. For example, when youdescribe someone as a “well-known”person, you are describing her neutrally. Calling her“famous” wouldpresent her in a positive light, but calling her “notorious” wouldpresent herin a negative one.

Read “Rich Man, Poor Man,” below. Consider how this piece criticizesclass biases in thePhilippines by giving examples of positive wordchoices used to describe the rich andnegative equivalents used to de-scribe the poor. Can you think of more recent examples ofword choiceswith positive and negative connotations that indicate class biases?

“Rich Man, Poor Man”

(from page 107 of the following source: Francisco, Mariel N., and FeMaria C. Arriola.The History of the Burgis.Quezon City: Capitol Pub-lishing House, Inc., 1987. Print.)

If you’re rich, of course you must have an “allergy”; if you’re poor,heavens, what could itbe but “galis”? The “sirangulo” of the poor isthe rich man’s “nervous breakdown” –from tension. A well-off personwith itchy fingers is a “kleptomaniac.” Otherwise, he isknown as just

plain “magnanakaw.” And did you ever hear an odd millionaire re-ferred toas “may toyo”? No, millionaires are just “eccentric.”

If a dark domestic is “ita,” “negra” or “baluga,” her just-as-dark sen-orita is “morena” orkayumanggi.” If you’re society you’re approv-ingly called “slender” or “balingkinitan” –if you’re poor you’re plain“patpatin” or “payatot.”

While a lower income woman is “nagwawala,” her well-heeled bed-hopping counterpart ismerely “game.” Only the poor are “landi”; richgirls are “liberated.” Advancing yearsmake the poor “gurang,” but theburgisgraduate gracefully into “senior citizenhood.”And who has everreferred to a rich man’s son as “bobo”? – No, he’s just a “slowlearner.”

If a well-heeled matron eats a lot, she flatters her host who says she’s“masarapkumain.”A peasant eating the same amount in the samehouse is “pataygutom.” A rich“matakaw,” by the way, is also knownas a “gourmet.”

Practice Exercise – Connotations

Read the examples below of gradually worsening connotations and/orgeneral to specific terms, and provide your ownversions in the blanksbelow. Be guided by the first two items, which serve as samples.

I am casual. You’re a bit careless. She’s a slob.

1. I read love stories. You read erotic literature. He readspornography.

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2. I am slender. You are ____________________. She is_______________________.

3. I am a trifle overweight. You are _________________.He is______________________.

4. I am friendly to guys. You are ___________________.She is _____________________.

Before we move on to the next main mode of paragraph development(Exposition), don’t forget the fact that Description may be used to sup-port paragraphs developed through other modes. For example, yournarrative essay may feature a lot of descriptive statements to create aclear picture of a situation or experience. In this case, you might askyourself, “How will you make the distinction between a narrative essayand a descriptive one?” In essence, if the highlight of your paragraphsis to describe your subject/topic or the persons, things, situations/ ex-periences related to that subject/ topic in order to prove a point (yourthesis statement), then it may primarily be considered a descriptiveessay. However, if your descriptions are primarily used to move a nar-rative (or a story) along, then the essay may be considered, first andforemost, a narrative essay. The same goes for other paragraphs de-veloped through other modes: a paragraph which presents a process isan example of an Exposition (because it tells something to the readers;it asserts a main point; its main concern is to discuss), but it is furtherdeveloped by describing each step in the process.

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7.5 Synthesis- DF 2: Narration andDescription

With what you have read from our module discussions and other re-sources, kindly complete the table below highlighting your under-standing of the similarities and differences of developing an essay us-ing narration as the main mode with and from writing using descrip-tion as the main mode of paragraph development. Try completingeach cell using your own words in the most concise way possible.

Narration Definition

What is its main pur-pose/ basic concern?

What are its top 2-3obvious/ distinctfeatures?

Is the thesis state-ment/ main idea, ex-plicit or implicit?

(If explicit, where iscommonly located?)

How are the detailscommonly organized/presented?

Directly post your completed table as a forum entry in DF 2: Narra-tion and Description. Make sure to post your own answer first beforecommenting on other's work

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8 Introduction toExposition

Before continuing our discussion on how we can develop our essays,let’s pause and think about the basic: What concepts come to mindwhen you see or hear the term “essay?” Try completing this conceptmap and list down related ideas you have always associated with theterm. If you feel you need to add new relationships among terms asrepresented by arrows, do so.

Perhaps most of you envisioned sets of paragraphs (about three tofive, maybe)which tell somethingabout, explain, and support a thesisstatement. Some of you may picture a set composed of introductory,body, and concluding/ closing paragraphs (with transitional para-graph/s as part of the body) and organized in a direct, clear, and con-cise manner, depending on the paragraph arrangement you decide tofollow (e.g. inverted triangle, diamond, etc.). If you have thought of allthese or if your terms relate to these concepts, then you have beenthinking about an expository essay. This “typical” idea of an essayuses the mode, exposition, to develop the paragraphs. According toPurdue’s Online Writing Lab, exposition requires the writers to invest-igate an idea, evaluate evidence, expound on an idea, and set forth an

argument or a point concerning that idea in a clear and concise man-ner. Generally, the main goal of an expository essay is to inform or ex-plain an idea.

Types of Exposition

In using exposition to develop the essay, the paragraph may be writtenfollowing the principles under each of these types:

• Exemplification/ Illustration – This type of expositionuses instances or examples to explain or clarify a particularidea. The highlight of such paragraphs should be thesesamples.

• Comparison and Contrast– This type of exposition setsthings, persons, places, or any subject side by side to high-light the similarities (comparison) and/or differences(contrast).

• Process analysis– This type of exposition outlines a de-tailed set of steps that lead to a particular goal.

• Classification/ Division– This type of exposition sorts oranalyses things, persons, places, or any subject into kindsor parts.

• Cause and Effect– This type of exposition provides thereasons and results of a particular phenomenon orsituation.

• Definition– This type of exposition provides the meaning/sof a chosen subject or topic (and focus on that to clarifywhat the topic is).

• Analogy– This type of exposition draws parallels betweensomething abstract and something concrete (so there’s anelement of comparison in a way).

These types are just some of the common types writers can use.

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Required reading

To prepare you for the next discussion, kindly read the condensed ver-sion of author-linguist, Deborah Tannen’s “You just don’t under-stand”titled “Can’t we talk?” The essay is available at ht-tp://faculty.cua.edu/sullins/SOC206/Tannen%20Can't%20We%20Talk.pdf

After, you may proceed to reading the next subchapter. The essay willthen again be used for the practice exercise at the end.

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8.1 Comparison and Contrast

When you have at least two chosen topics and you want to highlightthe similarities of these topics, you are comparing them. When youwant to highlight the differences of these two, you are contrasting oneover the other. This basic principle is the same for writing through ex-position specifically using the Comparison and Contrast type.

Basically, here’s how you use this kind to develop our expositoryessay:

1. Frame of Reference

You need to make sure that you have a frame of reference that willserve as a solid foundation for you to write about your chosen subjectsbefore choosing to use Comparison and Contrast. A frame of referenceis the context within which you place the two subjects or things youplan to compare and contrast—it is the umbrella under which youhave grouped them. This may consist of an idea, theme, question,problem, or theory. The best frames of reference are constructed fromspecific sources rather than your own thoughts or observations. Forexample, you want your theme to be prominent, influential, andpowerful modern leaders. This implies that you have to think of per-sons which may fall under this theme.

2. Logical Bases

As soon as the frame of reference is clear to you (and you’re finally as-sured that you can compare and contrast your two subjects), you needto have logical bases or the areas in which you wish to compare or con-trast the two elements. Consider these logical bases as your criteria bywhich you judge the elements. Following the example in item #1, if

you are comparing/ contrasting two prominent political leaders suchas Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin, the logical bases could be theiradvocacies, political parties, programs, and contributions to the coun-try and to the world in general.

3. Same class

A common ground must exist between the two elements in order forthe comparison/ contrast to be meaningful. First, the two elementsmust be parallel to each other. This condition may already be satisfiedif you consider the first 2 guidelines (having a frame of reference andlogical bases). Second, the structure of your sentences must also showthis parallelism. For example, “The healthcare system in Russia is bet-ter than US.” The meaning of this sentence might be comprehensibleenough (we understand that the sentence is comparing the healthcaresystem under the leadership of Putin and Obama), but when scrutiniz-ing it, the structure is awkward because the healthcare system is beingcompared to a country (they don’t belong to the same class). To rem-edy this, you should establish that the two elements that you are com-paring/ contrasting are equally the healthcare system from Russia andfrom US. The revised sentence should look like these:

The healthcare system in Russia is better than that of US; or

Russia’s healthcare system is better than US’; or

Russia’s healthcare system is better than that of US.

4. Two sides of the equation

All comparisons and contrasts are concerned with two sides and youmust deal equally with both. Do not mention one side and assumethat your reader will fill in the other side. For example, if you are

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contrasting the public perception of Obama’s appeal (likeability) andPutin’s appeal, you can’t just say, “Obama is friendly to the youth; thusappears relevant.” and assume that your reader will immediately un-derstand that you want to say that Putin appears stiff and unfriendlyto the young. Instead of a one-sided claim, you can say something like:“Obama is friendly to the youth whereas Putin appears stiff, whichmakes Obama seem more relevant and likeable.”

5. Expressions that indicate comparison/contrast

As previously seen in the example under items #3-4, expressions suchas better than,that of, and whereas indicate that the two elements arebeing contrasted. Some other expressions you may use include: Onthe other hand, meanwhile, while, in opposition to, on the contrary,otherwise, unlike, however, but, yet,(for contrast), and also, like, aswell as, similar, compare with/to, likewise, in common with,neither…nor, etc. (for comparison).

6. Thesis

As a general guide to any paragraph you wish to develop into an essay,you should have a thesis and link all points back to that thesis. In anypaper, your thesis statement conveys the main point you are trying toget across. The thesis of a comparison/contrast essay depends on thetwo elements you are comparing/contrasting. Do you favour one overthe other; thus wish to show this element’s advantages over the other?Or do you believe the two elements work in a balance (without one,the other will not exist)? Just remember that the points you raised inyour actual comparison/contrast must lead back to the thesis.

7. Block or Alternate method

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In the block method, you discuss all points pertaining to one elementbefore proceeding to discuss the next element. This implies that youmay have to follow a few principles of other modes of paragraph devel-opment (such as description, examples/ illustration, definition) as youpresent each point although you’re still following the principles ofcomparison/contrast as a whole. In the alternate method, you discussboth elements alternately using your established bases. Let’s take alook at the sample outline on the next page to show you how eachmethod works.

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8.2 Presentation method usingComparison/Contrast

Example theme: Movie adaptations of best-selling novels featuringviolence

Chosen topic: Hunger Games vs. Battle Royale

In all these, you must remember that the purpose of exposition is toinform or to explain, so comparison-contrast essays must lead thereaders to a better understanding of a particular idea through a side-by-side look at two elements.

Practice Exercise – Exposition: Analyzing Comparison-Contrast

For this practice exercise, go to the site indicated below, read the essay“Can’t we talk” by Deborah Tannen again, and complete the table ofcomparison-contrast as an analysis of how Tannen developed theessay.

http://faculty.cua.edu/sullins/SOC206/Tannen%20Can't%20We%20Talk.pdf

Practice exercise (continued) Discussion questions related toTannen’s essay: Answer the questions below and complete the tablebased on your analysis of Tannen’s essay and your understanding ofComparison-Contrast as a kind of exposition.

1. What could be the logical bases of comparison-contrast by whichDeborah Tannen wrote about the two elements? Write your answersby completing the table. You may answer in fragments.

Logical Bases Women’s language Men’s language

a.

b.

c.

d.

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e.

2. Can you say that the elements in this essay belong to the same classand that a meaningful comparison-contrast is indeed possible? (De-fend your answer in less than 100 words)

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8.3 Classification and Division

Using classification

1. Make sure your chosen topic/ subject may be grouped intoat least three kinds/ types/ classifications.If you only havetwo, then maybe you should simply use comparison-con-trast to develop your essay.

2. Your basis for the classifications or groupings should bemade clear both to you and to your readers.

3. As soon as you have identified these classifications/types,list down the qualities, characteristics, aspects that you willdiscuss under each type. Answer the question: What arethe qualities that distinguish each of your classificationsfrom one another?

4. Each classification must be measured against the samestandard such as price, quality, durability, time, quantity,etc. Don't mix standards.

For example, you want to discuss the parenting styles of the youngerFilipino parents. The highlight of your expository essay should thenbe the classifications of parenting styles: strict, liberal, permissive,passive. The basis for this classification and your discussions undereach could then be how they treat their children whenever the childrenneed something, how they give instructions/ directions to their chil-dren, how they respond to a bad behavior. You might point to somespecific examples to illustrate some of their parenting behaviors (likehow they give reward and punishment).

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Using division

Remember that your main concern is to identify and explain the es-sential qualities that make up the whole.

1. To do this, you have to make sure your chosen topic/ sub-ject may be broken down into smaller parts or sub-topics.

2. These basic, smaller parts shall then make up the outline ofyour essay.

3. Usually, the organization follows the deductive method(general to specific) in which you’ll have to make a generalstatement about your topic (may be your thesis statement,stated directly) followed by a series of statements that will

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support it—in this case, your discussions of the smallerparts (your divisions).

For example, you want to discuss the making of a great action movie.Your introduction could point out that in order for an action movie tobe considered great, three elements—acting, screenplay, and specialeffects—must be convincing and work well together. Each of yourbody paragraphs would then focus on one of these elements.

Note: Some discussions on these two kinds of exposition vary fromthe discussions in this handout. Some use the two terms loosely andinterchangeably (treating them almost as one kind). Some point outthat classification features ratings or rankings of the groups/ types fol-lowing a certain set of criteria. In our case, we can treat these two asone kind of exposition, thereby writing them as classification/divisionbut you may focus on simply following one (for example, just the prin-ciples of classification) if you’ll use it in your essay.

Supplementary readings

You may want to read the following texts if you wish to learn moreabout this kind of exposition.

Developing Paragraphs: Classification available at http://www.cen-gagesites.com/academic/assets/sites/4363/ch25.pdf - This handoutfocuses on guiding writers to develop their essays using classificationas the main mode.

Classification and Division from The Mayfield Handbook of Technicaland Scientific Writing available at http://www.mhhe.com/mayfield-pub/tsw/pd-cxd.htm - This handout features a summary and a sampleparagraph to show what this type should highlight.

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In all these, you must remember that the purpose of exposition is toinform or to explain, so classification/division essays must lead thereaders to a better understanding of a particular idea, which may seemto cover a lot of topics or may seem vague, through further groupings/classifications or through breaking it down into parts.

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8.4 Cause and Effect

From the terms, the highlight of paragraphs following this type iseither the reasons for a given situation/ phenomenon, or the resultsthat arise from the situation/ phenomenon.

In a paragraph, it’s better to decide first what you want to deal mostlywith: will you focus more on the causes of your topic (whether it’s asituation/ phenomenon/ condition)? Will you discuss the resultsmostly? This does not mean, however, that one will be left out shouldyou choose to focus on the other. Writers commonly focus on causesor the reasons behind their chosen topic if they are more concernedwith analysing the situation by presenting its roots. The goal is to un-derstand the situation better through the discussion of the factors thatlead to it. Sometimes, the nature of the situation or phenomenon isnegative, and talking about the causes may prevent the situation fromhappening again. On the other hand, writers highlight the results ifthey’re concerned with convincing the readers of the benefits that acertain situation or condition may bring. Usually, the goal is to push orsupport an argument about a situation, condition, or issue by focusingon the positive outcomes

Using causes

In a paragraph focusing on cause, you may state the effect (or res-ult) as part of your openingbefore analyzing the causes that yield theseresults.For example, your topic is about disaster preparedness, spe-cifically dealing with typhoons. If you intend to focus on causes as younarrow down this topic further, you may start with all the adverse ef-fects of the recent typhoons our country has faced (damage to proper-ties, death tolls, food shortage, etc.) in your opening, but the highlightremains the explanation why these results came about. You may want

to discuss the insufficient typhoon warnings and disaster trainings, theoverall attitude of Filipinos regarding leaving belongings behind, thetendency to hoard, etc.

Using effects

In a paragraph focusing on effects, you may want to indicate thecause first then spend the rest of the paragraph detailing and explain-ing the specific effects. For example, your chosen topic is earthquakeand you want to establish the importance of being prepared and nottaking the warnings for granted. You may want to begin your para-graph with a thesis statement (e.g. one should not underestimate thepower of a good preparation) and spend the rest talking about the ef-fects of a destructive earthquake such as damage to buildings andhouses, injuries to people, mass psychological trauma, etc. (therebyconvincing the readers of the value of your thesis).

Supplementary readings

You may want to read the following texts if you wish to learn moreabout this kind of exposition.

Types of Paper: Cause and Effect available at ht-tp://www.roanestate.edu/owl/Cause.html- This handout focuses onguiding writers to develop their essays using cause and effect as themain mode.

Cause and Effect from The Mayfield Handbook of Technical andScientific Writing available at http://www.mhhe.com/mayfieldpub/tsw/pd-cxe.htm- This handout features a summary and a sample para-graph to show what this type should highlight.

Cause and Effect from Principles of Composition available at ht-tp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/composition/

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cause_effect.htm - This handout discusses cause and effect furtherand presents sample essays showcasing the effective use of this type ofexposition.

In all these, you must remember that the purpose of exposition is toinform or to explain, so cause and effect essays must lead the readersto a better understanding of a particular idea, situation, phenomenon,or condition through the discussion and analysis of either its roots orits implications (or both).

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8.5 Definition and Analogy

Definition is the process of “spelling out exactly what a word or phrasemeans” (McCuen-Metherell and Winkler).

There are many ways by which you can define a term or a concept.Take a look at these terms for example: teaspoon, ball game, peace.

If given a term to write about, say the first sample “teaspoon,” youmight have thought of beginning to write about it as a “small spoon.”In this instance, you have actually defined it by describing and com-paring it with that of a regular spoon. You might have defined “ballgame” as a type of game or sport in which you use a ball, and youmight have thought of examples such as basketball, volleyball, andsoccer, etc. This way, you actually used examples. You might have alsoequated “peace” with an image of a dove, an olive branch, the V handsignal, or the peace sign symbol (?). This way, you have started todefine the term through analogy.

Below are the ways you can adopt to define a term, concept, or topic.

Using Definition

1. Lexical Definition

You may develop your paragraphs by starting with defining the term/concept/topic directly and formally. This means that you have toprovide the lexical definition of your chosen subject. Lexical definitionis a combination of the class where the term belongs and the term’skey characteristics or the ways by which this term is different from allthe other elements in that same class (specification). This kind ofdefinition is similar to how a term is defined in the dictionary.

The Bible is a book that contains writings about Jesus Christ, amongothers, and His impact before and after His time on Earth that datesback 1200 BC.

In this example, the term to be defined is the “bible” and the generalclass is the “book” since there are other kinds of books. The part start-ing from “contains writings…” is the specification or keycharacteristics.

2. Etymology

You may also write about your topic by expanding your definition fur-ther and going back to the root or history of the term. In short, you’llwrite about your topic through an etymological analysis—this shouldyield information on what a term originally meant and how it evolvedinto its current meaning.

The term “bible” comes from the Greek word Biblion. Biblios was thename given to the inner bark of the papyrus, and the word “biblion”meant a papyrus roll, upon which the bible was originally copied.The plural term of biblion is “biblia,” which also means little books.The bible is said to be a collection of short texts or “little books” aboutGod and Jesus Christ.

In this example, notice that the paragraph was developed by tracingthe history of the term. Most of the explanation or discussions to clari-fy the chosen topic (term) was based on the background informationrelated to that topic.

3. Negation

If you do not want to explain what the term means directly, you canalso clarify it by stating what it is not or what it does not mean (its

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opposite). In your paragraph, you get to make meanings clear by set-ting limits and boundaries.

The bible does not simply imply a collection of rules and guidelinesset by the Christian God, it is also a collection of many other types ofliterature that we can draw inspiration from.

Take note that, in this beginning statement of a paragraph (talkingabout the bible as the topic), the emphasis is on what the term is not (acollection of rules…) before any other clarifications are made.

4. Exemplification

You may also expand your definition with examples. This may serveas a supplement to your main definition. According to McCuen-Metherell and Winkler (2012), “short or long illustrations are specific-ally useful for embodying abstract ideas of sharpening ambiguous gen-eralizations.” In short, this may be an effective way to expound yourinitial definition by stating clearer examples and illustrations relatedto your topic.

5. Analogy

In some discussions, this strategy serves as another independent modeof paragraph development under exposition. In our case, we can viewit as another strategy to develop your paragraphs under the basic prin-ciple of definition. An analogy is a comparison of the relatively unfa-miliar term and a corresponding familiar term or concept. Normally,the writing is built around a “thought-provoking or illuminating like-ness” between your chosen topic and another seemingly unrelatedterm, concept, idea, or topic. To develop this, you may use of similesand metaphors—figures of speech that highlight the similarities orlikeness of two terms. At this point, let me clarify that an analogy is alogical argument, which implies that there is a certain point you want

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to stress as you highlight the likeness of two terms/ topics/ concepts:you show how two things are alike (through their shared characterist-ics) with the goal of showing that if the two things are similar in someways, they may be similar in other ways as well.

“But now, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You ourpotter; and all we are the work of Your hand.” (Isaiah 64:8)

God is the potter and we are the clay. This is the main point that theBible verse intends to stress… As the potter, it is up to God to mold,transform, and sanctify us as we journey through this earthly life…

6. Combination

This is probably the most important way to consider as you developyour paragraph not just through definition but also through expositionin general. In some cases, one mode may not be enough for you to ex-plain, present, and discuss your topic and main points. In the case ofthe main question to answer under definition, “What does this term/topic mean?” you should not stop expanding your essay until the ques-tion has been sufficiently answered, and a sufficient answer may re-quire you to use a combination of different kinds (e.g. lexical defini-tion + negation; or analogy + analogy, etc.).

In all these, you must remember that the purpose of exposition is toinform or to explain, so whether you use definition (through whatevertype) or focus on an analogy to develop your essays, you must lead thereaders to a better understanding of a particular idea by presentingand discussing the idea’s meaning/s or by discussing it in relation to amore familiar idea/ term/ situation.

Supplementary Readings

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Kindly take time to read more about Analogy and Principles ofParagraph Development in general through these resources.

Patterns of Development: Definition.

http://www.srjcwritingcenter.com/paragraphs/patternsdev/pat-terns.html

Patterns of Development: Analogy. ht-tp://www.srjcwritingcenter.com/paragraphs/patternsdev/pat-terns.html

Analogy. http://www.mhhe.com/mayfieldpub/tsw/analogy.htm

Principles of Organization in gener-al:http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/composition/organiz-ation.htm

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