For this activity, you will read a brief description for each of the four modes and an activity you may want to try for each. Simply click on the thought bubble to learn or review the mode. See if you can identify the mode by the thought bubble in the picture. If you click the thought bubble, a description will display in a pop-up window. Turn off the pop-up to return to this page.
Elements of style: sentence variation and tone
While there is no one standard style that every writer must follow, there are two key elements in an effective writing style. One is readability, which means using words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs in such a way as to communicate facts and ideas clearly. The other is elegance, meaning the use of appropriate and interesting words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs to produce graceful, unobtrusive prose that will keep a reader's attention and interest. Good style communicates information effectively. It moves the reader along easily from word to word, sentence to sentence, paragraph to paragraph, and one section of the paper to the next.
One of the most effective style techniques is to use sentence variety. Having writers vary their sentence construction makes it easier for them to engage readers, avoid monotony, and clarify their meaning. Purposeful sentence variation adds rhythm and emphasis while helping readers identify the main ideas in a piece of writing along with the evidence that supports these ideas. Such variation is an element of sentence fluency, "the way individual words and phrases sound together within a sentence, and how groups of sentences sound when read one after the other" (Peha, 2003). See the first three sections at the following link to see how using sentence variety increases sentence fluency.
https://www.ttms.org/writing_quality/sentence_fluency.htm
Sentence variation can work to uplift the written word. See how at this link.
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/sentence_variety/index.html
Tone is the attitude a writer takes toward a subject. The language and details a writer chooses help to create the tone, which may be playful, serious, bitter, angry, or detached, among other possibilities. Tone reflects the feelings of the writer. Whether to use formal or informal speech (i.e., language) is a consideration in developing tone. Selecting appropriate language affects the audience the writing is meant to address. The web site at the link below addresses audience, tone, and the use of formal or informal language in writing.
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/composition/tone.htm
Using sentence variety
Whatever the purpose of a particular mode of writing, effective use of sentence variety will help to engage readers, avoid monotony, and clarify meaning. Purposeful sentence variation adds rhythm and emphasis while helping readers identify the main ideas in a piece of writing along with the evidence that supports these ideas. Such variation is an element of sentence fluency, "the way individual words and phrases sound together within a sentence, and how groups of sentences sound when read one after the other" (Peha, 2003). See the first three sections at the following link to see how using sentence variety increases sentence fluency.
https://www.ttms.org/writing_quality/sentence_fluency.htm
Sentence variation can work to uplift the written word. See how at this link.
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/sentence_variety/index.html
Young writers can begin to learn such variation by constructing simple sentences and expanding them with the 'Where? When? How? Why?" technique. Learn more about this at the link below.
https://iowareadingresearch.org/blog/sentence-expanding
A narrative essay is simply a personal story, and students have at
least a few of these to tell. Sometimes plays and movies have a narrator,
a person who stands to the side and tells his or her story. The narrator
describes actions as well as thoughts and feelings. For the purpose of
this activity, you are the narrator. The story you choose to write will
be your narrative essay. Take a moment to jot down three of your own true-life,
personal story ideas.
Unlike some other essay forms, the narrative essay is usually written
in the first person viewpoint. However, it can also be written in third
person (he, she, it) Because this is your story, you can pepper it
with the words "I," "me," "my," and "mine." This
is a personal experience piece. While an opinion essay would also be
written in first person, it would dwell more on thoughts and ideas than
on events. Your narrative essay will be event-driven.
For example, take this sentence: "I was never more scared than the
day I lost my little sister in a crowded mall." With that opening
statement, the reader knows they are about to learn the details of
that day, from the moments leading up to the child's disappearance,
to your terrified scramble to find her, and finally to your reunion
at the security office. You will draw them into the story with your
descriptions of your fears and your attempts to locate your sister.
Your story will be written in the storytelling style complete
with setting, characters, plot, climax, and ending. Let's
use an adoption story as an example. It was laid out like this:
Setting: the quiet home of a childless couple, the social services
office, the wife's office
Main Characters: a white husband and wife and two black foster babies
Plot: Will this couple ever have children? Will the babies ever
have parents?
Climax: the birth parents choose to give up the babies for adoption
Ending: the couple joyfully adopts both babies and completes their
family
Now look back at your three narrative ideas. Can they be outlined
in the above form? If so, choose one and list the setting, characters,
plot, climax, and ending. If for any reason your ideas won't work
for your essay, I'll help you by providing a few topics from which you can
choose.
Alternative Topics for Narrative Essay
- The Biggest Lie I Ever Told and Its Consequences
- The Weirdest Thing That Ever Happened to Me (or My Family)
- The Best Decision I Ever Made
- My Favorite Childhood Memory
Descriptive writing is an art form. It's painting a word picture so that the reader "sees" exactly what you are describing. To see for yourself what this means, read the following passages carefully. The same scene will be described twice. A quiz follows, so be sure to concentrate.
#1: The sun was going down beyond the lake. The sky was beautiful. Shades of purple and pink, orange and red, a few really dark blotches, and a bit of yellow were reflected in the water.
#2:
The sleeping water reflected the evening sky. The angels must have spilled
their jam, because the sunset was a mixture of grape with strawberry,
apricot and raspberry, clumps of blueberry, and a little melted butter.
* * *
#1: There was a rock sticking up out of the river, and a bird was standing tall and straight on it. Early morning mist was swirling around it.
#2: In the middle of the misty river,
an egret stood at attention on a rock. The movement of the mist made
it appear as if the bird were gliding down the river on the back of a
baby whale.
* * *
#1: It was hot. It was too hot. The girl stood beside the road and waited. She was so uncomfortable that she lifted her hair off her neck to cool down. She began to sweat.
#2: Humidity breathed in
the girl's face and ran its greasy fingers through her hair. As she stood
looking down the long, deserted road, she could see heat vapor rising
in the distance, creating a rippled, watery effect. She frowned and lifted
her hair off her neck. A drop of perspiration slid down her spine.
* * *
In each set of examples, #2 stands out as the "word picture" description. Can you tell why?
Two words appear more often in the first passages than in the second. They are weak verbs that can often be traded for strong verbs. Those weak verbs are was and were. How many times were they used in the first passages? ____ How often did they appear in the second passages? _____ If you look over your writing and discover those words sprinkled throughout, you'll need to edit your work. Replace was's and were's with stronger verbs when possible, and re-phrase statements if necessary. (Note: the present tense of those verbs, is and are, should be avoided as well.)
Look at the two sunset passages again. Both of them contain adjectives. Why is #2 better than #1? The answer is because #2 is more specific. It's easy to list colors. However, there are so many shades of each color. Red can have blue or orange undertones. Look around the classroom and take note of the many different shades of red. If you can be more specific, the reader will get a clearer picture of the scene you are describing. Strawberry and raspberry are two different shades of red; raspberry is a touch darker than strawberry.
What word described the water in the first #2 passage? ______________ What does that tell you about the water? ____________________________________ Descriptive writing often employs figurative language to bring a scene to life. The use of that particular word to describe the water is called personification. Personification means the writer gave human characteristics to a nonhuman subject.
Now observe the egret-on-a-rock passages. List two ways the second passage is more specific than the first. ___________________________ and ______________________________.
Notice the difference in the bird's stance. In the first paragraph, it is standing straight and tall. In the second paragraph, it is standing at attention. Again, you find the use of personification improves the scene.
Descriptive writing is most often used in a narrative.
Expository is just a fancy word that has to do with explaining a subject/topic. An expository essay, then, is a written explanation of a subject. The goal is to share information with the reader. It may be abstract or concrete in nature. That is, it may be about an idea (the U.S. system of checks and balances) or about a real take-a-photo-of-it subject (making a toothpick model of the Golden Gate Bridge).
Your expository essay will exhibit your knowledge of a subject. That knowledge may be familiar to you already, or it may require research. It will be fact-based and not opinion-based. It will be without first and second-person pronouns. Focus your attention on the topic and not yourself or the reader.
Explanations in expository essays can be presented in a variety of methods, such as the following:
- Explain a step-by-step process
- Compare and/or contrast two items
- Explain with examples
- Divide and classify
- Identify a cause-effect relationship (causal analysis)
The first method requires sequential order in the details. If you were to write the instructions for making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, laying out the bread would come before spreading the peanut butter and jelly, which comes before putting the two slices of bread together--sticky side in, of course!
Methods #2 through #4 employ an order of importance; the two options are to arrange the information from most-to-least important (news reporting style) or least-to-most important (dramatic buildup).
Method #3 involves giving examples of how to do, build, make something.
Method #5 The method of causal analysis involves one of two options: identify a cause and predict its effect, or present the effect and identify its cause. For example, if the effect is that Hammy is dripping wet, the cause might be that he got caught in the rain or sprayed with a garden hose.
You want a raise, new landscaping for your neighborhood, or additional products available in the grocery store. What do you do? You might try whining, wheedling, or begging, but that conduct rarely does more than annoy people. If you use the art of persuasion, you stand the best chance of being heard, respected, and perhaps rewarded with the desired response.
Let's take what you know about the art of persuasion and apply it to the written word. Your assignment is to write a persuasive essay. We'll take it step-by-step.
First you need to choose a topic. It must be
something debatable. It can't be a fact. If you were to choose as your
topic, "Vipers are dangerous," you wouldn't have to persuade
anyone of that. However, if your topic was, "Vipers should be
eliminated from the animal kingdom," then you would have presented
an opinion that could be debated. That's not to say that your argument
would win, but you could give it your best effort!
Your persuasive essay will focus on only one side–your chosen
side–of the argument. This will not be a pros-and-cons essay. Also,
it won't be a personal opinion essay. You must be prepared to back up your
logic with evidence collected in research that supports your position.
Try one of these three topics: Christmas trees, Cameras on traffic signals,
or our national bird. You need to decide your position on the chosen topic.
Your argument regarding Christmas trees may be to persuade others to buy
artificial trees, or persuade them that live trees are best, or perhaps
you feel that the tradition of Christmas trees has no place in the 21st
century! Your argument regarding cameras on traffic signals could be about
it being an invasion of privacy. . If you choose our national bird as your
topic, you should try to persuade your readers that a bird other than the
Bald Eagle deserves to be the United States' bird of honor. Choose one
of those topics listed, or come up with an argument that excites you.
Once you have a topic and have researched it thoroughly, you will write
your introduction. Capture the reader's attention with a quotation or story
related to the topic, or ask a leading question.
