READING ANG WRITING

• Discourse


  Any unit of connected speech or writing longer than a sentence
• Discourse cannot be confined to sentential boundaries. It is something that goes beyond the limits of the sentence
• Discourse


  Any coherent succession of sentences, spoken or written
• Discourse is one of the four systems of language, the others being vocabulary, grammar, and phonology
• Discourse


  Any piece of extended language (language that is more than one sentence), written or spoken, that has unity, meaning, and purpose
• Forms of Discourse


  • Narration
  • Description
  • Exposition
• Narration


  • Description of an event, which occurs in chronological order
  • Uses pronouns like "I" and "me"
  • Includes an action
  • Follows a chronological order
• Elements of Narration


  • Setting
  • Character
  • Actions
• Types of Narration


  • Simple
  • Plotted
• Description


  • Fiction-writing mode for transmitting a mental image of the particulars in the story
  • Can go hand in hand with narration and makes the events in the story more vivid
• Patterns of Description


  • Spatial
  • Vertical
  • Horizontal
  • Circular
  • Affective
  • Temporal
• Kinds of Description


  • Informative (Scientific and Technical)
  • Artistic (Suggestive / Evocative or literary)
• Exposition


  A type of oral or written discourse used to explain, describe, or give information
• The creator of an expository text cannot assume that the reader or listener has prior knowledge or prior understanding of the topic that is being discussed</b>
• One important point to keep in mind for the author is to try to use words that clearly show what they are talking about rather than blatantly telling the reader what is being discussed
• Exposition


  Gives the reader a balanced amount of the subject and uses a neutral, objective tone
• Argumentation


  Convinces the reader of the writer's overall point and suggests wider implication
• Patterns of Exposition


  • Circumlocution
  • Narrative Interspersion
  • Recursion
  • Description
  • Sequence
  • Comparison
  • Cause and Effect
  • Problem and Solution
• Outline of Exposition


  • Topic Sentence
  • First Point
  • Support
  • Second Point
  • Support
  • Third Point
  • Support
  • Concluding Sentence
• Types of Exposition


  • Exposition of a Process
  • Exposition of an Abstract Term
  • Character Sketch
  • Essay
  • Comment and Criticism
• Exposition of a Process

  • How-to-do-it
  • How-it-works
  • How-it-is-organized
  • How-did-it-happen
• Parts of Definition


  • Term
  • Genus
  • Differentia/differentiation
• Kinds of Character Sketches


  • Individual sketch
  • Type sketch
• Kinds of Essay


  • Formal Essay
  • Informal Essay
• Humans


  Rational animals
• Character Sketch


  • The process of writing individual traits to set forth our idea of the person
  • Giving details of the characteristics of some personified animal or thing
• Two kinds of Character Sketches

  • Individual sketch - concerns a particular person
  • Type sketch - deals more with the characteristics common to a group
• Essay


  An exposition of an author's thoughts or reflections on some subject of human interest
• Two kinds of Essay and its Purpose

  • Formal Essay - to give information and instruction
  • Informal Essay - to reveal writer's personality, to entertain, to comment on interesting and important matters
• Comment and Criticism


  • Usually published in newspapers and magazines and is written in a large variety of subjects such as books, play, music, painting, sculpture, or anything that naturally evokes opinion or judgment
  • Aimed at placing a book or any other piece of work in its proper niche of respect and authority
  • Criticism justifies the point of view and final judgment by means of signaling out merit and demerit, comparison with established standards, and analysis of the work as a whole and part-by-part
  • Criticism may be constructive or destructive
• Three kinds of Criticism

  • Historical criticism
  • Criticism by use of standards
  • Impressionistic or Personal Criticism
• Classification and Partition


  • Two different patterns, but both involve sorting information into categories
  • Used to handle subjects where there is so much information, the writer decides to break the subject up into smaller pieces and examine each piece separately
• Summary


  • States and explains briefly the subject of any spoken or written composition of considerable length
  • Words like abstract, epitome, resume, abridgment, recapitulation and summary are practically synonymous
  • The degree of condensation of any piece of composition must depend on the purpose
• Argumentation


  • The form of composition that aims to convince others of the truth or falsity of a disputed matter
  • Appeals to the understanding
• Three goals of critical argumentation

  • Identify arguments
  • Analyze arguments
  • Evaluate arguments
• People who make use of argumentation always appeal - whether explicitly or implicitly - to some standard of reasonableness
• This does not always mean that each argumentation is indeed reasonable
• Suggested Argumentative Paper Format

  • Introduction - to set up and state one's claim
  • Background Paragraph - to lay the foundation for proving the argument
  • Supporting Evidence Paragraphs - to prove the argument
  • Counterargument Paragraph - to anticipate the reader's objections
  • Conclusion Part 1 - to sum up the argument and supporting evidence
  • Conclusion Part 2 - to illustrate critical and analytical thinking about the issue