Patterns of Exposition 6 [antikvár]

To the Instructor Patterns of Exposition 6 retains the basic principles and the general format of our five former editions. Use of the book continues to expand (the publisher tells me that Patterns 5 is the most widely adopted composition anthology in the country) and we continue to poll instructor-users for evaluations of the selections and about the need for basic changes in the framework. In preparing this edition more user questionnaires were mailed out and returned than ever before. We also reviewed the responses of hundreds of students who returned questionnaires like the one at the back of this book. Although obviously we are unable to comply with all requests, many suggestions have been incorporated into this new edition, and all have been seriously considered and fully appreciated. . One of these, persistent in recent years and now grown into popular demand, is for a few selections of argumentation. Many instructors want just enough examples of that form to be able to illustrate the differences between it and exposition, or to use as a brief introduction to their next semester's work. Our difficulty, of course, has been in justifying such selections in a book about exposition. (Description and narration are included only because they are useful aids in explaining.) But we also know that our job is to provide a textbook most useful to most teachers using it — so this time we decided to include some examples of argument and persuasion. But we faced another problem: the fact that there is no sharp, indelible line between exposition and argumentation. Almost the only reason for categorizing writing types at all, of course, is to provide a convenient means of teaching the special methods in- Introduction Exposition is one of the four basic forms of communication, more important to most people than any of the others — narration, description, or argumentation (including persuasion). The novelist and to some extent the sports reporter use narration and description; the lawyer, the salesman, the preacher become skilled in logical argument and persuasion. But these persons are in specialized fields, prepared by specialized training. People in such professions, like the rest of us, are also frequent users of exposition in one way or another. Exposition means explanation, simply an exposing of information or ideas. Its primary function is not to tell a story or relate a happening, although exposition often uses narration as one of many techniques. Its primary function is not to create vivid pictures for the reader, although description, too, may at times be a valuable technique of exposition. The primary function of exposition is not to convince or persuade, although, conversely, logical argument and persuasion frequently use exposition as one of their techniques. But the primary function of exposition itself is merely to explain. Even beyond our increasing need for informally written and spoken explanations, we use the processes of written exposition throughout college — in reports, term papers, essay examinations. Most of us use exposition throughout our working lives — in letters, in memoranda, in business and professional reports. Hence there are practical reasons why most college composition courses are devoted primarily to study and practice in exposition. And these, of course, are the reasons this book concentrates on patterns of expository writing and other techniques commonly used. (An