English Language Techniques Quiz: Test Your Knowledge

Study Notes

The University Prayer seeks to promote the search for truth and knowledge, and to inspire others to follow.
The prayer aims to create a community of scholars who share this ambition, care for one another, and are loyal to the truth.

Show and Tell Instructions:
- Find something you love that is inside your bag.
- Describe the item in 3-5 sentences.
- Share a story about the item and why it's important to you.

Definition of a paragraph: a group of sentences or a single sentence that forms a unit.
Characteristics of a paragraph: unified, clearly related to the thesis, coherent, and well-developed.
Modes of paragraph development: cause and effect, definition, narration, description, comparison and contrast, problem-solution, exemplification, and persuasion.

Definition: putting an identity to something or assigning an existence to something relatively unknown.
Techniques in creating a definition essay:
- Analysis: breaking down a concept into its constituent parts.
- Collocation: using words or expressions that frequently occur together.
- Negation: defining a word or concept by explaining what it is not.
- Synonyms: using a single word or phrase that shares almost the same meaning with the concept.

Exemplification: the method of listing, enumerating, and giving examples to elaborate a topic or subject.
Techniques to use in establishing credibility in arguments:
- Visual Illustrations: using concrete images or descriptions.
- Facts: using verifiable data or statistics.
- Anecdotes: using brief narratives or stories.
- Details: focusing on individual descriptions or minute parts.
- Opinion: using personal interpretations or opinions.
- Observations: using sensory details or observations.

Introduction: generating interest and becoming more specific as they move toward the thesis statement.
Body of paragraphs: developing best examples fully in separate paragraphs and discarding the others.
Transitions: using transitions to introduce new examples and guide the reader's understanding.
Conclusion: reinforcing the essay's main idea, restating the thesis, and perhaps using the "coming full circle" technique.

Pattern of development helps facilitate the sorting and grouping of ideas by identifying the main purpose of the paragraph.
Examples of patterns of development include cause and effect, definition, narration, description, comparison and contrast, problem-solution, exemplification, and persuasion.