Patterns of Text Development: Narration and Description

Properties of a Well-Written Text

• Organization (also known as arrangement) refers to the logical and accurate arrangement of ideas in a definite order.
• Coherence refers to the overall sense of unity of ideas in a text.
• Cohesion refers to the connection of ideas at the sentence and paragraph level.

Techniques to Improve Paragraph Cohesion

• Transitions: using conjunctions or conjunctive adverbs to link sentences with logical relationships.
• Pro-forms: using pronouns, pro-verbs, or other pro-forms to make explicit reference back to a form mentioned earlier.
• Collocation: using commonly paired or expected words to connect one sentence to another.
• Enumeration: using overt markers of sequence to highlight the connection between ideas.

Levels in Language Use

• Informal/Personal: using slang, local expressions, and text messaging shortcuts (e.g., HEY, SUP, OTW, BRB, BES, GNYT, SML, YOW, NIGGA, DUDE).
• Standard/Academic: using widely accepted words and phrases found in books, magazines, and newspapers.

Principles in Language Use/Diction

• The Block Method: comparing and contrasting two subjects one at a time.
• The Point-by-Point Method: addressing one subject at a time, writing back and forth between the two subjects.
• Exemplification: using specific, vivid examples to add more information to explain, persuade, define, or illustrate a general idea.
• Classification: dividing a large concept into individual pieces, sorting out or arranging subjects into groups or categories based on their common characteristics.

Patterns of Text Development

• Cause and Effect: explaining why something happens, with three ways to use this pattern: • Cause to effect: stating the cause, followed by sentences stating the effects. • Effect to cause: stating the effect, followed by sentences and paragraphs expounding on the causes. • Consecutive cause and effect: tackling causes, each with its corresponding effect, one by one in a few sentences or a paragraph.
• Persuasion: intending to convince readers to do or believe in something.
• Narration: telling a story, relating an incident or a series of events that leads to a conclusion or ending.
• Description: giving information about a person, object, place, or situation, appealing to the reader's senses.
• Definition: explaining a concept, term, or subject, with two distinct methods: • Informal definition: using denotation (dictionary meaning) and connotation (secondary meaning). • Formal definition: consisting of three principal parts: species, genus, and differentiae.
• Comparison and contrast: explaining how two subjects are similar or different, by making a list of characteristics and identifying similarities and differences.

This quiz covers the two main patterns of text development: narration and description. Narration involves telling a story with a sequence of events, while description focuses on providing sensory details about a person, object, place, or situation.