Nonfiction is prose that is based on fact. can be verified.

Fact vs. Truth Although nonfiction IS based on fact, it is false to assume that “fact” and “truth” are the same thing.

The Truth It is impossible to tell the “whole truth” about any experience.

Nonfiction The very act of putting something into words changes it.

Diction The particular words an author chooses to use – Word Choice - They tell something about the actual experience our personality our personal beliefs or prejudices our background and MOST IMPORTANTLY our purpose as the writer (*)

Purpose Every good writer of nonfiction has a purpose when he or she writes.

Purpose The purpose may be to explain or inform to create a mood or emotion to tell about a series of events to persuade the reader to believe something or to do something.

Forms of nonfiction: Reports: Factual accounts of places or events

Personal essays: - Reveal a great deal about the writer - Tone: conversational, sometimes humorous - Focus: writer’s feelings and responses to an experience - May be no attempt to be objective

Article: A prose composition, usually comparatively brief and always nonfiction, which deals with a single topic. An article is a direct, expository or descriptive factual statement a type of formal essay usually considered to have less dignity and weight frequently considered journalistic

Speech: A form of communication in spoken language made by a speaker before an audience for a given purpose

Biographies/Autobiographies/Memoirs: Biography: an account of a person’s life, written or told by someone else. Autobiography: an account of the writer’s own life, as told by the writer.

Memoir (form of autobiography) Record of facts and events concerns a particular subject or period usually written from the writer’s personal knowledge, experiences, and observations

Nonfiction All types of nonfiction include literary methods and devices.

Nonfiction Description Narration Exposition Persuasion Four major methods used in nonfiction: Description Narration Exposition Persuasion

Methods used in Nonfiction Description: establishes a mood or emotion uses images – words that appeal to our senses (see, hear, smell, taste, or touch)

Methods used in Nonfiction Narration: - tells about a series of events - usually chronological order

Methods used in Nonfiction Exposition purpose: - to explain or inform - to define - to clarify an idea

Methods used in Nonfiction Persuasion purpose: to convince the reader or listener to think or act in a certain way.

All essay forms answer certain questions: Expository answers: “What is it and how does it work?” Description answers: “What does it look, sound, smell, feel, and/or taste like?”

All essay forms answer questions: Narration answers: “What happened?” Persuasion answers: “What should I feel or do about it?”

Nonfiction purpose The writer tries to interest us with the purpose of the piece.

Nonfiction elements To interest us, he/she uses many elements also found in fiction: Conflict Irony Suspense Comedy Characters Figures of Speech Dialogue

Other terms to learn in this unit: Objective Accuracy Subjective Propaganda Purpose Evidence Pun Attitude/ Tone Inference Slice of Life Human Interest Anecdotes Allusions Genre Jargon Fact Stereotypes Opinion Realism Exaggeration/Overstatement Stream of Consciousness