1. AP Language & Composition Mr. Whitehead

2.  Narration  Description  Exposition  Argumentation

3. Narration is storytelling. It relates a series of events, usually in chronological order. “Once upon a time... They lived happily ever after.” Narrative may be fictional or nonfictional. The term “story” is generally reserved for fiction but may be applied to both genres.

4. Narration may include a scene with a setting and characters engaged in action or dialogue. Example, from Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men...His huge companion dropped his blankets and flung himself down and drank from the surface of the green pool; drank with long gulps, snorting into the water like a horse. The small man stepped nervously beside him. "Lennie!" he said sharply. "Lennie, for God’s sakes don't drink so much." Lennie continued to snort into the pool. The small man leaned over and shook him by the shoulder. "Lennie. You gonna be sick like you was last night.”

5.  This mode of discourse tells what things are like according to the five senses (sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste). In other words, it employs visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile or gustatory imagery.  Description is often blended with narration or exposition, and it may include figurative language (metaphor, simile, personification)

6. Example, from Of Mice and Men: A few miles south of Soledad, the Salinas River drops in close to the hillside bank and runs deep and green. The water is warm too, for it has slipped twinkling over the yellow sands in the sunlight before reaching the narrow pool. On one side of the river the golden foothill slopes curve up to the strong and rocky Gabilan Mountains, but on the valley side the water is lined with trees---willows fresh and green with every spring, carrying in their lower leaf junctures the debris of the winter's flooding; and sycamores with mottled, white, recumbent limbs and branches that arch over the pool.

7.  Exposition is discourse used primarily to provide information.  This mode has several subtypes Process analysis Definition Comparison and contrast Classification and division Cause and effect Problem and solution

8.  Process Analysis This mode of exposition breaks down the steps of a particular process. An easy example is a recipe or a “how to” text. This mode can be employed in small doses within a variety of texts---short story, novel, argument essay, analytic essay, personal essay, poem.... Example: There is more than one way to fold a shirt, but any pitiful worker at the Gap or Banana Republic could tell you that it can be done in three easy steps. First, you need a folding board, which resembles a clipboard without the clip. Next, you need...

9.  Definition This mode attempts to explain the nature or essential qualities of something. Definitions may be denotative or connotative. Example, from Julian Barnes’s “A Definition of Pantomime”: The panto has its historical roots in the harlequinade and was cross-fertilized by the Victorian music hall. In essence, it consists of a fairy tale---the story of Cinderella, Mother Goose, Alladin, Dick Whittington--- that, while drawing on a traditional narrative line, is constantly updated by topical references, often of a satirical nature.

10.  Comparison/Contrast This mode of exposition explains how one thing is similar to and/or different from something else. Example, from Mark Twain’s “Two Ways of Seeing a River” Now when I had mastered the language of this water and had come to know every trifling feature that bordered the great river as familiarly as I knew the letters of the alphabet, I had made a valuable acquisition.

11.  Classification/Division These modes of exposition function by ordering into groups or by separating a large group into small sections. Examples: There are two types of lazy people: those who work at it and those who don’t. Those who don’t work at it don’t know they’re lazy... In my high school, the student body consisted of the head (bookworms), the arms (athletes), the legs (bigger athletes), and the eyes, often watery or red (the stoners).

12.  Cause and Effect This mode of exposition presents the reasons for--- and/or the consequences of---an action. Example, from Stephen King’s “Why We Crave Horror Movies” When we pay our four or five bucks and seat ourselves at tenth-row center in a theater showing a horror movie, we are daring the nightmare. Why? Some of the reasons are simple and obvious. To show that we can, that we are not afraid, that we can ride this roller coaster.

13.  Problem and Solution This mode of exposition focuses upon presenting or highlighting an issue and how it was or can be resolved. Example: As I see it, the way to alleviate the financial burden of the bridge-and-tunnel commuter is not to lower tolls but to tear down the bridges and collapse the tunnels. Let’s commute by raft and canoe. Heck, let’s swim across.

14.  This mode of discourse attempts to convince through logic. An argument is based on a belief or opinion that the writer holds to be true. The statement of this opinion is the “thesis.” To convince readers that one’s opinion is true, one must present reasons and evidence.

15.  Logos, Ethos and Pathos  Aristotle, in his Rhetoric, suggested that there are three kinds of proofs that speakers or writers might employ to win over an audience: logos, ethos and pathos.

16.  Logos  Logos persuades by evidence and reasoning. The speaker or writer will present facts, figures, illustrative examples, expert testimony and demonstrate how these support his thesis.

17.  Ethos  Ethos, or ethical appeal, persuades by the character of the author. The speaker must project an impression that he is honest, sincere and trustworthy.

18.  Pathos  Pathos, persuades by appealing to the listener’s or reader’s emotions. Pathos often uses narrative. For example, one arguing for the death penalty might tell a personal story of someone who was the victim of a terrible crime.

19. About the Modes of Discourse Modes of Discourse often overlap. For example, in a given paragraph of a personal essay or a novel one might find narration, description, comparison/contrast and appeal through pathos. Practice identifying the various modes in your reading and implementing them in your writing.

20. “A General Summary of Aristotle’s Appeals.” n.d. Web. 9 Sept. 2012. Nordquist, Richard. “Modes of Discourse.” n.d. Web. 9 Sept. 2012. Phillips, Charles. “Modes of Discourse.” Glossary of Literary, Rhetorical and Linguistic Terms. n.d. Web. 9 Sept. 2012.