1. Discourse
Ms. Kathryn Bacchus

2. Discourse There are three (3) main types of discourse: Written Verbal
Non-verbal

3. Examples of Discourse Written Verbal Non-verbal Encyclopedia
News reports
Maps
Newspaper and magazine articles
Radio talk shows, sermon
Tables and charts
Novels and other books
Radio advertisements
Sign language
Essays
Conversations
Body language
Recipes
Songs
Comic strips
Manuals
Dramatic performances
Posters
s, letters, texts
Documentaries
Facial expressions
Dramatic scripts
Story-telling
Eye contact
Police report
Debate, interviews
Physical appearance
Written speech
Spoken speech, lecture
Silence, time, space

4. Discourse
Each type of discourse has a particular purpose which depends on the intended audience.
e.g. 1: A recipe on ‘Barbequed Steak’ is intended to
inform those who enjoy cooking and barbequing.
e.g. 2: A map is meant to inform people who are looking
for directions to a specific place/ area.
e.g. 3: A documentary is meant to educate the public/
historians/ researchers/ students about important
issues taking place in the world.

5. Argumentative/Persuasive
Written Discourse
Written discourse can further be broken down into four (4) categories:
Narrative
Expository
Written Discourse
Argumentative/Persuasive
Descriptive

6. Expository Writing Expository writing is used to explain,
Expository Writing is a term that refers to various styles of non-fiction (factual) writing, e.g. newspaper and magazine articles, extracts from Science texts, police reports.
Expository writing is used to explain,
describe or inform.

7. Expository Writing
Expository Writing can take several forms but the six (6) we will be studying are:
Cause and Effect
Descriptive
Classification
Compare and Contrast
Problem and Solution
Process-based

8. Expository Writing – Cause and Effect
A cause-effect essay serves one of the two purposes:
to show the effects of an event
to explain the causes of an event
In other words, cause and effect writing aims at explaining why things happen (i.e. causes) and what happens as a result (i.e. effects). There are several possible relationships between causes and effects.

9. One Cause – One Effect
Because I ate too much candy, I got a stomach ache. Here we have one cause – eating too much candy which leads to one effect – the stomach ache

10. Many Causes – One Effect
One’s poor health may be attributed to malnutrition, overwork and a lack of sleep.

11. One Cause – Many Effects
When a man loses his job, many undesirable things may
happen as a result. The bank may take away his house
since he can’t pay the
mortgage; his children
may have to transfer to a
public school because
there is no extra money
for the high tuition fees
for private schools, and
he may have to sell his car
for cash and to cut down on expenses.

12. Ripple Effect or Chain Reaction
Let’s take the ripple effect of global warming for example. The increase of carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere leads to a rise in temperature, which causes the ice sheets in the two Polar Regions to melt, which poses a threat not only to animals there but also to people living along the coastlines. The rise of temperature also causes a breakdown in ecological balance. Fish swim northwards and trees blossom in the wrong season, which causes many species to lose food sources. In this example, one event leads to another, which may still lead to one or more other events.

13. Review Types of discourse: written, verbal, non-verbal
Types of written discourse: expository, descriptive, narrative, argumentative/ persuasive
Types of expository discourse: cause and effect, problem and solution, comparison and contrast, process-based, descriptive, classification
Expository discourse: Cause and Effect
One cause-one effect
Many causes – one effect
One cause – many effects
Ripple Effect/ chain reaction