Patterns of

Development in Writing
A. Narration
 Describes what,
when, and where
something happened.
It is simply telling a story,
usually from the viewpoint
of one person. Many times,
the writer is also making a
point as well as recounting
events that occurred.
Narration can be found in any
form of literature, including
plays, short stories, poems,
novels, or even jokes. They are
considered narration, or
narrative, as long as they tell a
story.
Narrative Novel
The last example is an excerpt from the novel, Moby Dick by
Herman Melville.
 "Landlord!" said I, "what sort of chap is he -- does he always keep
such late hours?" It was now hard upon twelve o'clock. The
landlord chuckled again with his lean chuckle, and seemed to be
mightily tickled at something beyond my comprehension. "No," he
answered, "generally he's an early bird -- airley to bed and airley
to rise -- yea, he's the bird what catches the worm. -- But to-night
he went out a peddling, you see, and I don't see what on earth
keeps him so late, unless, may be, he can't sell his head. “Can’t
sell his head? -- What sort of a bamboozingly story is this you are
telling me?" getting into a towering rage. "Do you pretend to say,
landlord, that this harpooner is actually engaged this blessed
Saturday night, or rather Sunday morning, in peddling his head
around this town?”
B. Description
Details what
something looks like
and its characteristics.
 In descriptive writing, the author
does not tell the reader what was
seen, felt, tested, smelled, or heard.
Rather, he describes something that
he experienced and, through his
choice of words, makes it seem real.
In other words, descriptive writing is
vivid, colorful, and detailed.
•The sunset filled the entire sky
with the deep color of rubies,
setting the clouds ablaze.

•The waves crashed and danced

along the shore, moving up and
down in a graceful and gentle
rhythm like they were dancing.
•His deep and soulful blue eyes were
like the color of the ocean on the
clearest day you can ever imagine.

•The soft fur of the dog felt like silk

against my skin and her black coloring
glistened as it absorbed the sunlight,
reflecting it back as a perfect, deep,
dark mirror.
C. Definition
Explains what something is
in comparison to other
members of its class, along
with any limitations.
“If someone or something is unaffected by an
event or occurrence, they are not changed by
it in any way.”

This definition shows the typical grammar

structure in which we use the word unaffected
— after a form of be (is, was, will be, etc.), and
before the preposition by. So it tells you that we
often say “is unaffected by”, “was unaffected
by”, “will be unaffected by”, etc. It also shows
that people or things can be unaffected by an
event.
“You say that something is stupid to
indicate that you do not like it or that it
annoys you”.

The beginning of this definition (“You say

that...”) shows that you use the word
stupid to talk about your feelings, and not
about facts. If you say to somebody
“You’re stupid”, you don’t mean that the
person is not intelligent. You simply mean
that you don’t like them.
D. Exemplification\Classification

Provides typical
cases or examples of
something.
 In most respects, after all, Woodstock was a disaster. To begin
with, it rained and rained for weeks before the festival, and then,
of course, it rained during the festival. The promoters lost weeks of
preparation time when the site had to be switched twice. They
rented Yasgur’s field less than a month before the concert. The
stage wasn’t finished, and the sound system was stitched
together perilously close to the start of the show. As soon as the
festival opened, the water- and food-delivery arrangements
broke down, the gates and fences disintegrated, and tens of
thousands of new bodies kept pouring in. (One powerful lure was
the rumor that the revered Bob Dylan was going to perform; he
wasn’t.) In response to an emergency appeal for volunteers, fifty
doctors were flown in. The Air Force brought in food on Huey
helicopters, and the Women’s Community Center in Monticello
sent thirty thousand sandwiches. One kid was killed as he was run
over by a tractor, one died of appendicitis, and another died of a
drug overdose.
The writer of this paragraph piles on many
examples, one after the other, to support his main
idea. Each example gives a specific illustration of
how Woodstock was a disaster: it rained, the
promoters had to switch sites, water and food were
not delivered as planned, and so on.

If a single example is particularly vivid and

compelling, it can sometimes be enough to
support a topic sentence. The following paragraph
uses one extended example to support its main
idea--that fear can move one to action.
Classification Paragraph
Different students attend various types of schools; however,
they can usually be classified as either public, private religious,
private non-religious, or alternative. Public schools are funded by
the state, and the majority of students in the United States attend
them. Private religious schools are based around a particular
faith, such as Catholicism, Judaism, and so forth. The religion is
part of the everyday lives of the students and they also learn
about the faiths. All types of private schools do not receive state
funding. Therefore, private non-religious schools are simply just
that: schools which do not receive state funding and have the
ability to make their own rules. Alternative schools can be made
up of a variety of different categories, such as the Montessori
program or technical schools. Most students who attend class in
an actual school building go to one of these types of institutions.
 E. Comparison and Contrast
Tells how something is like other things or how something is
different from other things.
 Contrast Paragraph
Even though Arizona and Rhode Island are both states of the U.S., they
are strikingly different in many ways. For example, the physical size of
each state is different. Arizona is large, having an area of 114,000 square
miles, whereas Rhode Island is only about a tenth the size, having an area
of only 1,214 square miles. Another difference is in the size of the
population of each state. Arizona has about four million people living in it,
but Rhode Island has less than one million. The two states also differ in the
kinds of natural environments that each has. For example, Arizona is a
very dry state, consisting of large desert areas that do not receive much
rainfall every year. However, Rhode Island is located in a temperate zone
and receives an average of 44 inches of rain per year. In addition, while
Arizona is a landlocked state and thus has no seashore, Rhode Island lies on
the Atlantic Ocean and does have a significant coastline.
 Comparison Paragraph
My hometown and my college town have several things in
common. First, both are small rural communities. For example,
my hometown, Gridlock, has a population of only about 10,000
people. Similarly, my college town, Subnormal, consists of about
11,000 local residents. This population swells to 15,000 people
when the college students are attending classes. A second way
in which these two towns are similar is that they are both
located in rural areas. Gridlock is surrounded by many acres of
farmland which is devoted mainly to growing corn and soybeans.
In the same way, Subnormal lies in the center of farmland which
is used to raise hogs and cattle.
 F. Cause and Effect
Details why something
happens, what causes it,
what are the effects and
how it is related to
something else.
 When water is heated, the
molecules move quickly,
therefore the water boils. A
tornado blew the roof off the
house, and as a result, the family
had to find another place to live.
Because the alarm was not set,
we were late for work.
 G. Problem and Solution
In composition, problem-solution is a method for analyzing
and writing about a topic by identifying a problem and
proposing one or more solutions.

A problem-solution essay is a type of argument. "This sort

of essay involves argumentation in that the writer seeks to
convince the reader to take a particular course of action.
In explaining the problem, it may also need to persuade
the reader concerning specific causes" (Dave Kemper et
al., Fusion: Integrated Reading and Writing, 2016).
Problem
Drug abuse causes multiple problems for countries and
communities.
The medical and psychological effects are very
obvious.
Addicts cannot function as normal members of society.
They neglect or abuse their families, and eventually
require expensive treatment or hospitalization.
The second effect is on crime.
Huge police resources are needed to fight smuggling
and dealing. Criminal gangs and mafia underworlds
develop with the money from drugs.
Solution
However, the menace of drugs can be fought.
Education is the first battle.
Children need to be told at home and in school about drugs.
People need to be aware of the effects so that they can avoid
this problem.
A second approach is to increase police manpower and create
effective laws to stop dealers.
However the main target should be the user
: Families and counselors need to talk to children and people at
risk. Parents need to look at their children and help them to
become responsible. Worthwhile jobs and housing are also
needed to give people a role in society.
H. Persuasion
Describes an issue and your position or opinion on the subject.
Barack Obama makes a public speech a night before his election
campaign in Virginia on November 3, 2008 by saying,
“This country is more decent than one where a woman in Ohio, on the
brink of retirement, finds herself one illness away from disaster after a
lifetime of hard work…This country is more generous than one where
a man in Indiana has to pack up the equipment he’s worked on for
twenty years and watch it shipped off to China… We are more
compassionate than a government that lets veterans sleep on our
streets and families slide into poverty; that sits on its hands while a
major American city drowns before our eyes…”
This emotional speech plays on the sense of the guilt of people — the
reason that it is a good example of pathos. Although Obama employs
snob appeal fallacy in his argument, however, it is a very influential and
emotional appeal.
DON’T FORGET:

NDD – ECC - PP
Patterns of
Development in Writing
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LISTENING…..