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5: Using Narration, Description, and Classification

  • Page ID
    170484

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    Chapter Summary

    In a world of words, in worlds built by words, we find meaning. There are so many ways to communicate with one another, but how we choose to approach our audience requires thoughtful choices, such as consideration of timing, logic, emotion, and credibility, all concepts explored throughout millennia by famous thinkers that help us convince or persuade our readers to vibe with what we're trying to lay down on the page, tablet, or screen. In short, we must figure out how to appeal to our target audience using all the elements we can in writing, especially what words we choose and how we place them together when considering what genre or form the composition must or should take. Three possible rhetorical modes, or approaches, to writing involve storytelling (narration), picture-painting (description), or categorization (classification). These ways of employing language to serve meaningful purposes involve making choices that will be further explored in this chapter.