Styles, Terms, and Selections

NonfictionStyles, Terms, and Selections

Styles•There are 4 different kinds of Nonfiction writing:–Descriptive–Persuasive–Expository–Narrative

Descriptive•Type of writing

intended to create a mood or an emotion or to re-create a person, a place, a thing, an event, or an experience.

Description, cont.•It uses images

that appeal to the senses, helping us imagine how a subject looks, sounds, smells, tastes, or feels. It is used in:

FictionNonfiction

Drama Poetry

Persuasive•Type of writing

designed to change the way a reader or listener thinks or acts. It uses language that appeals to:

•REASON

•Emotion •Both

Persuasion, Cont.•Persuasive writing

can be found in:Speeches

Newspaper

Editorials Essays

ArticlesAdvertisements

Expository•Type of writing

that explains, gives information, or clarifies an idea. Exposition is generally objective and formal in tone

Ex: A magazine article on nutrition.

Narrative•Type of writing that

tells about a series of related events. Narration can be:

LongShort

Fiction

Poetry

Drama

Nonfiction Essays

BiographiesDiary

Memory

Auto

Literary Elements in Nonfiction

•There are several important literary elements you need to know when reading nonfiction.

Autobiography• Auto—”self”• Bio—”life”• Graph—”writing”• Autobiography is the

story of your life, written by YOU

• What’s the difference between biography and AUTObiography?

Biography is the story of your life, written by SOME ONE ELSE!

Rambling Autobiography• An autobiography that

jumps from topic to topic without a specific point or purpose

• Tells a story by using a lot of random details, but no substance

• Ex: An instant message conversation; a friend telling a story with no point…you find yourself tuning them out

Irony: 3 Kinds•Situational

–Expect something to happen, but the opposite does

•Dramatic–Audience knows something the character doesn’t

Irony, cont.•Verbal

–When you say something, but mean the opposite

–Sarcasm is one step further—being mean with verbal irony

Selections: Essays, Articles•Memorial Day•No Ordinary Joe

•Sportsmanship

Selections, Cont.•“Typhoid Fever” an excerpt from Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt–Education of Frank McCourt

Cont…“Now you take ‘Bambi’ or ‘Snow White’--That’s Scary!” by Stephen King