The Rhetorical Modes

Every essay has a specific purpose. Sometimes the primary purpose of an essay is to entertain- to make us laugh, cry, remember the past - to stir our emotions. Sometimes the primary purpose of an essay is to explain something. Sometimes the purpose is to change our minds or behaviour- to make us choose one path over another. The purpose behind an essay - its reason for being-controls the essay's approach to a topic and profoundly affects the way the essay is organized. Essays with a specific purpose and organization are said to conform to a particular rhetorical mode. Simmons - McDonald (1997) states briefly that there are four modes of discourse namely: description, narration, exposition and argument which writers may use individually or a combination depending on the purpose they want to achieve.

Description

Purpose: Descriptive prose is used to express what a thing looks like, smells like or tastes like. In short, it portrays how we perceive the world through our five senses (sight, hearing, touch smell and taste).

Audience: Reader - to help create a mental picture of what is being written about.

Content: It answers the question ‘what’. For example: What is it like? What is he/she like?

Style: Explicit use of adjectives, data that appeals to sensory faculties and descriptive sequence.

Voice: Description uses details that appeals to the senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch).

Organisation: The organising principle of description is spatial as it creates a virtual image in the minds of readers.

Narration

Purpose: It recounts a personal or fictional experience or tells a story. Narration is concerned with actions in a temporal sequence, with life in motion. It seeks to present an event to the reader, a sense of witnessing an action.

Audience: Reader- to recreate an incident for readers rather than to simply tell them about it.

Content: This mode answers the question of what. For example: what happened?

Style: Apparent use of action or dynamic verbs, dialogue. The point of view if the narrator is usually first or third person narrator. It should include story conventions such as plot, setting, characters, climax and resolution.

Voice: To convey a particular mood (feeling) or to make an incident come alive, narratives employ the use of the first person or “I” narration and the third person or he/she/it persona.

Orgnisation: The organisation principle of narration is temporal in nature meaning that its events are sequential.


Exposition

Purpose: This discourse is concerned with making an idea clear, analysing a situation, defining a term, giving instructions and the like. Its primary function is to inform and explain.

Audience: Reader- conveys information to the reader so that a level of understanding can be achieved.

Content: This mode has the types of questions that a piece of expository may answer. Some of these are: Hoe does it work? What are the constituent parts? What is its importance?

Style: The distinguishing features and style of exposition incorporates the following functions: analysis, classification, definition, illustration, cause and effect, comparison and contrast and analogy.

Voice: In exposition, the writing is engaging and reflective of the writer’s underlying commitment to the topic.

Organisation: There is not one single method of organising exposition but rather a variety, with majority being based on logic: analysis, clarification, definition, illustration, cause and effect, comparison and contrast and sometimes analogy. The method chosen dictates the organisation of the piece as each method has its own distinguishing characteristics.


Argument

Purpose: An argument is an attempt to convince or persuade an audience that a claim is true by means of appeals to reason or to emotion.

Audience: Reader- It moves the readers to take an action or to form or change an opinion.

Content: Answers the question why is this so?

Style: For the presentation of evidence, arguments use facts, authoritative opinion, and personal experience for its development whilst the rebuttal or refuting side uses persuasion in the form of repetition, rhetorical questions and emotional appeals.

Voice: The voice of argument has a strong and definite position on an issue from the beginning of the piece and has enthusiasm from start to finish.

Organisation: Argument is organised by way of formal elements and logic. The formal elements include at least two claims, the first of which being the conclusion and the other, the remaining claim or claims that are the grounds which support or justify the conclusion.

The strategies used by the writers to communicate with his/her audience in the following essays:

1. Narrative Essay: “Alina”

Like any other narrative essay, “Alina” tells a story. The writer is recounting a personal or fictional experience or possibly telling a story based on a real or imagined event. It involves characters, setting, and event/action. The characters, the setting, and the problem of the narrative are introduced in the beginning and through the story form we learn about the people in the story, events, conflicts or crises and the resolution of conflicts or crises. In the narration, the writer uses insight, creativity, drama, suspense and some humor to create the central theme. The details all work together to develop the plot. The narrative essay is written in the first person, that is, using “I.” The writer uses concrete, sensory details or to convey his point. These details create a unified, forceful effect, a dominant impression on the reader.
For example:
“First of all I remember there was a commotion. It was something familiar; like waking to the sounds of my neighbours’ usual morning affair. The loud voices that hurled threats and insults relentlessly, the single bang, sound of collapse or scream that suggested an attempted attack that had everybody scuffling, grabbing at the combatants, and trying to prevent an outcome that would never be in the first place – these were the sounds that roused me from a conversation with Paula and Miss Charlery, my uncle’s wife who had also flown in from St. Lucia to attend the funeral. Since it was her house I naturally watched Paula first for some indication that it was time to act, to ascertain the point of the scuffle – who was involved and why? But she sat there on a long low kitchen bench. Actually she fixed herself onto the bench as if expecting the earth to move. Noticing my unease she looked at me reassuringly. She needed to say nothing. I reached for my drink, Bells I think because it was another cold evening, and tried to show my own indifference. But that did not work. The noises were getting louder and I could now discern a clear argument, a line of incensed reasoning.”



2. Descriptive Essay: “Lou’s Place”

The descriptive essay “Lou’s Place” creates an image of a place, a café, where the images seem concrete and clear. It draws on all of the senses, not merely the visual. Its purpose is to enable the reader to share the writer’s sensory experience of the place. The descriptive essay portrays people, places, things and moments with enough vivid detail to help the reader create a mental picture of what is being written about.
It appeals- to-the-Senses Description: It allowed me to see, smell, hear, taste, and feel what the writer was bringing out. For example:
“It is not a fancy restaurant. The hundreds of booted loggers, railroad workers, and oil field roughnecks trekking through have worn the carpet thin. Chunks are missing from the carpet at the favorite tables of the workers. The hardened veneer on some of the tables is missing a notch here and there. The paint on the walls has cracks and there is a perennial smell of hamburgers permeating the air.”

The essay also provided a Spatial - Order Description or the layout of the café: based on the description, the reader can visual the physical layout of the place. The description provided, showed me where things are located. The setting is described in some sort of order. For example, in describing, one can go in a clockwise direction, or start at the front and go to the back, or go from top to bottom - as long as things are listed in some kind of logical order. In this descriptive essay for example, the writer began with the entrance, then each section was described until the writer got to the most important table at the café.
“When entering the door at Lou’s, two things are immediately noticeable: the place is rarely empty and seems to consist of a maze of rooms. The first room, through the door, is the main part of the restaurant. There is another, rarely used, dining room off to the right. It was added during the oil well boom of the seventies. Through the main dining room is yet another room; it guards the door leading into the kitchen. This room contains the most coveted table in the place. The highest tribute Lou can bestow on anyone is to allow them access to seats at this table. This table is the family table; it is reserved for Lou’s, and her daughter Karen’s, immediate family and treasured friends.”



3. Expository Essay: “The Faceless Teacher” by Dennis Gardner

Expository writing conveys information to the reader in such a way as to bring about understanding, whether it is of a process or procedure, or of the writer’s ideas about a concept as in the case of the persuasive essay ‘The Faceless Teacher’. Persuasive writing moves the reader to take an action or to form or change an opinion. The thesis statement takes a definite position in the introduction: “In facing the twenty-first century, a fearless inventory of the role that the World Wide Web will play in global culture must be taken”. This states the writer’s viewpoint at the beginning of the introductory paragraph following the interest - catching device.
A brief statement of the supporting reasons in the introduction, to be fully expanded in the body of the argument , sets the pattern of reasoning required to support the claim :
“Overzealous use of computers, even in innocence, to ease the burden of solid research in favor of convenience or for the sinister purpose of cutting costs, will reduce learning from a creative process to a point-and-click procedure, effectively diminishing students from social-learners to a cyber-tribe of hunters-and-gatherers relying on the ability of machines and the rote memorization of monitors’ displays.”

The writer uses many factual examples to bring his point across throughout the essay. The writer recognizes the opposing point of view that “the computer can calculate and display”, but the writer’s position is presented last in the concluding sentence so that it has a stronger impact on the reader that a “teacher can calculate and devise.” He also stresses that people work and learn best with other people. By interacting with other people you acquire social skills that are vital to our survival. A computer cannot do that.” While the introduction and conclusion set the framework for the argument, the paragraphs of evidence and support in the body are the argument. While the writer wants to create reader interest, the tone of an argument is generally formal. It considers the nature of the audience and marshals evidence accordingly. It is neither completely objective nor wholly emotional. Instead, it uses the controlled feelings of the writing to persuade the audience.

The conclusion summarizes the reason students should not rely on the Internet for teaching. They should use the Internet as an aid and a tool rather than a teacher. What do you learn when you sit in front of a computer all day? You become non social and cyber- stuck.

The writer’s purpose in the expository essay “The Faceless Teacher”

This persuasive essay states an opinion and supports it convincingly. The writer’s purpose is to convince the reader to accept the view that students should not rely on the Internet for teaching. Rather, the Internet should be used as an aid and a tool. The writer presents alternative views in a way that makes his position clear that no matter where we live or where we go to school, the Internet will be present since students are comfortable using the computer to learn; however, the computer can only do so much. The computer can calculate and display, but a teacher can calculate and devise. The human teacher can explain different solutions to a problem, demonstrate objectivity and understanding, and illustrate alternate approaches to obstacles. People work and learn best with others. By interacting with other people you acquire social skills that are vital to our survival. A computer cannot do that.


Evaluation of the descriptive essay “Lou’s Place” using a rubric:

The following rubric will be used to evaluate the descriptive essay. The 4 point rubric defines the criteria for each level of writing development, attribute by attribute, from “poor” to excellent.” The total score is 24. The level I have chosen for each attribute in the piece is in bold.

KEY:
Poor - 1
Fair - 2
Very Good - 3
Excellent - 4

INTRODUCTION, BODY TEXT AND CONCLUSION ARE PRESENT
1: Lacks two of the essential elements
2: Lacks one of the essential elements
3: Has introduction, adequate body text and conclusion.
4: All elements are present at high level of skill - appropriate proportions; high comprehension.

INTEREST LEVEL
1: Simplistic in style and content - uses simple sentence structures; not original in ideas nor execution.
2: Addresses the topic in cursory manner. Mixes simple and some compound sentences. Has adequate content.
3: Intersperses higher level content with adequate content. Uses compound and complex sentences as appropriate.
4: Excels in content and creative content with original ideas.

USE OF DETAILS AND DESCRIPTIVE PHRASES
1: Has only basic details -uses few descriptive terms, and they are mostly concrete.
2: Has basic details with some descriptive terms, a few descriptive phrases, and some abstract descriptive terms
3: Skillfully uses more descriptive terms and phrases and other modifiers.
4: Exceptional use of abstract and concrete modifiers, phrases and descriptive language.

COHERENCE - USE OF TRANSITIONS
1: Little flow of ideas; blocky and disjointed; relevance not always clear.
2: Ideas have some flow, and are mostly on topic.
3: Ideas flow with transitional words, yet organization remains evident. Included parts address the topic.
4: Exceptional use of vivid transitions. Topical flow and organization are evident. All parts highly relevant.

USE OF SUPPORTING IDEAS
1: Expresses ideas with few supporting facts or opinions.
2: Expresses ideas with some supporting details and/or opinions
3: Ideas are well supported with adequate detail and facts/opinions.
4: Exceptional use of supporting detail. Facts and opinions are distinguished

CONVENTIONS
1: Numerous errors in rudimentary mechanics.
2: Shows a grasp of rudimentary mechanics: capitalization of first word in sentence and correct use of end punctuation but has several spelling, punctuation, or capitalization errors
3: Few errors in spelling, punctuation, or capitalization.
4: Exceptional use of supporting detail. Facts and opinions are distinguished

Total score: 17