Expositions… aka “persuasive texts”

Expositions… aka“persuasive texts”

Exposition texts are written to show a point of view in favour (to support) or against (to challenge) a specific topic / idea / assumption. • The ultimate aim: • is to try to convince the reader to agree with your opinion, or take a certain course of action, by giving reasons which are proven with evidence

Exposition texts: • are emotive • are biased • are convincing

Structure of an EXPOSITION:

INTRODUCTION – include a statement to give your argument/opinion – list at least 3 arguments / reasons which PROVE your argument/opinion – grab the reader’s attention with “catchy” language techniques

BODY – include a series of paragraphs – ONLY one new idea or argument in EACH paragraph – use persuasive/emotive language – use quoted or reported quotes - use facts… from real events AND/OR from a fiction text – use cohesive language (synonyms and repeated key words) to link paragraphs

CONCLUSION – restate the argument – sum up (re-list) the main arguments – request action to be taken by the reader or write a rhetorical question – do NOT give any new information

Present tense – a persuasive text is written ‘now’. The verbs are written using present tense. eg. is, be, are, means, need, act, stop Action verbs – words that show what is happening eg. save, battle, lose, repair Thinking and feeling words – to convey the emotion of the topic and the writer’s point of view eg. believe, opinion, think, feel, know, like, grateful, surprised, doubt, trust, hope So what types of language features do persuasive texts use?

Emotive words – to engage the reader and make them see the issue the way you do eg. harsh, fierce, treasured, unique, nasty, special, delightful, gorgeous, dangerous, brutal Evaluative language – to examine the arguments and supporting evidence eg. important, simple, narrow minded, threatened, it is obvious, future benefits, easier, expected, unlikely claim, too fragile, poor judgement, only option Degree of certainty (also known as modality) – how certain are your statements? Do you want to make people agree, or do you want to cast some doubt in their opinions? eg. may, will, must, might, usually, almost, always, never, sometimes, generally, undisputed, hardly ever, certain, should, would, could, have to

Expositions… aka “persuasive texts”