Lecture 9
Rhetorical Functions I
In A Writer's Reference, Diana Hacker identifies these patterns:
examples and illustrations narration
description
process
comparison and contrast
analogy
cause and effect
classification and division definition
These patterns (or methods or modes) are partially patterns of
organization, and partially patterns of development—that is,
sometimes they help you organize content; other times they help you
find content.
Organization – note that the following broad principles of
organization have many variations, i.e. they overlap
1. Chronological Order
2. Order of Importance – In this pattern, you decide what is
most important and put it at the beginning or the end; next
you choose what is second most important and put it at the
end or the beginning (whichever remains); the less important
or powerful items are then arranged in the middle. If the
order of importance followed 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, with 5 being most
important, psychological order might follow the order 4, 3, 1,
2, 5.
Still other principles of organization based on emphasis
include
general-to-specific order,
specific-to general order,
most-familiar-to-least-familiar,
simplest-to-most-complex,
order of frequency,
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order of familiarity, and so on.
3. Spatial Order – in this pattern, items are arranged according
to their physical position or relationships.
4. Topical Order – simply means an order that arises from the
nature of the topic itself.
Hint: Choose a clear, recognizable pattern and guide yourself in
selecting details and appropriate transitions. This will also guide your
reader to discover relationships that connect things.
Principle of
Organization
Rhetorical Modes
Sample Transitions
narration, process,
examples and
illustrations, cause &
effect
next; later; the
following Tuesday;
afterwards; by noon;
when she had finally
digested the giant
burrito; as soon as; in
1998
spatial order
description, examples
& illustrations
just to the right; a little
further on; to the south
of Memphis; a few feet
behind; directly on the
bridge of his nose and
a centimeter above his
gaping, hairy nostrils;
turning left on the
pathway
climactic
order
examples &
illustrations,
description,
comparison & contrast,
analogy
more importantly; best
of all; still worse; a
more effective
approach; even more
expensive; even more
chronological
order
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painful than passing a
kidney stone; the least
wasteful; occasionally,
frequently, regularly
topical order
classification &
division, comparison &
contrast, analogy,
definition, examples &
illustrations
the first element;
another key part; a
third common principle
of organization; Brent
also objected to Stella's
breath
1. Narration – your job is to show, not tell! Let nouns and verbs
do the work of description for you. With nouns, your readers
will see; with verbs, they will feel.
Example:
The Evolution of Sound Recording
The history of recording sound stretches back to 1857 when Leon
Scott, intent on obtaining a picture of what sound waves looked like,
devised a method for recording the vibrations in the air. His device,
later patented as the Phonoautograph, used a large parabolic horn to
channel incoming sound waves to a membrane covering the narrow
end of the horn. A bristle attached to the membrane by a lever traced
a path in a revolving cylinder coated with lamp-black. As the
membrane vibrated in response to sound waves, the bristle etched a
pattern in the lamp-black that corresponded to the frequency of the
sound. Although this was useful for gaining a view of what different
sound waves looked like, the device could only record incoming
waves - there was no provision for playing back the sound wave
traces…

Time and Sequence are very important
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
Past Tense is common
On finishing his research,
After finishing his research,
he was offered a job as a lecturer.
Having finished his research,
On finishing his research,
While he was doing his research,
When
doing his research,
While
he made an important discovery.
During his research,
2. Comparison and Contrast
 Is comparison fair? Probably not unless you try to compare
what is incomparable. However, you can do this if you result
is surprising.
 Ask yourself what will be the result of comparison/contrast.
 The business is to demonstrate a preference for one thing;
however, it can be done implicitly.
Example
Shopping in America
Since the 1950s, American shoppers have been spending their
money in suburban malls instead of in downtown business districts.
This is even true of shoppers who have to go out of their way to shop
in the malls; they will bypass downtown stores (which they might
have gotten to by convenient bus) to drive to the brightly bedecked
and weather-free meccas of shopper-heaven. The result, some people
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claim, is the demise of the central urban commercial district,
Downtown, a process leading inevitably toward more widespread
urban blight. But why are Americans are so easily lured to shop in
malls in the first place?
First, Americans don't like weather. They like to be indoors
whenever possible, even on nice days, and they're willing to pay a
premium to be protected from the elements. If they can find someone
who can afford it, they will even put their sports stadiums under a
gigantic bowl, and they love to stay indoors for a day of shopping,
perhaps never seeing the sun from the time they first enter until they
leave, hours later, relieved of money, oxygen, and much money.
Second, Americans love convenience and, except during the
crush of major holidays, malls offer plenty of convenient parking. A
happy, enormous island of commerce in a sea of asphalt, the mall
offers plenty of docking points — usually next to major commercial
outlets — for cars that circle in search of the closest slot and an easy
entrance.
Third, the mall offers an extraordinary variety of products
under its one gigantic roof. Specialty stores and boutiques offer items
that people don't realize they need until they're put under the spell of
brightly lighted, beautifully furnished window after window of
beguiling wares. Malls are built to respond to Americans' insatiable
desire for stuff; either that, or a generation of Americans has been
genetically engineered to respond to the sellers of stuff. Either way, it
works…
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3. Definition – sometimes a definition will prove to be a small
but important part of an essay; sometimes a definition will be
the sole work of an entire essay.

Do not rely on that old cliché of the dictionary or
encyclopedia definition. The point of your essay is to provide
your reader with a new way of looking at things — your
way.


One way of defining something is to say what it is not.

Avoid using the phrases "is where" and "is when" in your
definition: "Total Quality Management is when management
and labor agree to. . . ." "A computer virus is where . . . ."

Avoid circular definitions (repeating the defined term within
the predicate, the definition itself): "A computer virus is a
virus that destroys or disrupts software . . . ."

Avoid using a too narrow definition, one that would unduly
limit the scope of your paper: "Reggae music is sung on the
Caribbean island of Jamaica. . . ."
Try to define something what is from area of your interest.
Abstract notions can be defined with difficulties.
Example
What is a Yankee?
To most of the world, a Yankee is an American, anybody who
lives in the United States. It is not always a pleasant connotation; in
fact, "Yankee, go home!" calls up images of angry Latin American
mobs protesting the oppression of American imperialist policies.
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To most Americans, though, the word Yankee means either
the pin-striped New York baseball team or the Northern forces in the
American Civil War, the soldiers from north of the Mason-Dixon
Line. In time, though, the idea that the word Yankee suggests has
shrunk geographically until it is on the verge of extinction.
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