Lesson Two

The Exemplification Essay

An example is one of the best things we can give in daily conversations whenever we want to
prove or explain a point. When having an argument with someone, for instance, a good example will
often help you win the fight. In expository writing, exemplification is one of the most common and
effective methods writers use in order to show that a general idea is true or to explain an obscure
or abstract idea. It consists of providing specific and concrete examples which support the
controlling idea of an essay.
There is an endless list of examples that writers can provide in an essay. These include
specific ideas, objects, people, places, activities, events, etc. The choice of examples depends on the
topic of the essay, and the number of examples to provides depends on the controlling idea you
want to prove. If you want to generalize a given idea, then you would probably think about providing
multiple, concrete examples; however, if you wish to explain the most significant aspects of an idea,
you would try to find a few but significant examples that illustrate this idea. Sometimes, you want to
show that one case stands out among a large list of cases, you would think about writing a one
example essay. The following is a thesis statement that suggests the use of many examples: “History
is full of events which have changed life on this planet forever.” In order to support this idea, you are
expected to provide plenty of historical events which have significantly changed the way people live.
On the other hand, a thesis statement such as: “I have read many good books, but the following
three books are the ones which have inspired me the most.” suggests that you need to pick only
three but most important examples of inspiring books.
No matter how many examples you will use in your essay, you should think about organizing
them in a logical way. In an exemplification essay, logical organization can be done achieved
according to different principles: importance, time, familiarity are only examples of arranging
examples logically in the essay. In order to show this order, it is advisable to use appropriate
transition expressions such as one example, another example the most significant example, … In
addition, you should include sufficient and interesting specific details which would support each body
paragraph.
Model Essay 1: Few Examples (Pattern A)

The Leading Lady

King Arthur established the Knights of the Round Table. Alfred the Great provided us
with a clear history during the Dark Ages. Richard the Lion-Hearted led the Crusades.
The infamous Henry VIII established a new religion, uniting church and state. James gave
us a version of the Bible nearly 400 years ago, and it is still widely used today. Victoria
ruled for sixty-three years at the height of British power. Monarchs have ruled and
influenced England for centuries; however, perhaps none was as singularly responsible
for the country's development as Queen Elizabeth I.

Upon taking the throne in 1558, Elizabeth faced many serious problems: war with
France, a bankrupt treasury, religious turmoil, fear for her own safety, and an
educationally backward populace. She attacked these problems with fervor. For
example, she ended the war with a truce, which helped alleviate England's financial
problem. Next, she instituted tax and educational reforms, while dangling hints of
marriage in front of French and Spanish royalty to keep them placated. Finally, she
reestablished the Anglican Church, which was not done without bloodshed but did have
a unifying effect on her people, who came to call her "Good Queen Bess."

In 1588, Spain, the most powerful nation in the world, attacked England. The Spanish
Armada was the greatest naval fleet ever assembled, but it was destroyed by
Elizabeth's hand-picked captains. This victory instilled a sense of national pride in the
people, and Elizabeth became a living legend. The defeat of the Spanish also vaulted
England into prominence as a world power, and the English period of empire building
began.

Concurrently, in peacetime England, Elizabeth nurtured the arts through royal

benefactors. She was, in part, responsible for the flowering of the English Renaissance
(also called the Elizabethan Age), which ranks among the greatest creative periods in the
history of the world.

From a child who was declared illegitimate after her mother was beheaded to arguably
England's greatest monarch, Elizabeth and her storied reign occupy an important place
in English and world history. It was she who was primarily responsible for advancing the
development of England in the 16th century.

-David Bardsley
Model Essay 2: Multiple Examples (Pattern B)

Words That Camouflage

People use words, of course, to express their thoughts and feelings. And as everyone
knows who has tried to write, choosing just the right word to express an idea can be
difficult. Nevertheless, it is important to choose words carefully, for words can suggest
meanings not intended at all; words can also be used to deceive. In order to express
ourselves accurately and to understand what other people express, we must be aware
that words can camouflage real attitudes; English is full of examples.

Take, for instance, the language of advertising. Advertisers obviously want to emphasize
the virtues of their products and detract from the products' faults. To do this, they use
carefully chosen words designed to mislead the unwary customer. Carl P. Wrighter in his
book I Can Sell You Anything has dubbed these expressions "weasel words, "which the
dictionary defines as words "used in order to evade or retreat from a direct or forthright
statement or position.

Let’s say for example that the advertiser wants using his product will require no work or
trouble. He cannot state that the product will be trouble free because there is usually no
such guarantee; instead, he suggests it by using the expression "virtually”, as in this
product is "virtually trouble free." The careless listener will ignore the qualifier
"virtually" and imagine that the product is no trouble at all. Another misleading
expression is "up to." During a sale a car dealer may advertise reductions of "up to 25
percent." Our inclination again is to ignore "up to" and think that most of the reductions
are 25 percent, but too often we find that only a few products are reduced this much.
The other day I saw a sign on a shoe store advertising "up to 40 percent off" for athletic
shoes. Needing some walking shoes and wanting a good bargain, I went in, only to find
that there were only a few shoes marked down by 40 percent; most of the shoes
weren't even on sale.

A second example of words that camouflage meaning is euphemisms. A euphemism is

defined as "the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may
offend or suggest something unpleasant."

We often use euphemisms when our intentions are good. For instance, it is difficult to
accept that someone we love has died, so people use all kinds of euphemisms for death
such as "She passed away," "He's gone to meet his maker," or "She is no longer with us."
 To defend against the pain of such a reality some use the humorous euphemism, "He's
kicked the bucket." To make certain jobs sound less unappealing, people use
euphemisms. A janitor is now a "custodial worker" or "maintenance person." A trash
man may be called a "sanitation engineer". Such euphemisms are not harmful, but
sometimes euphemisms can be used to camouflage potentially controversial or
objectionable actions. For example, instead of saying we need to raise taxes, a politician
might say we need "revenue enhancement measures." When psychologists kill an
animal they have experimented with, they prefer to use the term "sacrifice" the animal.
Doctors prefer "terminate a pregnancy" to "abort the fetus."

A final example of language that conveys unintended impressions is sexist language.

Sexist language refers to expressions that demean females in some way. For instance,
when someone refers to a grown woman as a "girl," the implication is that she is still a
child. Therefore, instead of an employer saying, "I'll have my girl type that," what should
be said is, "I'll have my assistant {or secretary) type that." Other offensive expressions
include "young thing," as in, "She's a cute young thing." The proper term, "girl," should
be used in this case, since the "thing" is a young female. Further, the names of many
jobs suggest women should not fill these positions. Thus, we use "chair" or "chair-
person" instead of the sexist "chairman." Likewise, a "foreman" should be called a
"supervisor."

We must always be careful to choose the words that convey what we really mean. If we
do not want to give offense, then we should always be on guard against sexist (as well as
racist) language. If we do not want to be misled by advertisements, we must keep our
ears open for weasel words. Finally, when we use a euphemism, we should be aware
that we are trying to make an idea more acceptable. At times this may be preferable,
but let's not forget that euphemisms camouflage reality. After all, "coloring the truth" is
still lying.

Transitions in the Example Essay

Transitions for 1st examples or Transitions for 2nd examples Transitions for 3rd examples or
group of examples or group of examples group of examples

- Another example of a - Still another example of a

- Take, for example, this
good student is… good student is…
topic.
 Transitions for 1st examples or Transitions for 2nd examples Transitions for 3rd examples or
group of examples or group of examples group of examples

- One example of good - An additional/a - Third, consider Miss Z.

neighbor is Mr. X. second example is….
- Finally, there is the
- One city where there are - Second/Next, problem of air pollution.
signs of improvement in consider Miss Y.
- The most important
Algeria is Constantine.
example of a helpful
- First, consider the case of neighbor is Mrs. Z.
Mr. X.
- The most significant
- To begin (with), consider (interesting) example of
mu roommate. air pollution is Los
Angeles.

The standard transitional expressions listed above are safe and useful, but overusing them
might make your writing sound mechanical and repetitious. For more variety and smoothness, pick
up a key idea, a word or a phrase from one paragraph and use it to introduce the next paragraph.
You will see this illustrated in the table below, with examples from the text “Words that
Camouflage”:
The text “Words that Camouflage” is already coherent as it is, but the revised version is even
smoother. Variety in transitions reduces monotony.

Original transitional phrase Revised transitional phrase

- Take for instance the language of - Experts at camouflage are those in

advertising. advertising.

- A second example of words which - Just as “weasel words” are used to

camouflage meaning are euphemisms. engender favorable impressions, so are
euphemisms.
- A final example of language that - What many find objectionable today is
conveys unintended impressions is sexist language.
sexist language.

Language Focus: Comma Use with exemplification Transitions

There are three transition signals to introduce examples: for example, for instance, and such
as. Notice the two different punctuation patterns used with them.
Use For example and For instance when your example is a complete sentence.
The two transition signals have exactly the same meaning. Put them at the beginning of the
sentence and follow them with a comma.
Pattern 1 For example, _________+full sentence.
For instance, _______+ full sentence.
For example, visitors can watch sea turtles come ashore to lay their eggs in the sand
in Tortuguero National Park.
For instance, visitors can watch sea turtles come ashore to lay their eggs in the sand in
Tortuguero Naional Park.
Use such as, for example, and for instance in the middle of a sentence when your
example is a noun or a list of nouns that appear at the end of the sentence.
Pattern 2 __________, such as ______.
________, for example, _____
__________, for instance, _________
• Put a comma before such as.
Visitors can see rare birds, such as toucans and quetzals.
• Put a comma before and after for example and for instance.
Visitors can see rare birds, for example, toucans and quetzals.
Visitors can see rare birds, for instance, toucans and quetzals.
Be careful when you begin a sentence with For example or For instance. Make sure
your sentence follows either Pattern 1 or Pattern 2.
WRONG: The restaurant specializes in shellfish. For example, fresh lobster and crab.
RIGHT: The restaurant specializes in shellfish. For example, it serves fresh lobster and
crab. (Pattern 1)
RIGHT: The restaurant specializes in shellfish, such as fresh lobster and crab. (Pattern
2)
RIGHT: The restaurant specializes in shellfish, for example, fresh lobster and crab.
(Pattern 2)

Exercise One

Fill in the blanks with for example, for instance, or such as. Add commas where necessary.
(There may be more than one correct answer.)

1. San Francisco has several ethnic neighborhoods _________North Beach

(Italian), the Mission District (Hispanic), and Chinatown (Chinese).

2. When you visit the ethnic neighborhoods of Miami, you feel that you are in a
foreign country. _________ in Little Havana you can easily imagine that you are
in Cuba.

3. Summers are much cooler in San Francisco than in Los Angeles.

________ the average July temperature in San Francisco is

about 65°F, but it is 85°F in Los Angeles.

4. Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula has many luxury beach resorts_______ Cancun

and Cozumel.

5. The Yucatan is full of archaeological treasures ________the Mayan ruins at

Chichen Itza and Tulum.

Exercise two

Write five sentences of your own in which you provide an example for each idea. Use
appropriate transition words and punctuation marks in each sentence.

1. Examples of tourist attractions in your hometown

2. An example of the best dish your favourite restaurant provides
3. An example of a place where you feel relaxed
4. An example of a situation where people would feel obliged to lie
 5. Examples of the most useful inventions in the modern time

Selected Readings

Read carefully the following essay, then fill in the form below.

Model Essay 3

Psychological Defense Mechanisms

The human psyche is a powerful and at the same time delicate tool of perception and
cognition. From the first days of life and until death, the psyche constantly develops,
changes, and adapts to one’s environment. Such flexibility guarantees that a human
being’s personality persists no matter what; this comes at a cost, though: in order to
defend itself, the psyche launches a set of defensive mechanisms. Roughly speaking, a
defense mechanism is a way of perception and thinking (involving subconscious
processes) which ensures that feelings, thoughts, and experiences unpleasant to a
person remain unperceived. Although these mechanisms are useful in stressful and/or
dangerous situations, rather often they obstruct normal, fluent interactions between a
person and reality. Defense mechanisms are numerous, and each person has a set of
their own. However, some of them are more or less common for many people. These
mechanisms are rationalization, repression, reaction formation, denial, projection, and
regression.

Repression is probably the most basic and the most widespread psychological defense
mechanism, underlying all the others. If described shortly, repression means keeping
frustrating, threatening, or depressive thoughts and feelings in the unconsciousness. The
most common example of repression is when a person goes through an extremely
traumatizing experience in childhood—molestation, rape, violence, and so on on—and
his/her psyche completely banishes the memories about these events from his or her
consciousness; a person seemingly forgets about what happened to him or her.
However, sooner or later, these memories and feelings start to resurface; this is
inevitable—one cannot keep these memories repressed forever. The trick here is that
these memories can sometimes be partially wrong or totally false, which makes them
unreliable. The human psyche is complicated, and a resurfaced memory can be a
“ciphered” message about something else, so each of them should be taken with
reasonable skepticism (Listverse). First discovered by Sigmund Freud, repression
preserves a person’s ego from guilt, fear, disturbing wishes, and other unpleasant
sensations. The problem is that even being concealed, they still create anxiety, making a
person’s life more difficult (Simply Psychology). Therefore, repression is a defense
mechanism that comes at a high cost.

Rationalization is another common defense mechanism; a person using it distorts

perceived facts in such a way that they appear less threatening. For example, someone
struggling with anxiety could try to rationalize it by explaining it with fatigue, stress, the
lack of sleep, and so on. This is an example of conscious rationalization, though; for
many people, this defense mechanism becomes automatic, so they start rationalizing
everything, unconsciously making excuses on every occasion, believing their own lies
(Simply Psychology).

Yet another defense mechanism slightly resembles repression: denial. It is a rather

simple mechanism that develops in early childhood as one of the possible reactions to
unpleasant events. Denial is one’s refusal to accept reality, preferring to act in a way
that something has never happened. Little children sometimes close their eyes with
their palms when something unpleasant is going on around them, and in the context of
psychology, denial is rather similar to such behavior. The most common example of
denial is a person suffering from substance abuse, refusing to admit that he or she has
an addiction problem (PsychCentral). Another example is a woman involved in an
abusive relationship who tries to justify her spouse’s violent behavior, or refuses to
admit that he does harm to her.

A rather tricky mechanism is projection; in its basis lies a misattribution, when a person
possessing unwanted feelings, desires, or thoughts. Instead of admitting and accepting
them, he or she projects them on another person who might not have them. The
simplest example is a married couple having an argument, when a husband blames his
wife of not listening to him, when in fact it is he who does not want to listen to what his
wife has to say. A more complicated case is when a person denies certain (even positive)
qualities in himself/herself, and instead attributes other people with these qualities.
Rather often, projection occurs when one is not able or ready to accept their own
motivations and emotions (Listverse).

Another important defense mechanism is regression. When frightened or stressed, a

person may suddenly start behaving in a childish manner: for example, start giggling
uncontrollably when getting acquainted with a person of the opposite sex, or become
 capricious when not being able to get something desired. In other words, regression
means returning to more primitive or childish forms of behavior when facing difficult
situations (Simply Psychology).

All of these mechanisms are not necessarily harmful; they are useful and necessary at
some stages of one’s life, protecting the psyche from the challenges a person cannot yet
overcome. Besides, when used consciously, these mechanisms can be helpful: projection
helps us to make plans and organize our lives (by “projecting” ourselves into the future);
repression and denial may be useful in some cases when there is a need to act despite
harsh circumstances. However, many of these mechanisms tend to become
subconscious and automatic; from this perspective, they can definitely decrease the
quality of a person’s life; comparing the human mind to an operating system, defense
mechanisms act like programs constantly in the background: a user cannot see them,
but they drain system resources uncontrollably if not turned off in time. This is why it is
important to detect and understand one’s own mechanisms of psychological defense,
and get rid of those of them that have become useless.

Works Cited

“Defense Mechanisms.” Simply Psychology. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Feb. 2017. .

“Top 7 Psychological Defense Mechanisms.” Listverse. N.p., 13 June 2014. Web. 07 Feb.
2017.

Name:...................................................................................................... Group:................................................

A Reading Form

1. Title........................................................................................................................................................
2. The Essay’s Type of Development..............................................................................................................
3. Introduction Type...........................................................................................................................................
4. Outline
Th. St.......................................................................................................................................................

................................................................................................................................................................

................................................................................................................................................................
 TS1................................................................................................................................................................

A list of the supporting details:

1/...........................................................................2/.......................................................................

3/...........................................................................4/.......................................................................

5/...........................................................................6/.......................................................................

TS2................................................................................................................................................................

A list of the supporting details:

1/...........................................................................2/.......................................................................

3/...........................................................................4/.......................................................................

5/...........................................................................6/.......................................................................

TS3................................................................................................................................................................

A list of the supporting details:

1/...........................................................................2/.......................................................................

3/...........................................................................4/.......................................................................

5/...........................................................................6/.......................................................................

5. Conjunctions/expressions from the selection typically related to the type of

development:
...............................................................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................................................
6. Do one of the following tasks/
- Identify the best part of the essay and explain briefly what makes it the best.
- Identify one part of the text which is not very well explained/developed and
suggest an idea/a detail to improve it.
 - Select a supporting detail from the text and replace it with a detail of your choice
expressed in your own words.
..........................................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................................
7. In the table below, mention three unfamiliar words you learnt from the text, define
them and put each in a sentence.

Unfamiliar Definition Sentences

vocabulary
1/

2/

3/

Model Essay 4

Read carefully the following essay and fill in the form below.

The Most Difficult Languages to Learn

It is always good to be able to speak more than one language. Polyglots are valued
assets in any company, and in general tend to be more educated and open-minded
people; at the same time, learning a foreign language is often considered difficult—a
lifetime task that not everyone can accomplish. This is partially true: whereas many
languages are relatively easy to learn (mostly European languages), there are several
hard nuts to crack among them. Traditionally, the garland for difficulty goes to Asian
languages, but there are toughies among western languages as well. Let us take a look at
the most challenging languages in terms of mastery—both for English native speakers
and people of other cultural origins.

The Chinese language (precisely, both Mandarin and Cantonese dialects—the two most
widely spoken ones) is probably the most difficult language to learn. According to the
assessment of the Foreign Language Institute, an English native speaker might need at
least 2200 hours (or 88 weeks) to start using this language more or less confidently (ELL).
The most common hardship is, obviously, reading and writing: you will need to know
about 3500-4000 characters in order to be able to communicate or perceive a written
message. The system of characters China uses nowadays is “simplified,” but ironically, it
is probably simple only for Chinese people: a foreigner will see even the simplified
characters as a set of totally incomprehensible symbols. There is no alphabet in Chinese
(except pinyin, a special transcription for Chinese words written in Latin letters), and
instead of separate letters, it utilizes entire syllables. To make things more complicated,
there are four tones in Chinese (something like intonations), so the same syllable
pronounced in four different ways can respectively have four different meanings; some
consonants such as “R” are pronounced in a way that might be hard for a westerner to
reproduce. This is not to mention a rather peculiar syntax, extremely rigid word order,
and the overall specificity of the Chinese way of thinking. All this—and lots of other
smaller details—makes Chinese number one in terms of its difficulty to learn.

The Japanese language treads on the heels of Chinese. The good news about reading
and writing is that you will need to learn only around 2500 characters. The bad news is
everything else. Japanese culture borrowed Chinese characters about a 1,000 years ago;
with true Japanese thrift, these characters were imbued with Japanese meanings and
sounding, but the original sounding and semantics were not cast aside—which means
that almost every character in this language has both Chinese and Japanese
pronunciation and meaning, and to fully understand Japanese text, you need to know
them both; many words use partially Chinese, partially Japanese sounding (the so-called
“on” and “kun” readings). Japanese has the traditional, older version of Chinese
characters, which basically means having to write more strokes. Also, a native English
 speaker might find Japanese pronunciation difficult, because many words
simultaneously include extremely firm and extremely soft (and even whistling) sounds.
As for the syntax, it is totally different from what you can find in European languages;
verbs in this language often group at the end of a sentence.

You must have probably guessed already that number three is the Russian language.
Spoken by at least 200 million people, it possesses incredibly flexible grammar, which
actively uses numerous prefixes, suffixes, and endings (which change depending on a
word’s gender, number, tense—altogether!). Russian pronunciation is not that difficult,
but there are several unique sounds that you will hardly see in other languages (such as
the mysterious vowel Ы, which basically sounds as if someone punched you in the
stomach, but you have somehow managed to calmly endure this act, and only made a
brief sound). However, along with Russian, there is Hungarian—one of the few European
languages that are almost impossible for a foreigner to learn. To start with, Hungarian
has 35 distinct cases, with 18 of them being in use constantly. 14 vowels, a heavy
dependence on all kinds of idioms and phraseology even in everyday speech, several
verb forms, and the overall complexity of pronunciation can make studying Hungarian a
nightmare for a non-native person.

There are definitely other complicated languages, and listing them would take a rather
long time. The first three leaders are, however, Chinese, Japanese, and
Russian/Hungarian languages. Long story short, Chinese and Japanese are, in general,
100% different from any western language you probably know. As for Russian and
Hungarian languages, they share third place in rating for their overly complicated
grammatical structures and pronunciation, as well as for some unique features that
probably no other European language possesses.

Name:...................................................................................................... Group:................................................

A Reading Form

8. Title........................................................................................................................................................
9. The Essay’s Type of Development..............................................................................................................
10.Introduction Type...........................................................................................................................................
11.Outline
Th. St.......................................................................................................................................................
 ................................................................................................................................................................

................................................................................................................................................................

TS1................................................................................................................................................................

A list of the supporting details:

1/...........................................................................2/.......................................................................

3/...........................................................................4/.......................................................................

5/...........................................................................6/.......................................................................

TS2................................................................................................................................................................

A list of the supporting details:

1/...........................................................................2/.......................................................................

3/...........................................................................4/.......................................................................

5/...........................................................................6/.......................................................................

TS3................................................................................................................................................................

A list of the supporting details:

1/...........................................................................2/.......................................................................

3/...........................................................................4/.......................................................................

5/...........................................................................6/.......................................................................

12. Conjunctions/expressions from the selection typically related to the type of

development:
...............................................................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................................................
13. Do one of the following tasks/
- Identify the best part of the essay and explain briefly what makes it the best.
 - Identify one part of the text which is not very well explained/developed and
suggest an idea/a detail to improve it.
- Select a supporting detail from the text and replace it with a detail of your choice
expressed in your own words.
..........................................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................................
14. In the table below, mention three unfamiliar words you learnt from the text, define
them and put each in a sentence.

Unfamiliar Definition Sentences

vocabulary
1/

2/

3/

Suggested Topics for Essays developed by Examples

Literature

- Your favourite fiction characters

 - Your favourite English poems

- The best English novels you have read

- Prominent English writers

History

- Dark moments in English/ American history

- The most influential English monarchs

- The most influential American presidents

- Turning points in Modern History

Linguistics and English Language

- Examples of inflected languages

- Varieties of language

- Deas languages

- The most commonly used phrasal verbs in the English language

- Famous English idioms