Reading and Writing Skills | Second Semester S.Y.

2024-2025
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Lesson I. Patterns of Development in Writing
A. Narration
 Describes what, when, and where something happened.
 It tells a story. It relates an incident or a series of events that leads to a
conclusion or ending.
 The following are some transition words used to signal time or sequence:
first, second etc., after, next, then, eventually, meanwhile, short time later,
during, at the same time, simultaneously, suddenly, instantly, momentarily.
Example:
Last year was the first time I had ever been the new kid at school. For the
first four days, I was completely alone. I don’t think I even spoke to a single
person. Finally, at lunch on the fifth day, Karen Watson walked past her usual
table and sat down right next to me. Even though I was new, I had already
figured out who Karen Watson was. She was popular. Pretty soon, all of
Karen’s friends were sitting there right next to me. I never became great
friends with Karen, but after lunch that day, it seemed like all sorts of people
were happy to be my friend. You cannot convince me that Karen did not
know what she was doing. I have a great respect for her, and I learned a
great deal about what it means to be a true leader.
B. Description
 It gives information of what a person, an object, a place, or a situation is like. It
appeals to the reader’s senses; it makes the reader see, hear, taste, smell, or feel
the subject.
 A descriptive paragraph has concrete and specific details, which are
carefully chosen by a writer to paint a picture in the mind of the reader. Literary
analyses, descriptive essays, business plans, lab reports, and research papers are
some examples of writing genres that use descriptive paragraphs. The signal words are:
above, across, along, alongside, amidst, around, away from, back of, behind, below,
beneath, beside, between, beyond, by, down, farther, here, in front of, inside,
into, near, off, on top of, opposite to, outside, over, throughout, to the right, under.

EXAMPLE:
Sunset is the time of day when our sky meets the outer space solar winds. There are
blue, pink, and purple swirls, spinning and twisting, like clouds of balloons caught in a
whirlwind. The sun moves slowly to hide behind the line of horizon, while the moon
races to take its place in prominence atop the night sky. People slow to a crawl,
entrance, fully forgetting the deeds that must still be done. There is a coolness, a
calmness, when the sun does set.

C. Definition
 This pattern explains a concept, term, or subject. Its main purpose is to tell what
something is. It consists of three parts: 1) the term concept, or subject to be defined;
2) the general class to which it belongs, and 3) the characteristics that differentiate it
 from the other members of its class. This pattern is commonly used in sciences,
humanities, and business. The signal words are is defined as, as defined, means,
refers to, to define, to illustrate.
Example:
The viola is a stringed instrument in the violin family. It is only slightly larger than the
violin and is tuned as a lower pitch. Like its smaller relative, the viola is held on the
shoulder under the chin and is played with a bow. While the viola has many uses, the
viola is used mainly in orchestral and chamber music.

Examples Text:
“If someone or something is unaffected by an event or occurrence, they
are not changed by it in any way.”

This definition shows the typical grammar structure in which we use

the word unaffected — after a form of be (is, was, will be, etc.), and before
the preposition by. So it tells you that we often say “is unaffected by”, “was
unaffected by”, “will be unaffected by”, etc. It also shows that people or
things can be unaffected by an event.
“You say that something is stupid to indicate that you do not like it or that
it annoys you”.

The beginning of this definition (“You say that...”) shows that you use
the word stupid to talk about your feelings, and not about facts. If you say to
somebody “You’re stupid”, you don’t mean that the person is not intelligent.
You simply mean that you don’t like them.
In tennis, an ace is a serve which is so fast that the other player cannot
reach the ball”.
This is the definition of one of the meanings of ace. It gives you the
context of this meaning — it tells you that you use it when talking about
tennis.

D. Exemplification\Classification
 Provides typical cases or examples of something.
Example Text:
An exemplification paragraph develops a general statement--the
topic sentence--with one or more specific examples. Not only do these
examples illustrate and explain the topic sentence, but they also make your
writing more interesting and more convincing. The following paragraph about
the Woodstock festival uses a number of short examples to illustrate its main
idea.
In most respects, after all, Woodstock was a disaster. To begin with, it
rained and rained for weeks before the festival, and then, of course, it rained
during the festival. The promoters lost weeks of preparation time when the
site had to be switched twice. They rented Yasgur’s field less than a month
before the concert. The stage wasn’t finished, and the sound system was
stitched together perilously close to the start of the show. As soon as the
festival opened, the water- and food-delivery arrangements broke down, the
gates and fences disintegrated, and tens of thousands of new bodies kept
pouring in. (One powerful lure was the rumor that the revered Bob Dylan was
going to perform; he wasn’t.) In response to an emergency appeal for
volunteers, fifty doctors were flown in. The Air Force brought in food on Huey
helicopters, and the Women’s Community Center in Monticello sent thirty
thousand sandwiches. One kid was killed as he was run over by a tractor,
one died of appendicitis, and another died of a drug overdose.
Hal Espen, “The Woodstock Wars”

The writer of this paragraph piles on many examples, one after the
other, to support his main idea. Each example gives a specific illustration of
how Woodstock was a disaster: it rained, the promoters had to switch sites,
water and food were not delivered as planned, and so on.
If a single example is particularly vivid and compelling, it can
sometimes be enough to support a topic sentence. The following paragraph
uses one extended example to support its main idea--that fear can move one
to action.
Classification Paragraph
Different students attend various types of schools; however, they can
usually be classified as either public, private religious, private non-religious,
or alternative. Public schools are funded by the state, and the majority of
students in the United States attend them. Private religious schools are
based around a particular faith, such as Catholicism, Judaism, and so forth.
The religion is part of the everyday lives of the students and they also learn
about the faiths. All types of private schools do not receive state funding.
Therefore, private non-religious schools are simply just that: schools which
do not receive state funding and have the ability to make their own rules.
Alternative schools can be made up of a variety of different categories, such
as the Montessori program or technical schools. Most students who attend
class in an actual school building go to one of these types of institutions.
E. Comparison and Contrast
 Tells how something is like other things or how something is different
from other things.
Example Text:
Contrast Paragraph

Even though Arizona and Rhode Island are both states of the U.S.,
they are strikingly different in many ways. For example, the physical size of
each state is different. Arizona is large, having an area of 114,000 square
miles, whereas Rhode Island is only about a tenth the size, having an area of
only 1,214 square miles. Another difference is in the size of the population of
each state. Arizona has about four million people living in it, but Rhode Island
has less than one million. The two states also differ in the kinds of natural
environments that each has. For example, Arizona is a very dry state,
consisting of large desert areas that do not receive much rainfall every year.
However, Rhode Island is located in a temperate zone and receives an
average of 44 inches of rain per year. In addition, while Arizona is a
landlocked state and thus has no seashore, Rhode Island lies on the Atlantic
Ocean and does have a significant coastline.
Comparison Paragraph
My hometown and my college town have several things in
common. First, both are small rural communities. For example, my
hometown, Gridlock, has a population of only about 10,000 people. Similarly,
my college town, Subnormal, consists of about 11,000 local residents. This
population swells to 15,000 people when the college students are attending
classes. A second way in which these two towns are similar is that they are
both located in rural areas. Gridlock is surrounded by many acres of
farmland which is devoted mainly to growing corn and soybeans. In the same
way, Subnormal lies in the center of farmland which is used to raise hogs and
cattle.

F. Cause and Effect

 Details why something happens, what causes it, what are the effects
and how it is related to something else.
Example Text:
When water is heated, the molecules move quickly, therefore the
water boils. A tornado blew the roof off the house, and as a result, the family
had to find another place to live. Because the alarm was not set, we were
late for work.
G. Problem and Solution
 In composition, problem-solution is a method for analyzing and writing
about a topic by identifying a problem and proposing one or more
solutions.
 A problem-solution essay is a type of argument. "This sort of essay
involves argumentation in that the writer seeks to convince the reader
to take a particular course of action. In explaining the problem, it may
also need to persuade the reader concerning specific causes" (Dave
Kemper et al., Fusion: Integrated Reading and Writing, 2016).
Example Text:
Problem
 Drug abuse causes multiple problems for countries and communities.
The medical and psychological effects are very obvious.
Addicts cannot function as normal members of society. They neglect or
abuse their families, and eventually require expensive treatment or
hospitalization.
The second effect is on crime.
Huge police resources are needed to fight smuggling and dealing. Criminal
gangs and mafia underworlds develop with the money from drugs.
Solution
However, the menace of drugs can be fought.
Education is the first battle.
Children need to be told at home and in school about drugs. People need to
be aware of the effects so that they can avoid this problem.
A second approach is to increase police manpower and create effective laws
to stop dealers.
However the main target should be the user
: Families and counselors need to talk to children and people at risk. Parents
need to look at their children and help them to become responsible.
Worthwhile jobs and housing are also needed to give people a role in society.
H. Persuasion
Describes an issue and your position or opinion on the subject.
Example Text:
Barack Obama makes a public speech a night before his election campaign
in Virginia on November 3, 2008 by saying,
“This country is more decent than one where a woman in Ohio, on
the brink of retirement, finds herself one illness away from disaster after a
lifetime of hard work…This country is more generous than one where a man
in Indiana has to pack up the equipment he’s worked on for twenty years and
watch it shipped off to China… We are more compassionate than a
government that lets veterans sleep on our streets and families slide into
poverty; that sits on its hands while a major American city drowns before our
eyes…”
This emotional speech plays on the sense of the guilt of people — the reason
that it is a good example of pathos. Although Obama employs snob appeal
fallacy in his argument, however, it is a very influential and emotional
appeal.

Prepared by: Mrs.Lorelie K. Jarin, English Teacher

Source:https://www.teachmint.com/tfile/studymaterial/class-11th/readingandwriting/
module1-patternsofdevelopmentinwri