Definition:
A statement or type of composition intended to give information about (or an explanation of) an issue, subject, method, or idea. One of the traditional modes of discourse. Adjective: expository. Compare with argument. See also:
- Academic Writing
- Ritual in Maya Angelou's Caged Bird
- A Definition of Pantomime, by Julian Barnes
- Cause & Effect in Stephen King's "Horror Movies"
- Getting Up on Cold Mornings, by Leigh Hunt
- Patriotism, by Alexis de Tocqueville
Etymology:
From the Latin, "to place"Examples and Observations:
- "The art of expressing oneself in a logical manner we call exposition, but 'logical' is not used here in any precise scientific sense. Indeed, we might say that exposition is the art of expressing oneself clearly, logic being implied in the structure of the sentences employed."
(Herbert Read, English Prose Style. Beacon, 1952) - "In exposition, every statement is offered as a matter of accepted fact. In argument, only some statements are offered as matters of fact, and these are given as reasons to make us believe assertions or claims."
(James A. W. Heffernan and John E. Lincoln, Writing: A College Handbook, 5th ed. Norton, 2000) - "One of the traditional classifications of discourse that has as a function to inform or to instruct or to present ideas and general truths objectively. Exposition uses all of the common organizational patterns such as definition, analysis, classification, cause and effect, etc. Alexander Bain is believed to have been the first to identify this mode of discourse in English Composition and Rhetoric (American edition, New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1890)."
(Linda Woodson, "Exposition," A Handbook of Modern Rhetorical Terms. NCTE, 1979) - "Where questions of style and exposition are concerned I try to follow a simple maxim: if you can't say it clearly you don't understand it yourself."
(John Searle)
Pronunciation: EKS-po-ZISH-un
Also Known As: expository writing
