What Is An Exposition?

Exposition is one of the four rhetorical modes of discourse that provides information about or an explanation of difficult material. The purpose of exposition is to inform, explain, analyze or define the author's subject to the reader. Expository text is meant to give information and is frequently used type of writing by students in colleges and universities. A well-written exposition remains focused on its main topic and has logical supporting facts. Connectors of sequence such as first, after, next, then and last usually signal sequential writing.

Exposition can be divided into fiction and non-fiction. Examples of nonfiction expository writing include textbooks, how-to essays, recipes, cookbooks, business correspondence, personal letters, news features, press releases, research reports, scientific reports, dissertations, wills and encyclopedia. Nonfiction exposition can be further classified into five categories: sequence writing, descriptive essays, classification writing, comparison writing and cause-and-effect writing. Sequence writing lists events or steps in chronological order; descriptive essays use the senses of sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing to provide readers with a mental image or feeling about the subject; classification writing uses an organizational strategy to arrange groups of objects or ideas according to a common theme; comparison writing shows the similarities and differences between two or more subjects; while the cause-and-effect writing, which is also known as analysis, identifies the reasons for an event or situation.

Within the context of fiction, exposition is the fiction-writing mode for conveying information. The information may be in the form of facts, explanation or opinion and may be used for a variety of purposes, including the development of plot, character, setting and theme. Exposition can be one of the most effective ways of creating and increasing the drama in our story.

However, too much exposition can seriously be frustrating the readers. Why should we learn about exposition? The reason is simple. Exposition is the type of writing that is most frequently encountered by us in our daily lives. When we pick up and read a magazines or newspaper article, we can see that the author uses expository writing to inform us about the topic. At school, the school exams and research papers that require us to submit to the teacher for grading are mostly in the form of expository writing. Finally, at work, we are to produce business reports and proposals of some projects to inform our superiors and co-workers. These reports and proposals are all in the form of expository writing.
We encounter expository writing everyday. Therefore, it is crucial to us that we learn it.


Taken from: www.wikipedia.com