Four Primary Writing Types
Image by Hector Laguna
Leaving aside musical scores and poetry styles, these are the four most common types of writing. They’re also known as “modes of discourse” or “rhetorical modes.”
-
-
- expository
- descriptive
- narrative
- persuasive
-
Authors in some forms of writing try to trick their audience by making fallacious appeals. That can be done “for good or for evil” as I’ll explain below.
Expository Writing – Exposing or Explaining Facts
Expository writing, as its name implies, is writing that exposes facts. In other words, it’s writing that explains and educates its readers, rather than entertaining or attempting to persuade them. When you read a scholarly article, a textbook page, a news report, or an instructional guide, you’re reading expository writing. ~ Grammarly
Because I have an opinion about most things, I rarely write in expository style. It reminds me of the self-effacing quote,
“I may be wrong, but I’m never in doubt!”
However, I do write in that form when I’m composing training manuals or other instructions for my projects or clients via my writing/editing services. In addition, I often incorporate factual information into other forms of writing. For example, when I’m writing about health and wellness topics, I may include quotes or research from the National Institutes of Health Pub Med research.
Understanding Your Purpose and Your Target Audience will help you choose the best style for each kind of writing you undertake.
Descriptive Writing
Descriptive writing is a tool for helping the reader visualize, in detail, a character, event, place, or all of these things at once. To accomplish that, authors often employ words depicting a scene as characters or readers would experience them using some or all five senses.
See
Hear
Taste
Smell
Feel
Descriptive writing allows the writer a great deal more artistic freedom than expository writing does. You can find descriptive writing in fiction, poetry, advertising, journal, and diary writing.
Narrative Writing
Coffee mug featuring the cover of my book.
For example, I wrote the monologues and my book, Three Hots and a Cot, Stories of Courage from People Suffering from Homelessness, Addiction, and AIDS, in a narrative style, but it includes true stories about real people’s experiences.
The purpose of narrative writing is to tell a story that could be true or imaginary. The story includes characters, and the narration tells the reader or listener what happens to them. You can use this technique in all types of fiction, e.g., novels, short stories, and novellas, as well as in biographies, articles, anecdotes, human interest stories, and – of course – in poetry.
The technique may use an actual narrator (person) to describe the whole story, or the narration can be told as dialogue by the characters sharing their viewpoints.
In case you’re interested, here is the link to get “Three Hots and a Cot” on Amazon.
Is The Writing Style Disguising a Metaphor or Life Lesson?
Sometimes, the writer uses a story-style narrative to make a philosophical or other kind of point. Here is an example from my autobiography. It describes an event that took place during my childhood when my family lived in a college compound in a rural environment. It’s about a bull that ran free from its pen and, subsequently, taught me a lesson.
A Short Story About a Bull and a Little Girl
Charging Bull – AI by Nancy Wyatt
“I was taught one major lesson in that environment, but I haven’t learned it to this day. The college community provided its own dairy and meat products, and the livestock were located on one end of a rectangle of dwellings, classrooms, and administration buildings. In the center of the rectangle was a large grassy area which housed the playground swings.
One day, a huge bull (“…with a Ring in Its Nose!!”) broke out of its pen into the rectangle, and I watched as the men of the community came running from all directions and tried to flag it back to its mandated premises.The air was filled with excitement and fear. Everyone was yelling and waving. There were ropes, whips, and great clouds of smoky dust, as horsemen appeared, and small fires were set. After two and a half hours, the bull finally was in place, and the men – all
sweaty and dusty – went home, congratulating themselves on their masculinity for having protected the women and children.
A day later: enter Nancy: Stage Right. I stood outside the wooden pole fence, gazing, engrossed, at the bull. “It’s not the bull’s fault. It is not, by nature, mean. It just wanted to be free, and it was confused and scared by all the excitement. I love animals. Surely it must know that I won’t hurt it and only want to be friends.”
With great shining eyes, I stuck my small hand through the fence to pet the bull. Utter amazement followed when – just like in the movies – the bull backed up, pawed the ground, snorted, and charged. Despite my continued disbelief in what was happening, I tried to extricate my hand from the fence, only to find it was stuck. It was freed barely an instant before the bull crashed into the fence. I could only stand there, pondering the
bull’s misunderstanding and the fact that, somehow, miraculously, it was not necessarily true that, “If you be nice to others, they’ll be nice to you.” The lesson was understood, but never fully accepted.”
Persuasive Writing
The aim of persuasive writing, or argumentation, is to influence the reader to assume the author’s point of view. The author will express personal opinions in the piece and arm him or herself with evidence so that the reader will agree.
The danger here is that people may use or “fall for” fallacies in logic. These often are purposefully used to appeal to one’s emotions and override logic in decision-making. It is so commonplace that I posted an article about it. Click Here to read the primary ploys people use in fallacious arguments.
Briefly, ChatGPT supplied this list that you can peruse quickly to see which ones interest you most as the receiver or purveyor of data and information. You will recognize some of these instantly from our politics and advertising communities.
Here are 16 common fallacious arguments in logic:
- Ad Hominem – Attacking the person making the argument rather than the argument itself.
- Straw Man – Misrepresenting or oversimplifying someone’s argument to make it easier to attack.
- False Dilemma (False Dichotomy) – Presenting two options as the only possibilities when more exist.
- Slippery Slope – Arguing that one small step will inevitably lead to a chain of negative events.
- Circular Reasoning – Using the conclusion as a premise, essentially reasoning in a circle.
- Hasty Generalization – Drawing a broad conclusion from a small or unrepresentative sample.
- Post Hoc (False Cause) – Assuming that because one event follows another, the first event caused the second.
- Appeal to Authority – Asserting that something must be true because an authority or expert says it is.
- Appeal to Ignorance (Argument from Ignorance) – Claiming something is true because it hasn’t been proven false, or vice versa.
- Bandwagon (Appeal to Popularity) – Claiming something is true or right because many people believe it.
- Begging the Question – Assuming the truth of what one is trying to prove within the argument itself.
- False Analogy – Drawing a comparison between two things that aren’t actually comparable in the relevant context.
- Red Herring – Introducing an irrelevant topic to divert attention from the original issue.
- Equivocation – Using a word with multiple meanings in different ways within the argument.
- Appeal to Emotion – Manipulating an emotional response in place of a valid argument.
- Tu Quoque (Appeal to Hypocrisy) – Deflecting criticism by pointing out hypocrisy in the opponent.
Persuasive writing can be found in: advertising, opinion and editorial pieces, critiques and reviews, cover letters for employment applications, and more.
Summary
- Expository writing sets forth facts. You can find it in textbooks, journalism (except opinion or editorial articles), business writing, technical writing, essays, and instructions.
- Descriptive writing evokes images through rich descriptions. You can find it in fiction, poetry, journal writing, and advertising.
- Narrative writing tells a story. Fiction, poetry, biographies, human interest stories, and anecdotes epitomize story-telling styles.
- Persuasive writing aims to sway the reader toward the author’s point of view. Advertising copy, opinion and editorial pieces, reviews, and job applications provide examples.
I do hope this helps us understand the differences between valid and invalid arguments and which style might serve your purposes! To take this or other classes – or for a free initial consultation about any matter pertaining to Life Coaching and Spiritual Counseling – contact me at MyPersuasivePresentations@gmail.com. Put “Inquiry (and your topic)” in the subject line. We can coordinate schedules, and I’ll set up an online meeting for us to chat to see how I may help you. The first one is FREE!
I provide a lot of writing and editing services. But, if you want to do it yourself and need help writing logical content that does not rely on false assumptions, please contact me, and we’ll have a free Zoom chat to discuss your needs and options.
Do It The Write Way! Let My Fingers Do Your Talking!
