Welcome to Expository Prose Writing, Page 3

Varieties of expositional works are distinguished from one another by their expositional forms. Here, The Muse concentrates on the three most prominent ones.

Literati refer to these three forms by a variety of names. The Muse Of Language Arts prefers to use these:

• Exclusive expository prose—The Muse uses the term exclusive to refer to the exclusive expository prose form because it excludes many of the literary and linguistic elements found in other non-exclusive forms.
• The expository prose essay—The Muse uses the term expository prose essay to refer to the second expositional form because it's a name that includes the term most used for this form by literati and best known to the public—the essay. It's easy to remember.
• The exclusive expository essay—The Muse uses the term exclusive expository essay because this form combines key literary and linguistic elements of exclusive expository prose with those of the expository essay form.

The sections that follow explore each of these three forms in detail.

The Exclusive expository prose Form

The exclusive expository prose form is a short prose literary composition whose primary purpose is to inform readers about a very narrow subject by impersonally exposing, explaining, and communicating facts and information about facts in the most objective, concise, accurate, and exhaustive manner possible. Its various prose writing styles are consistent with this sole and primary objective: to expose facts and information about facts in an impersonal manner.

General properties

Consistent with an exclusive exposition's objectives, verbal indications of an author's presence are not indicated by the text, and authors do not refer to themselves in the body of their essays. Instead, they form words and sentences using the impersonal third-person grammatical voice: that is, they employ verbs, pronouns, and other parts of speech that belong in the linguistic third-person. They write sentences using words like he, she, it, they, and them instead of I, me, we, or us.

An author's own personal opinions or judgments are strictly off-limits. Subjective statements or observations such as opinions, estimates, likelihoods, viewpoints, options, preferences, or other observations about facts are strictly excluded unless they themselves are factual.

How can statements about opinions be factual and impersonal? Statements about subjects of a personal nature can be impersonal if they're observations about personal subjects that do not originate with the author.

One example: consider how an author might deal with an exclusive expository prose work such as a scientific or engineering report about disputed test results. A controversial technical opinion submitted in exclusive expositions like these remain impersonal so long as it's qualified as being the expert opinion of a third party, not the author. Following this path, an author would be reporting an expert's opinion, not one of his own opinions, without becoming personally involved. The third-party opinion by itself would be an objective fact reported by the author; it would not be used to argue the author's own opinion about the subject being exposed.

However, an exclusive expository prose essay author could report his own opinion about the test results so long as she avoids using it to support her personal views about the dispute. To do this, she would describe her opinion as if the source were a third party; and she would employ the impersonal (third-person) grammatical voice.

The emphasis in the preceding paragraph is on argue: exclusive expository prose works expose facts and information about facts; they never argue personal causes.

As a consequence of these restrictions, most exclusive expository essays are about subjects that their authors do not feel personally compelled to treat. They tend instead to be about subjects that authors are objectively (not personally) participating in, or about subjects they're paid to write about. Most authors of exclusive expository prose confine themselves to impersonal subjects like these because people writing about themselves have trouble staying impersonal.

Nevertheless, authors are free to write exclusive expository essays about themselves so long as they stick to the formal rules outlined above; but they seldom do. When authors expose personal subjects they're emotionally involved in, they usually wind up writing works belonging to a different expository forms—either an expository prose essay or an exclusive expository prose essay. The Muse explores these other forms later on this page.

Purpose

The Primary purpose of an exclusive expository prose work is to inform readers about a very narrow subject by impersonally exposing, explaining, and communicating facts and information about facts in the most objective, concise, accurate, and exhaustive manner possible.

structure

This exclusive expository prose super-form contains a large number of diverse exclusive expository prose sub-forms, each with an exclusive expository prose literary structure of its own.

Sub-form members differ from one another because each possesses certain key distinguishing literary and linguistic properties. A given unique exclusive expository prose sub-form can be distinguished from other expository prose sub-forms by its unique combination of its linguistic and literary properties. The structure of each sub-form depends mainly on its genre, but also on these other properties:

• Genre.
• Subject.
• Expository prose writing style.
• Organization.
• Narrow and specific expository purpose or function.
• Nature of its purpose and intended result.
• Nature of target audience.

Each of the following types of expository works is an example of a different and unique exclusive expository prose sub-form. That is, it's a sub-member of the exclusive expository prose super-form that's structurally different from all other members:

Corporate policy and procedure manuals.	Computer hardware use-and-care manuals.
Fertilizer application instructions.	Newsletters.
Computer software user manuals.	Printed newspaper weather reports.
Routine obituaries.	Most text books.
Cook books.	Driver training manuals.
Acts of legislatures, parliaments, and congresses.	Furniture unpacking and assembly instructions.
Travel agency tour catalogs.	Corporate and municipal manuals of conduct.
International and national standards manuals.	Combat manuals.
Operatic librettos.	Concert programs.
Speaker introductions at lectures.	Test-taking directions.
Curricula vitae.	Personal letters.
Tracts

NOTE:

• Not all exclusive expository prose sub-forms are included in this table. Many more exist.
• Some of these unique sub-forms may contain exclusive expository prose sub-forms of their own.
• Often, a specific published work takes its generic name from the specific sub-form it's modeled after. So, for example, a policy and procedures manual—a published work you can hold in your hand—typically will be referred to by that name. (See more about names at the section titled More About Names in Page 1 of this feature: click here.)
• Some have a monolithic literary form or structure. Others consist of textual passages divided into sections or subsections, which may or may not be supported by ancillary literary devices such as tables-of-contents, prefaces, glossaries, diagrams, tables, drawings, photographs, or appendices.
• The literary and linguistic properties that define different exclusive expository sub-forms interact with one another: by itself, no one factor in a group of factors determines a given work's sub-form. Combinations of these factors interact with one another.

There are too many exclusive expository prose sub-forms to enumerate them here, or to describe any of them in detail. One practical way to become familiar with them is to inspect and compare different exclusive expository prose works, one with another.

If you attempt this kind of comparison, feel free to choose from the list of sub-forms listed above. Or compare actual exclusive expository works of your own choosing, looking for ways in which their literary structures resemble each other and for ways in which they differ.

If you examine works belonging to specific sub-forms:

• Note that the same literary sub-form can play a role in more than one kind of expository prose work. That is, two works that bear different sub-form names may actually belong to the same sub-form.
• Keep in mind that a given exclusive expository prose sub-form may itself exhibit minor variations in form; that is, it may be a super-form in its own right, one that takes on more than one sub-form.

Themes and subjects

In the exclusive expository prose form, themes or subjects tend to:

• pertain to objects, events, principles of operation, and other facts that are known without doubt, conjecture, analysis, or speculation.
• be based upon established facts that are uninfluenced by the author's personal feelings, interpretations, beliefs, or prejudices.
• focus upon and deal with properties of objects, events, and principles that are external to the author's mind rather than on properties that are relevant to his personal thoughts or feelings.

writing styles

Exclusive expository prose works are written with an expositional prose writing style that is consistent with the super-form's objective. That is, word choices mask the presence of an author. Clues to a writer's identity do not appear in the text. A writer does seem to be speaking through the text.

Beautiful, expressive language is off limits because it detracts a reader's attention from the main goal, which is to communicate objective facts in the most concise manner possible..

Themes and subjects

In the exclusive expository prose form, themes or subjects tend to:

• pertain to objects, events, principles of operation, and other facts that are known without doubt, conjecture, analysis, or speculation.
• be based upon established facts that are irrelevant to the author's personal feelings, interpretations, beliefs, or prejudices.
• focus upon and deal with properties of objects, events, and principles that are external to the author's mind rather than on properties that are relevant to his personal thoughts or feelings.

treatment of facts

Authors choose to write an exclusive expository prose works when their primary purpose is to inform readers about a narrow subject by exposing, explaining, and communicating facts and information about facts in the most objective, concise, accurate, and complete manner possible. Its various expository prose writing styles are consistent with this sole and primary objective: expositing facts and objective information about facts.

• Facts in these expositions may relate to tangible or intangible objects. For example, a fact (and information about a fact) may be about a real car or a real event, such as a crash (tangible) or about the real price of gold (intangible).
• Facts may relate to external objects or to internal objects. For example, a fact (and information about a fact) may be about a real person (external object) or an imaginary person who only exists in the mind (an imaginary person in a dream).
• Facts may relate to real objects or events that occur in the physical world (external) or they may be about thoughts that spontaneously occur in the mind (internal).

The Expository prose Essay Form

The expository prose essay form is a short prose literary composition about a narrow theme or subject which is analytic, speculative, or interpretative, and which is treated subjectively by its author.

Purpose

The primary purpose of an expository prose essay is to present an author's personal analysis, speculation, or interpretation of the facts that pertain to its theme or subject.

structure

All expository prose essays have a monolithic literary form or structure. They consist of textual passages not usually divided into sections or subsections, and not normally supported by ancillary literary devices such as tables-of-contents, prefaces, glossaries, or appendices.

author Motivations and goals

At base, the author's chief motivation for choosing to write an expository prose essay is to expose the facts that pertain to its subject and to inform others about his personal opinions or points of view about these facts, as he sees them.

Authors who write expository prose essays usually have in mind a variety of specific goals or outcomes that they wish to accomplish. They may seek to inform, advertise, or spread the word about a subject they believe others should know about. Or their objective may be to expose, validate, convince, demolish, confirm, publicize, admire, extol, make a point, project a view, criticize, accuse, or compliment. They may seek to promote or demote a person, agency, cause, idea, principle, issue, aesthetic system, ethic, popular belief, or controversy, or even to arouse the public to action. Some essays are written for private gain, whether or not financial; almost any outcome may be intended.

An essay author may choose to frame his work for a special readership or a specific group or movement; he may address his essay to one of these groups, to the general public, or to no one in particular.

themes and subjects

A expository prose essay theme or subject may be a person, group, agency, nation, cause, ethical principle, policy, institution, product, course of action, etc. Essays about subjects like these may publicize, criticize, compliment, promote, or demote; they may be beneficial, adverse, favorable, unfavorable, supportive, destructive, appreciative, etc. Subjects may be controversial or problematic.

Essays may argue for or against controversial cases, make or deny allegations, propose solutions, or work to arouse actions on the part of readers.

Themes and subjects:

• pertain either to: 1) themes, subjects, objects, events, principles, issues, and facts that are not widely familiar to their readership, or 2) to themes, subjects, objects, events, principles, issues, and facts that are controversial, not universally agreed upon, or are not known or understood completely or absolutely. For this reason, they invite conjecture, analysis, speculation, and interpretation.
• address the author's personal feelings, thoughts, opinions, beliefs, preferences, values, or prejudices.
• concern properties of physical or abstract real or imaginary objects believed to exist in the external, real world—for example, a building's height, a car's speed, the entertainment value of a movie, a whistle's sound, the score of a football game, the threat of an intruder.
• concern thoughts or perceptions that arise internally, within an author's mind—for example, love for another person, the concept of freedom, fear of being run over by a car, or an anxious memory about a past event, for instance when he forgot to don a warm coat on a cold night.
• arise out of an author's reactions to properties of external objects or of internal thoughts.
• arise from an author's conscious train of thought, or seemingly from out of nowhere.
• be about specific or generic properties, events, or experiences undergone by physical or abstract objects in the external world—for example, about a particular building's color and height, building height generally, the nature of red or the feeling of pain.
• be about intangible, abstract, thoughts that occur in an author's own mind—for example, an author's moods, attitudes, opinions, judgments, beliefs, feelings, opinions, etc.
• be specific—for example, concern a particular tall building.
• be general—for example, concern tall buildings in general.

treatment of facts

As noted previously, authors who write exclusive expository prose essays seek to expose, explain, and communicate facts and information about facts about a narrow subject in the most objective, concise, accurate, and complete manner possible. Completely exposing valid and accurate facts pertaining to a narrow subject is their main objective.

Expository prose essay authors approach facts in quite a different manner, one that's consistent with their own, contrasting objectives. They impart facts and information about facts because facts have a part to play in helping them achieving their primary purpose: facts help them explain, analyze, speculate about, and interpret their theme or subject from their personal point of view.

An additional contrast: facts exposed in exclusive expository prose essays typically deal with the properties of specific concrete objects, events, or processes found in the real world, a world with an independent and objective existence of its own, apart from the author. Facts in exclusive expository prose essays also consist of abstractions in the external, real world, such as functions, principles, causes, effects, or ideas.

Exclusive expository prose essay authors treat none of these facts as if they were suppositions or objects to speculate about; they treat them as valid, accurate, and complete statements. If a fact exposed in an exclusive expository prose essay is questionable, it's emended or qualified to provide a complete picture.

In contrast, the scope of the different kinds of facts that may be introduced in an expository essay can span virtually any kind of endeavor, professional field, or topic. Facts may relate to the author's personal experiences in the real world, to to his meandering thoughts about a personal experience. They may address tangible subjects such as airplanes, drawing rooms, escalators, the author's best friend, or her teacher; but also they may address intangible subjects such as growing up, the best or worst way to wire or paint a house, the nature of thoughts or thinking processes, animal intelligence, garbage collection, cheating at cards, a proposed bank reorganization, the advantages of war or peace, happy or unhappy relationships, how to catch fish, political priorities, philosophies, religions, famous movie personalities, morality, how to apply makeup, how to execute a craft, or a political or scientific disputation.

Further, exclusive expository prose sub-forms introduce facts in order to expose them; expository prose essays don't simply expose facts, they exploit them to further their own ends.

This role for facts in expository prose essays raises questions about their trustworthiness. Because these kinds of expositions are subjective, authors may distort their conclusions in a number of ways. Authors may:

• Make use of facts to perform analyses, speculations, and interpretations, which are subjective (not objective) productions of their own minds (or those of other minds).
• Deliberately introduce facts of questionable validity.
• Accidentally or intentionally omit, overlook, misunderstand, misconstrue, or misrepresent facts.
• Draw conclusions from facts that are incorrect or misleading.
• Expose only facts that support their analyses, speculations, interpretations, and other contentions.
• Interpret, assess, and distort facts before using them.
• Select only facts and make assessments that operate in their own favor; filter out facts that do not.
• Introduce raw, unverified, unsubstantiated facts and information.
• Label a fact "true" when it doesn't actually agree with reality or present a complete picture.
• Unintentionally warp facts because of biases, narrow, or unbalanced perspectives.

Of course, the issue of factual trustworthiness arises in connection with all literary forms, not just with expository prose essays. But it arises especially for expository prose essays, where personal incentives for factual mistreatment tend to be somewhat greater.

writing styles

In a way, an essay is a sort of personal missive. Authors have the option to display their own opinions, attitudes, moods, or egocentricities; they can formulate overly-dramatic or under-emphatic characterizations, or display other aspects of their penchants and personalities. They can state facts, opinions, and ideas subtly or blatantly, directly or indirectly.

Accordingly, each essay poses its own particular set of literary and linguistic requirements; it's written with an expositional prose writing style that is consistent with its:

• Genre.
• Subject.
• Expository prose writing style.
• Organization.
• Narrow and specific expository purpose or function.
• Nature of its purpose and intended result.
• Nature of target audience.

Since expository prose essays represent their author's personal views, authors often write as though they're speaking directly to their reader. A heart-to-heart stylistic approach tends to authenticate findings and convince readers. On the other hand, authors also write with impersonal styles that lend an authoritative tone which helps them authenticate their findings.

Depending upon the author's compositional design, word choices do not necessarily mask the author's presence, and clues to a writer's identity may or may not appear in the text. Many expository prose styles for essays permit (and even encourage) authors to make their presence known. Writing with a personal voice tends to be more believable, convincing, and activating, especially if a subject matter is cold or dry.

Authors tend to accentuate their individuality in any of three ways: 1) directly, by speaking in their own voice, providing information about their identity, themselves, their personal attributes or associations or affiliations, etc., 2) indirectly, by inserting references to themselves—actions, events, deeds, feelings, thoughts, etc., and 3) indirectly, by forming words and sentences that use the first person grammatical voice—pronouns like I, me, we, or us—impersonal verb forms, and other suitable parts of speech.

What specific expository prose styles do essay authors employ?  What kinds of tones do they project?

They always choose one of the members of the family of expository prose writing styles.

For expository prose essays that are intense and for writers who are on a mission, styles sometimes employ language that's clear, but also quietly and highly beautiful or expressive. They overpower readers with their emotionality, intellect, and perspicacious reasoning.

Other essays aim to make you comfortable or distract you; they play on your feelings or lull you into a false sense of security. They use a style that's personal and intimate, one that seems to usher you into the author's own fireplace-lit study. They verbally put their an arm around your shoulder and invite you to sit down and sip a glass of port with them while sharing your common agenda. An essay with a style like this one can effectively and efficiently expose facts and information while simultaneously indulging its author in luxurious language that's meaningful and emotive at the same time.

Sometimes authors prefer to shout rather than whisper. Their essays contain sentences and paragraphs that span wide emotional ranges; they're filled with exaggerated and lugubrious sentences that betray how deeply involved or committed their authors are. They exploit a vocabulary that's sensational or overly-illustrative.

But when circumstances warrant, authors adopt essay styles that make them seem cooler, more distant, more intellectually alert and less self-absorbed—even detached. Styles like these are best for essays with low-keyed objectives, less sensitive subjects, or more empathetic audiences.

Each of the following types of expository works is an example of the expository prose essay sub-form:

Editorials.	Obituaries of famous personalities.
Travel magazine articles.	Fan magazine featured articles about movie stars.
Conjectural philosophical treatises.	Personal diaries.
Most kinds of newspaper and magazine articles.	Philosophical expositions.
Political analyses.	High school writing assignments.
Sermons.	Op-eds
Critical reviews: Concert performances. Movies. Books. DVD and CD Recordings. Restaurants. Dramas. Museum shows. Art shows. New lines of clothes from fashion designers. Ballet or dance performances.	Subjective scholarly studies: Histories. Biographies. Wars. Etc.

The exclusive expository prose essay form

The exclusive expository prose essay form is a prose form of indeterminate length on a narrow theme or subject that's generally analytic, speculative, or interpretative, and that's written in an objective, concise, accurate, and complete manner.

Every exclusive expository essay has two principal purposes: 1) to expose, analyze, speculate about, and interpret facts and information about facts in an objective manner, and 2) to objectively generate and expose new facts and information by producing assessments of the the facts and information they expose. Types of assessments include probabilities, suppositions, mitigating factors, projections, evaluations, qualifications, opinions, judgments, proposals, and conclusions, some of which may be tentative.

An exclusive expository prose essay can be thought of as a type of expository prose essay that blends or combines some of the literary and linguistic elements belonging to the exclusive expository pose form with some of those belonging to the expository prose essay form. That is, it: 1) treats facts and information about facts the way exclusive expository prose sub-forms treat them, and 2) performs and reports on analyses, speculations, and interpretations of facts in a strictly impersonal fashion:

As with exclusive expository prose, an exclusive expository prose essay exposes the properties of specific real world objects that exist independently of, apart from, and external to the author. Facts may consist of:

1. Concrete real world objects such as planes, trains, or video cassettes.
2. Abstractions or concepts concerning the external, real world, such as events, processes, functions, principles, causes, effects, aesthetic systems, motivations, sensations, perceptions, or ideas.
3. Theories, suppositions, or speculations about the external world.

Readers are notified if a fact's existence or properties are suspect or questionable.

Analysis, speculation, and interpretation in an exclusive expository prose essay necessarily involve the exercise of the author's judgment, reasoning faculties, application of personal experience, creativity, and other subjective mental processes, all of which are faculties of the mind.

Analysis, speculation, and interpretation is strictly impersonal. Authors are expected to apply these mental faculties objectively, without distortion or unreasonable influence.

Wording is clear and economical, but it may be beautiful and expressive—even elegant—if the genre permits, to a degree that's consistent with the subject.

As with an expository prose essay, an exclusive expository prose essay introduces objective facts and information about facts as a basis for analyzing, speculating about, or interpreting:

Facts are (tentatively) accepted as actual objects in the real world; they are treated as valid, accurate, and complete.

The author introduces suppositions or speculations about these facts and subjects them to analysis, speculation, or interpretation.

The purpose of these analyses, speculations, or interpretations is to: 1) explain, add to, or reinterpret information about the nature or meaning of some or all of the accepted facts, 2) reevaluate them, and, if necessary, reject, modify, or reaffirm them, or 3) derive assertions about the existence of new and different facts and expose information about them.

Each of the following types of expository works is an exclusive expository prose essay sub-form:

Scientific or engineering journal articles. PhDs or masters theses. Objective scholarly studies: Corporate and municipal annual reports. Encyclopedia articles. Medical tests and diagnostic reports. Corporate and municipal budgets. Office memos. High school and college year books. Tracts. Formal or business letters. Objective scholarly studies: Histories. Biographies. Battles. Etc.

—note— More about expository prose literary forms Explore the nature of expository prose literary forms at The Muse Of literature's feature titled Expository Prose And The Essay: click here.

 

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