The handout we received says that an exposition is a rhetorical discourse that provides information about or an explanation to difficult material.
It also mentions that the purpose of an exposition is to do one of the following, to inform, explain, argue, analyse or define.
Well, to put it all together, what it means is that a exposition is a discourse that either informs, explains, analyses or defines a difficult material so that it is more understandable to the reader. If the writer wants to bring across his point of view to the reader, he will argue for a point in the exposition that shows his view about the material.
Expositions are quite literally, all around us. A politician giving a speech on his party's policies is delivering a verbal exposition. A forum article, say on some war happening, is also an exposition. Even something as simple as "Clean your room before I come home" can be considered an exposition. This is because this defines what you have to do to your room (clean it) and explains when it has to be done by (before I come home). There can also be a possible implication from this, for example, if the room is not cleaned, there will be trouble, or if the room is cleaned, there will be treat.
Non-examples of a exposition includes personal anecdotes etc. This is because on its own, an anecdote does not have a difficult material within it.
There are 5 different types of non-fiction exposition:
- Sequence: Writing lists, events or steps in chronological order
- Descriptive essays: Use the senses of sight smell, touch, hearing and taste to provide the reader with a mental image or feeling about the subject
- Classification: Writing uses an organisatinal 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
- Cause and effect: Writing, also known as analysis, identifies the reasons for an event or situation
That, to me, is what exposition is.
Sources: www.dictionary.reference.com/browse/exposition
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposition_(literary_technique)
Handout
PS: For the weird name of the blog, 'pedagogy' actually means lesson. I got a bit carried away in dictionary.com. But a little alliteration helps in a blog dedicated to English lessons.
