Writing Styles

1. Opinion Paragraph: persuasive, cannot use “I”;

a. make a point, give explanation, and give evidence to support the point;
b. i.e. “I believe that students should have more extracurricular opportunities,
because these activities allow students broaden their perspectives. For
example, I like fencing and participate in various competitions. At these
competitions I make new friends and develop important skills.”
2. Expository Paragraph: explaining a concept, cannot use “I”;
a. a concept, an object and a perspective is presented and explained; expository
is usually driven by a process or a series of steps;
b. i.e. “Democracy is a government form that allows for a lot of freedom from the
people who live under its rule. In this paragraph, I will discuss democracy’s
history, its principles and how it is applied in today’s society.”
3. Interpretive Paragraph / Literary Paragraph: cannot use “I”;
a. making a discussion on another piece of literature by analyzing how well did
the author of the other piece of literature present his or her characters, story,
plot, and moral through the use of literary devices;
b. i.e. “Little Red Riding Hood is a well-known Italian folktale that does an
excellent job in portraying the lesson of not to be too greedy and to harm
others through the illustration of characters such as the big bad wolf and little
red riding hood”;
4. Personal Recount: journal, can use “I” and something that actually happened;
a. Tell some event happening in your life through chronological order, such as
structuring your story in a way that follows the key events that happened
through time;
b. i.e. “Coming to Canada has been a big move for my family and it all started 4
years ago… [tell whatever happened 4 years ago, for example, why did your
parents decide to apply to come to Canada and what kind of process did you
go through to come to Canada”;
5. Narrative Paragraph: a story in general, and you can choose to use “I” or not, but it is
in general fictional as in it did not actually happen in real life;
a. There are 5 important factors towards making a story: 1) exposition; 2) rising
action; 3) climax; 4) falling action; 5) denouement (resolution);
b. i.e. “Last Christmas was a special Christmas as we had a special unwelcome
guest in our house. He is Mr. Gringe. He is my homeless uncle coming to beg
food from us. I did not like him, because he was taking my spot in front of the
fireplace. My mother, however, who is always kind, welcomed Mr. Gringe to
our house to celebrate such a festive season with my family. My hatred
towards Mr. Gringe escalated when he ate all the chicken in the house.
Chicken was my favorite food! I hated him. Therefore, I decided to hide all my
candy from Mr. Gringe and while I was hiding the candy in the attic, my feet
became stuck in the broken floor. Oh no! I was trapped! The attic is dark and
scary! How can I escape! I was shivering in the cold and dark for hours,
without food or help. Suddenly, I heard a noise and a dark figure appeared up
the ladders. It was Mr. Gringe. He saved me. I am so happy.”