LESSON 1: Patterns of Communication (Narration, Description, Definition,

Exemplification, Comparison and Contrast, Cause and Effect, Problem Solution,

Persuasion)

"Reading" is the process of looking at a series of written symbols and getting meaning from them.
Reading is making meaning from print.

Critical Thinking in Reading Non-critical Thinking in Reading

It involves a series of complex thought It happens when one simply accepts the things
processes which allows one to make reasoned that are told without examining the facts. It is
judgment, assess the way one thinks, and usually derived from emotions and to
solving problems effectively. conclusions without evidence.

INTRODUCTION
Patterns of Communication - are structures in which ideas are
communicated/presented in various ways
- range from collecting ideas presented in sequence (narration),
conceptualizing ideas (description and definition), analyzing ideas
(comparison-contrast, exemplification, cause-effect), to reasoning ideas
(problem-solution and persuasion).

1. Narration / Chronology Writing

It organizes ideas according to time/events which can be presented through
a narration or through a process.

Two Types of Chronology Writing:

a) Narrative sequences events in order based on time (chronology).
b) Process organizes ideas based on stages or steps.

Check the examples below:

Narrative Writing
Peddling on My Own
Learning how to ride a bike for the first time was a nerve-racking
independent moment. I was about five years old when my sister informed me
that I was too old to still be riding a bike with training wheels. That was the
time I decided not to depend on them anymore. Even though I had some
doubt, my sister and I went outside and started to take the little wheels off my
bike. After my bike went through the transformation, I was now ready for the
 big moment. With butterflies in my stomach, I slowly got on the bike, and with
my shaky hands, I gripped the handles tightly. Meanwhile, my sister was
holding on to me to help keep my balance. I was so afraid the she would let
go, yet I was determined to ride this bike on my own. Next, with a little push
from her, I started to peddle. The faster my bike went the faster my heart
raced. Finally, I looked back nervously and noticed that my sister let go of my
bike a long time ago. I was so excited that I accomplished freedom on my bike
that I forgot to peddle. The next step I remember, I was lying on the ground,
yet I did not care because of the adrenaline rush. I will never forget the
exhilarating moment and growing up stage of riding a bike without training
wheels.

Process Writing
Breaking up with a boyfriend or girlfriend can be easier said than done,
but here are five steps that may help the breaking up process. First, try to
distance yourself by suddenly becoming busier than usual. The next step is to
calmly tell the other person how you are feeling. Then, gently let him or her
know that you do not want to be together anymore. Then make sure to be
sensitive of his or her feelings and answer any questions that he or she may
have. For example, if the person starts to cry, use kind words to help comfort
him or her. After everything is said and done, take some alone time for
yourself because everyone has feelings to sort out after a break up. Finally, go
out with friends and meet new people. With these five steps it will make the
breaking up process smooth for both parties.
Sara Bedwell, Ways to Make Breaking up Easier

 Main idea and major events, such as final outcome, major stages, and order or
presentation are significant components of chronology writing. In order to comprehend
a text, signal words can be used in identifying this pattern.

2. Description Writing

It provides details by using either a sensory or spatial pattern.

Spatial pattern arranges ideas using location and physical space.

Sensory pattern organizes ideas using the senses.

Sensory Images in Description

 • Visual/ Sight - can show outline, sizes, distance, perspective, motion, color,
light, or surface.

• Auditory/ Hearing - can distinguish volume (loud/soft), quality, pitch, and

cause or source of sound.

• Tactual/ Tactile/ Touch - can feel texture, temperature, resistance

(hard/soft), skin sensation, and degree of moisture.

• Gustatory/ Taste - can show taste of sweetness, saltiness, etc.

• Olfactory/ Smell - can help determine scents and other odors.

• Organic (with the help of internal organs) - can help feel pain, fever,
shivering, weight, and pressure.

Read the example below:

Gregory is my beautiful gray Persian cat. He walks with pride and grace, performing a
dance of disdain as he slowly lifts and lowers each paw with the delicacy of a ballet dancer.
His pride, however, does not extend to his appearance, for he spends most of his time
indoors watching television and growing fat. He enjoys TV commercials, especially those for
Meow Mix and 9 Lives. His familiarity with cat food commercials has led him to reject generic
brands of cat food in favor of only the most expensive brands. Gregory is as finicky about
visitors as he is about what he eats, befriending some and repelling others. He may snuggle
up against your ankle, begging to be petted, or he may imitate a skunk and stain your favorite
trousers. Gregory does not do this to establish his territory, as many cat experts think, but to
humiliate me because he is jealous of my friends. After my guests have fled, I look at the old
fleabag snoozing and smiling to himself in front of the television set, and I have to forgive him
for his obnoxious, but endearing, habits.

 The most important elements of this pattern are the types of description used, the
cluster of details, and the progression of description. Chronology writing and description
are both used in narrating a story.

Narrate – to tell a story

exemplification – expand

Description – uses sensors

3. Definition Writing
It is used to develop an idea that helps to clarify and explain concepts by
answering "What does it mean?".
It can explain information through Illustrations, Examples, and
Descriptions. It organizes ideas by clarifying which can be made by illustrating or
giving examples.
It can also use synonymy, classification, and negation to define.

Formal Definition
• follows concise logical pattern that permits maximum information in a
minimum space.
• It is methodical and systematic.
• It involves three parts:
Specie - the term being defined
Genus - the family or class the specie belongs
Differentia - specific characteristics of the specie

Informal Definition
• It is the substitution of familiar words or phrases for the unfamiliar terms.
• Sometimes a phrase, clause, or even a sentence may be used here.
• It is generally partial, inaccurate, and incomplete.
• It lacks emphasis and completeness. Read the example below:

Formal Definition Informal Definition

Elon Reeve Musk is a philanthropist who is
the world's fifth 100-billion dollar man.
Specie - Elon Reeve Musk
Genus - a philanthropist
Differentia - who is the world's fifth 100-
billion dollar man
 Tiktok is like mini-Youtube.
 Jeff Bezzos is the first person ever worth
200 billion dollars.
 Sputnik V is the world's first approved
corona virus vaccine.

Cholera is a bacterial disease usually spread through contaminated water.

Cholera causes severe diarrhea and dehydration. Left untreated, cholera can be fatal
within hours, even in previously healthy people. Modern sewage and water treatment
have virtually eliminated cholera in industrialized countries. But cholera still exists in
Africa, Southeast Asia and Haiti. The risk of a cholera epidemic is highest when
 poverty, war or natural disasters force people to live in crowded conditions without
adequate sanitation. Cholera is easily treated. Death from severe dehydration can be
prevented with a simple and inexpensive rehydration solution.

Most people use the word "saint" to refer to someone who is exceptionally
good or holy. In the Catholic Church, however, a saint has a more specific meaning:
someone who has led a life of heroic virtue. This definition includes the four
"cardinal" virtues: prudence, temperance, fortitude and justice; as well as the
"theological" virtues: faith, hope and charity. A saint displays these qualities in a
consistent and exceptional way.

4. Exemplification Writing (listing)

It develops or requires general statement - the topic sentence - with one or more
specific examples from which all discussions are derived.
It is used to provide an example of something.

Dental Hygiene
One's career should be something that they love, should it not? I love dental
hygiene and it has become a passion of mine that I discovered while working as a
dental assistant and I would like nothing more than to make dental hygiene as my
career. First off, teeth are incredibly handy, one uses their teeth for everything from
chewing food, as a tool for opening those difficult candy wrappers, or even attracting
a date by flashing your pearly whites. I also love the idea of helping others have a
healthy smile and gain confidence, to me, nothing boosts confidence like having clean
healthy teeth that shine and sparkle. Second, it only takes four years to complete the
required schooling for dental hygiene. That's two years for prerequisites and two
years for the actual dental hygiene program and that's perfect for me because the
quicker I'm able to join the job force and begin a career the better. The final reason
why I'm pursuing this career is for the flexible schedule that will allow me to raise and
spend time with my (future) family. You get your weekends, holidays and vacations
without having to deal with late nights, emergency calls and a rigorous schedule. For
all these reasons I'm striving to become a dental hygienist, not only for me but also
for my future husband and children.
 5. Comparison-and-Contrast Writing
It organizes ideas based on how events, places, things, and concepts are
similar to or different from one another. It requires similarities and differences.

Two Ways of Comparing and Contrasting:

Separate Comparison and Contrast - describing one item first then

followed by the second.

Side-by-side Comparison and Contrast - discussing both items

based on each point of comparisons.

 Comparison and Contrast may focus on purpose of comparisons, points of comparisons,

actual similarities and differences.

Check the example below:

The atmosphere of Earth acts like any window in serving two very important
functions: to let light in and to permit us to look out and to guard Earth from
dangerous or uncomfortable things. A normal glazed window lets us keep our house
warm by keeping out cold air. In such a way, the Earth's atmospheric window helps to
keep our planet to a comfortable temperature by holding back radiated heat and
protecting us from dangerous levels of ultraviolet light. Just like a window which
prevents rain, dirt, and unwelcome insects and animals from coming in, scientists
have discovered that space is full of a great many very dangerous things against which
our atmosphere guards us. (Adapted from: Brandon & Brandon, 2011: 289).

6. Cause-and-Effect Writing
It organizes details based on the cause, reason, and result.

It may only discuss the cause, just the effect, or even both.

It requires an origin of an event that usually leads to a result.

Types of Cause and Effect relationships:

1. Single Cause, Multiple Effects

2. Single Effect, Multiple Causes

 3. Multiple Causes, Multiple Effects

4. Alternating Cause/Effect/Domino Effect

Read the examples below:

1. A tornado blew the roof off the house, and as a result, the family had to
find another place to live.
2. In addition to extreme overpopulation, extended drought has contributed
to severe famine in Ethiopia and other parts of Africa.
3. Population growth in the megacities has come from many companies
relocating in the area.
4. The emigration of the first pilgrims from England to the New World was
prompted by religious persecution in their homeland.
5. Unfair employer practices brought about the establishment of labor unions.

7. Problem-Solution Writing
It organizes ideas identifying a problem and proposes solutions to it. The
discussion of the problem includes the discussion of the Ws-and-H; while the
discussion for the solution includes the identification of the cause of the problem
and its effect that lead to the solution.

The examples below are excerpts from an introduction of a Problem-Solution essay.

The modern-day apartment dweller is faced with a most annoying problem: paper-thin
walls and sound-amplifying ceilings. To live with this problem is to live with the invasion of
privacy. There is nothing more distracting than to hear your neighbors' every function.
Although the source of the noise cannot be eliminated, the problem can be solved. (Maria B.
Dunn, "One Man's Ceiling Is Another Man's Floor: The Problem of Noise")
America is suffering from overwork. Too many of us are too busy, trying to squeeze
more into each day while having less to show for it. Although our growing time crunch is
often portrayed as a personal dilemma, it is, in fact, a major social problem that has reached
crisis proportions over the past twenty years. (Barbara Brandt, Whole Life Economics:
Revaluing Daily Life. New Society, 1995)
 8. Persuasion Writing
It organizes ideas to show how a set of evidences lead to a logical conclusion or
argument.

It presents the issue, the position, reason/s for taking a position, and the
evidences all leading to the intended conclusion.

It can also be used in emphasizing a point, in summarizing, and in conceding a

point.

Modes of Persuasion:

1. Ethos is an appeal to ethics. It is a means of convincing someone through the

character and credibility of the persuader.

2. Pathos is an appeal to emotion. It is done by convincing an audience to an

argument by creating an emotional response.

3. Logos is an appeal to logic. It is persuasion by reason.

Check the examples below:

 As a doctor, I am qualified to tell you that this course of treatment will likely
generate the best results.
Ethos  My three decades of experience in public service, my tireless commitment to
the people of this community, and my willingness to reach across the aisle
and cooperate with the opposition, make me the ideal candidate for your
mayor.
 I'm not just invested in this community - I love every building, every
Patho
business, every hard-working member of this town.
s
 Better men than us have fought and died to preserve this great nation. Now
is our turn to return the favor. For God and country, gentlemen!
 The data is perfectly clear: this investment has consistently turned a profit
year-over-year, even in spite of market declines in other areas.
Logos
 It's a matter of common sense that people deserve to be treated equally.
The Constitution calls it 'self-evident.' Why, then, should I have been denied
a seat because of my disability?
Here is an example of a Persuasive Text:

Laughter the Medicine

Laughter is one of the greatest healing devices known to man. Laughter is powerful and
can help people in many different ways. It has the power to cure something as little as a bad
day or to heal the wounds of a terminally ill person. Laughing has helped create the smile
which is the universal sign of well-being. Generally, individuals who do not laugh live
miserably and have unhappy lives. Dr. Robert Holden found out that smiling and laughing
releases endorphins in the brain which gives people an overall happy well-being. Using
comedy, many doctors have stimulated the healing process in manic depressants and fatally
ill patients giving them hope and ambition. In many clinics, laughter is being used in replacing
anti-depressants and reduces the need for pain killers. Take comedians for example, they
usually live long and happy lives. Putting a smile on faces and laughs in souls is what makes
life complete. Laughter helps heal people and brightens spirits for a better and healthier life.
Laughing is a sign of joy and hope and keeps people normal and the world happy. Using the
techniques of laughter and happiness is the best medicine known to man. Laughter is the
universal sign of wellbeing and happiness within health. Laughing brightens the spirit and
heals the mind and body of people who allow it to overcome them. So, try a smile and laugh
on for size and live a longer happier life with loved ones.

 Problem-solution and persuasion are both argumentative

BOOK

Pattern of development – logical arrangement of ideas

Signal words – helps to identify

1. Definition – may include one or more different patterns

- Spider map

2. Exemplification – spider map

3. Description – concept map

Types of description: evocative or informational; spatial or sensory

4. Chronology – cycle
5. Listing – enumeration

- Presents a series of items (facts, examples, features, reasons, and tips) that
support a main idea

6. Comparison-contrast – venn diagram

7. Classification and Division – categories or divisions based on criteria or standards

- Network tree

Superordinate – large group

Subordinate – subcategories of the larger group

8. Cause and effect – fishbone map

9. Problem-solution – problem-solution map

10. Persuasion – persuasion map

 SIGNAL WORDS

Signal Words for Definition

Is defined as Means To define
As defined Refers to To illustrate

Signal Words for Exemplification

After all for instance Namely That is
As an example in other words Put another way To be specific
Consider the following in particular Specifically To clarify
For example in short Stated differently To illustrate

Signal Words for Spatial Pattern or Visual Description (Description)

above Around Between in front of Onto
across away from Beyond inside Opposite to
adjacent to back of By into Outside
against behind Down near Over
along below Farther off Throughout
alongside beneath Here on to the right
amidst beside in on top of under

Signal Words for Chronology

about before in the meantime prior to tomorrow
after during later second until
afterwards eventually meanwhile soon when
as soon as finally next then yesterday
at first next week till
at this/that point immediately presently today

Signal Words for Listing

additionally and then further likewise
again another furthermore moreover
along with as well in addition next
also besides in the same way together with
and equally important
 Signal Words for Comparing (Comparison-and-Contrast)
also equally in the same way similarly
as in a similar fashion like to compare
both in comparison likewise

Signal Words for Contrasting (Comparison-and-Contrast)

although despite instead otherwise
and yet even so however still
as opposed to even though nevertheless the fact remains
but in contrast nonetheless unlike
conversely in spite of on the contrary whereas
counter to in the meantime on the other hand yet

Signal Words for Classification and Division

Another Classified as One kind The last group
Another kind Final type The first category The next part

Signal Words for Causes (Cause-and-Effect)

as for in view of (the fact) owing to (the fact)
because (of the fact) for the reason that inasmuch as seeing that
being that in that one reason since
due to (the fact that)

Signal Words for Effects (Cause-and-Effect)

accordingly consequently in consequence so that
as a consequence for this reason so therefore
as a result (of this) hence so much (so) that thus
because (of this)

Signal Words for Problem-Solution

but nonetheless one solution is the problem
first, second one reason for the one way is the solution

Signal Words for Emphasizing a Point (Persuasion)

again in that case to emphasize truly
for this reason indeed to repeat with this in mind
in fact

Signal Words for Concluding and Summarizing (Persuasion)

 accordingly consequently in brief Inevitably in a nutshell
all in all due to in conclusion on the whole therefore
as a result finally in short since thus
as I have said in any event in summary in essence to sum up

Signal Words for Conceding a Point (Persuasion)

admittedly it is true that obviously true
assuredly needless to say of course undoubtedly
certainly no doubt to be sure unquestionably
granted