PATTERNS OF

DEVELOPMENT
 What are Patterns of Development?

• Patterns of development or "rhetorical modes" are the different

ways in which people think about and organize information.

• By knowing the patterns of development, a writer is able to use

appropriate methods in presenting information and/or ideas
during writing.
In order to once again provide you with a
much comprehensive application of the
patterns of development, we will be using
one topic to compare each.
Let us use “dog” as our topic example for
today’s lesson.
 Narration

• The purpose of narration is to tell a story or relate an event.

• Narration is an especially useful tool for sequencing
information into some kind of logical order, usually
chronological.
• Literature uses narration heavily
 Narration

• The narrative paragraph usually tells a part of a story in the

first person.
• A narrative paragraph contains action verbs and transition
words that indicate time or sequence. It shows a sequence of
events connected by transition words
 Narration
Examples of transition words are the ff:
• First, second, etc.
• After, next, then, eventually, soon
• Meanwhile, a short time later
• During, at the same time, simultaneously
• Suddenly, instantly, momentarily
• The next day, following, thereafter In the end, ultimately
An example of narration is as follows:

I was walking alone one night together with my dog, Pluto.

Suddenly, Pluto stopped in his tracks and angrily barked at the
empty road. I patted his head to try and calm him down yet he
never stopped. Feeling scared, I abruptly picked him up and
ran towards the house. I let off a sigh once I was near the
doorway.
 Note that the writer tells the events that have
transpired in a logical sequence. It was also
narrated in the first person.

The writer also used the transition word “suddenly”

to indicate the next course of action.
 Description
• The purpose of description is to recreate, invent, or visually
present a person, place, event, or action.
• This is done to enable the readers to picture that which is
being described.
• Description is heavily based on sensory details: sight, sound,
smell, feel, taste.
 Description
• A descriptive sentence has concrete and specific details to
help the reader.
• Literary analyses, descriptive essays, business plans, lab
reports, and research papers are some examples of writing
genres that use descriptive paragraphs.
An example of description is as follows:

Ben's dog, Bailey, is a golden retriever. The dog had brown

eyes and was big; almost half as Ben's height and was about a
meter long. Her light golden fur was quite lengthy. She wore a
dark blue collar with her name on it. Bailey smelled as if she
needed a bath right away.
 Note that the paragraph was very detailed;
depicting the dog’s size, length, eye color, and
even its color in order to provide the reader a
clear picture as to what the dog looked like.

The paragraph also utilized sensory imagery:

sight and smell.
 Definition
• Definition explains a concept, term, or subject. Its main purpose is to
tell what something is.
• It usually consists of three basic parts:
(1)the term, concept, or subject to be defined;
(2)the general class to which it belongs, and
(3)the characteristics that differentiate it from the other members of
its class.
• This pattern of development is commonly used in the sciences,
humanities, and business.
An example of definition is as follows:

A dog is a domesticated carnivorous mammal. A dog

typically has a long snout, an acute sense of smell,
non-retractable claws, and a barking, howling, or
whining voice.
Note that the example follows the three basic parts of a
definitive text:
a

a. the term, concept, or subject to be defined (dog)

b. the general class to which it belongs
(mammal)
c. the characteristics that differentiate it from the other
members of its class
(long snout, an acute sense of smell, non-retractable claws, and a
barking, howling, or whining voice)
 Classification
• Classification takes one large concept, and divides it into
individual pieces.
• It refers to sorting or arranging subjects (e.g., persons, places,
things, ideas) into groups or categories according to their
common or shared characteristic.
• The group or category should have a single basis of
classification.
An example of classification is as follows:

Dog breeds are classified into 7 different groups: Herding,

Sporting, Non-Sporting, Working, Hounds, Terriers, and Toy
breeds. They all have different purposes and based on uses and
characteristics, these different groups are used as a way to
identify dogs.
 Note that the text depicts “seven groups”
denoting that dogs may be classified into these
categories.

Also, all of these groups share one distinct

characteristic; that they are all dog breeds.
 Exemplification
• Exemplification, in simple terms, is the act of providing
examples to a certain term or concept for better understanding.
• Exemplification extends an idea even further by providing
smaller concepts under that idea.
• Argumentative and exemplification essays, feature articles,
reviews, reports, and case studies often use examplification to
prove a point.
An example of exemplification is as follows:

Experts say that there are more than a hundred

dog breeds existing in the world. Some
commonly known examples are German
shepherds, golden retrievers, beagles, poodles,
bulldogs, etc.
Conspicuously, the writer provided examples
of the most commonly known dog breeds to
provide readers a generic idea of what dog
breeds are.
 You can use both exemplification and
classification in developing a paragraph. You
can begin by classifying some concepts and
then explain each concept by giving examples.
 An example of using
classification and
exemplification is as follows:
 Dogs breeds are classified into 7 different groups: Herding,
Sporting, Non-Sporting, Working, Hounds, Terriers, and Toy
breeds. k

Examples of dog breeds under each group are: Border collies

and shelties under herding, golden retrievers and Vizslas under
sporting, poodles and Dalmatians under non-sporting, German
shepherds and Siberian huskies under working, bloodhounds and
beagles under hounds, Jack Russell and Cairns under terrier, and
Shih Tzu's and Chihuahuas under toy.
 Note that the writer began by classifying dog
breed groups then proceeded his explanation
by giving examples under each dog breed type.
End of Part 1