EXPOSITION

What is AN EXPOSITION?

An exposition is a piece of text that presents one side of an issue. The purpose
of an exposition is to persuade the reader or listener by presenting one side of
an argument, that is, the case for or the case against.

Examples of exposition texts include:

• advertisements
• spoken arguments
• editorials
• legal defences
 EXPOSITION
Features of An exposition

Constructing a discussion

An exposition texts usually has three sections. The first sections

introduces the author’s point of view and can preview arguments that
may follow in the text. Next comes a series of arguments that aim to
convince the audience. The final section is the conclusion that sums up
the arguments and reinforces the author’s point of view.

Grammatical features of a discussion

Exposition texts usually include the following grammatical features:
• the words that express the author's attitude (modality), for example,
will, may, must, always, rarely
• emotive nouns and verbs
• adverbs that show a time sequence and link the arguments.
1 An introductory statement
EXPOSITION
• The author’s point of view is called the thesis of the argument and this is given in
The the
EXPOSITION
introduction. scaffold
• The introduction can include a preview of the arguments that will follow in the next
section of the text.
• A question or emotional statement can be used to capture the audience’s attention.

2 A series of arguments to convince the audience

• A new paragraph is used for each new argument.
• Each new paragraph begins with a topic sentence that introduces the argument.
• Details supporting the argument follow the topic sentence.
• Emotive words are used to persuade the audience to believe the author.

3 A conclusion summing up the arguments

• The author restates his or her thesis (point of view).
• A summary of what have been stated in the section above may be included here.
 EXPOSITION
MODEL OF An exposition

Structures Grammatical
I’m sick of seeing so much rubbish on the roadside. features
Last week I drove from Gosford to Terrigal and
INTRODUCTORY counted more that 200 soft-drink cans and 80 bottles
STATEMENT littering the kerb.
SHOWING
AUTHOR’S POINT
The recycling and ‘Do the Right Thing’ campaigns
have obviously failed. Maybe the police should use EMOTIVE
OF VIEW
litter cameras as well as speed cameras to catch the LANGUAGE
motorists who pollute our roads.
SERIES OF In South Australia, for example, you pay a deposit of
ARGUMENTS TO five cents on bottles and cans and this encourages
CONVINCE THE people to return them rather than dump them. The
AUDIENCE system should be introduced across Australia to MODALITY
encourage people to recycle rather than dump.
If we are to improve our environment then something
as simple as these ideas must be implemented now.
CONCLUSION
THAT ENFORCES
AUTHOR’S
POINT OF VIEW