Non-narrative Kinds of Writing

Descriptive, persuasive, and expository writings are the parts of non-narrative literature.  

Descriptive Writing

Descriptive writing describes any particular person, place, object, event, or concept in response to the five senses. The purpose of descriptive writing is to provide details. Descriptive writing creates pictures in the minds of readers through sensory details. It takes information from our five senses. It means descriptive writing takes information from what we see, hear, taste, smell, and touch.   

Descriptive writing uses figurative languages such as simile, metaphor, and analogies.

We can make our descriptive writing vivid if we can make our description precise by using specific adjectives instead of general adjectives, active voice instead of passive verbs. 

Writers can describe from both subjective and objective perspectives. 

A descriptive essay may not have any thesis. 

In some cases, descriptive writing can exist on its own, or it can be a part of expository, persuasive, or narrative writing. 

Finally, you have to organize your writing properly. If you describe time, you should follow chronological order; if you describe any location, you should follow spatial order. Descriptive writing also includes the order of importance.  

Chronological order

In chronological order, things are arranged one after another by using the following transitional words: 

Before	First	Next	Sometimes	Last
Earlier	In the beginning	Second	Every so often	Finally
Prior to	At the beginning	After a few days	Once in a while	At long last
In advance	Starting with	After that	Periodically	Eventually
Beforehand	To begin with	Soon after	Occasionally	Lastly
Previously	At first	Subsequently	Every now and then	At the end
Yesterday	Initially	Consequently	Gradually	At last
In the Past	First	Afterward	At times	In conclusion
Not long ago	Originally	Later	Rarely	Ultimately
Once	In the first place	Third	Sometimes	Overall
Last time	Before all else	As soon as	On occasion	After a long time
Last month	From this point	After  a while	Some of the time	In the long run
This Morning	Firstly	Then	From time to time	To conclude

 Spatial Order

Descriptive writing also uses spatial order. Spatial order is the best to describe the scene and setting. We can also use spatial order for giving instructions and directions. We can learn the following transitional words for Maintaining spatial order:

a little further on	beneath	farther along	in front	right of
behind	down	in back	up	on top of
alongside	near	beyond	to the south	just to the right

Order of Importance

Order of importance follows two ways of ordering: ascending and descending. When Your writing begins with the most important occurrence and ends up with the least important event, it is called descending order of importance. On the other hand, when  Your writing begins with the least important occurrence and ends up with the most important event, it is known as ascending order of importance.  

Example of Descriptive Writing

Persuasive Writing

Persuasive writing tries to convince the reader to accept any particular point of view or make the reader understand the writer's position. This type of paragraph is necessary when building an argument backed with the collection of ideas and examples generated from facts and research. 

If you want to add an idea, you can use the following transitional words: first, second, next, in addition, moreover, besides, furthermore, as well.

You can use the transitional words below if you want to provide examples: for example, for instance, to illustrate, as an illustration, generally, specifically.

Induction and deduction are the two main ways of convincing the readers. In the inductive method, examples are followed by general law. On the other hand, in the deductive method, The general law is followed by examples. 

The conclusion of persuasive or argumentative writing is also important. restating the argument's main points and advantages, the conclusion tends to remind the readers of the benefits they will have if they accept the writer's side.

Example of Persuasive Writing

Expository Writing

Expository writing explains something or provides instruction. It explains how a particular thing works. It may require research, but the writer may rely on his own knowledge and expertise. Expository writing has several functions. Firstly, it defines concepts it will explain. Then, it differentiates the concepts. Thirdly, differentiation leads to the analysis followed by classification. Finally, expository writing also deals with cause and effect.

So, expository writing deals with different patterns of writing: 

• Cause and Effect
• Comparison
• Problem and solution
• Maintaining Sequence

In the description of cause and effect, the writer points out one or more causes and shows the results of these causes. Here, the writer can use the following cue words: If...then, as a result, so, therefore, because, etc. 

Expository writing also includes comparison. This pattern of writing talks about how two or more things are similar or different from each other. The cue words for this pattern of writing can be: however, on the other hand, in contrast, same as, etc. 

Expository writing also states a problem and gives the required solutions for the problem. Here, in general, the writer introduces a question and provides the necessary answers. Following cue words you can follow are: the problem is, the solution is, problem/puzzle is solved, question...answer, etc.  

The purpose of expository writing is to educate, not to entertain or convince the readers. Example of Expository Writing

Introduction to Literature

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