EXPOSITION
=79. General Principles.=--There is perhaps no other form of
composition which is so generally in use as exposition or
explanation. If you observe your own conversation and that of
the people about you, you will find that a great deal of it is
explanation. Every time you say in answer to some question about a
remark you have just made, "Why, I mean that--," you are explaining
the first remark. In almost all the recitations you make in school
you are explaining something--a principle in arithmetic, or in
physics, the construction of something in manual training, the
meaning of a word, etc. The object of your explanation is to make
the person whom you address understand the nature of your subject.
There are a number of devices for doing this, which will be treated
in this chapter, but you are never to forget that your aim is simply
to make some one clearly understand what was not plain to him before.
In description you were told that knowledge of your subject was the
most necessary element. This is so true of exposition that only the
briefest mention of that necessity is enough to show you its great
importance. It might be possible to describe something and give a
fair notion of it, without knowing it thoroughly yourself; but
this is out of the question in explanation. If you do not entirely
and completely understand what you are talking about, you certainly
cannot explain it to any one else. One of the great advantages of
writing explanations is that you are forced to think accurately as
well as to express yourself clearly.
The next thing in explanation is a consideration of the people
for whom you are writing. In the diary you write to yourself; in
a letter you address one person, whom you usually know well; in
narration and description, you write for persons about whom you can
know very little. In exposition you come back again to a set of
readers about whom you have some definite information. They may be
different from each other in a great many ways, but in one respect
they are alike--they do not understand the thing you are explaining,
or at least they do not understand it as clearly as you do, for
if they did, they would not be reading your exposition. This may
appear self-evident, but it is a very important matter. You are apt
to forget what should be constantly in your mind, that the entire
value of your explanation lies in making something clear to a person
who has not before understood it. In literary description your aim
was to make your reader see the picture you saw. In exposition your
aim is always and forever to make him _understand_, and no matter
how well written, your explanation is a failure if he does not
understand. You will often find it difficult to realize that some
people know nothing whatever of some process or principle with which
you are very familiar, and a good device is to imagine that you are
addressing your explanation to a foreigner ignorant of our life, or
to some one younger than you. Put yourself in the place of such a
person, and see if your remarks are sufficiently clear and full to
be a complete explanation.
There are two great divisions of exposition--the explanation of a
material process or thing, and the explanation of an abstract idea.
The first is very much easier and will be taken up first.
=80. Explanation of a Material Process.=--There is a strange
resemblance between the explanation of a material process and
telling a story. This will be made more clear by an example. A
well-written cookbook, or manual of handwork, employs constantly
this simplest, plainest form of exposition.
_To broil a steak._ Light the oven burners at least five minutes
before the time for broiling. Allow twelve to fifteen minutes
for a steak an inch and a half thick. When the rack and the pan
are hot, place the steak on the rack and put it as near the
flames as possible without having it touch. As soon as it is
seared and brown on one side, turn, and sear and brown on the
other. Now turn again. Remove the rack three or four slides
down, but do not reduce the heat. Cook for five minutes. Turn
the steak and broil for five minutes longer, and it is ready to
season and serve.
You may not see any connection between these straightforward and
plain instructions for broiling a steak and a story; but if you
examine them, you will see that they are the story of the process,
and that the explanation relates from first to last all the things
that were done by some one who cooked a steak in exactly the right
way. This resemblance is mentioned because it shows you that clear
statement of events in their right order is as necessary in this
sort of exposition as in story telling. Every one who writes good
instructions for going through some process, either consciously or
unconsciously imagines himself doing what he explains. In the above
example, the writer has imagined herself broiling a steak, and has
set down, step by step, everything she does. This is a very good
plan to follow. You will find that it simplifies any difficulty in
your mind, when you are a little confused as to what comes next, if
you will ask yourself, "If I were actually doing this, what would be
the very next thing I should do?"
Remember that your reader is ignorant of the process, and do not
forget any details that must be cared for, or there will be a gap
in your directions over which he cannot cross. Use the simplest,
plainest terms possible, and do not fear to be too minute. You will
have a tendency to forget some necessary instruction rather than to
add one that is not needed.
It is often well to make a broad statement of general conditions
first, before going on to detailed instructions. For instance,
suppose you are writing to a boy who has always until now lived in
the South, in order to tell him how to make a snow man. Before you
begin to tell him about starting with a small ball and rolling it
about till it grows large, you should say that he should try to make
a snow man only when the snow is somewhat damp, for no matter how
clear your instructions are, he can accomplish nothing by following
them if the snow be dry and powdery.
=Exercise 127.=--Write an explanation of the following
processes, as if to a person wholly ignorant of them:--
1. How to make a dam in a brook; to make a snow man; a snow fort
(with blocks pressed into shape in boxes); to set up a tent; to
irrigate a garden; to hang wall paper; to teach a pet animal
tricks; to build a fire out of doors.
2. How to make cocoa, soup, bread, butter, cheese, cake, custard.
3. How to grow flowers indoors; in a hot bed. How to plant
and grow lettuce, tomatoes, tobacco, corn, mushrooms, celery,
nasturtiums, crocuses, potatoes.
4. How to harness a horse. How to get a trunk from your house
to your cousin's in another town. How to develop an exposed
photographic plate.
Probably you have been able to treat the subjects above directly
from your own experience or observation. In the following subjects
you will probably need to consult some books, but be careful not
simply to repeat their language. Look up the subject, inform
yourself of all necessary details of manufacture or use, and then
write an exposition (as if to some one younger than yourself),
explaining any terms that would be new to him and stating the facts
in the simplest, plainest way.
=Exercise 128.=--Write as if in answer to any one of the
following questions from a child:--
1. How are bricks made? paper? glass? ink? iron? steel? gold
leaf? shingles? baseballs? hairbrushes? mirrors?
2. Why are fishhooks made in the form they are? saws? wheels?
3. Why does an ice house keep the ice from melting?
4. How does a water wheel work? a windmill? a well sweep?
scissors? Why does a chimney "draw"? What makes popcorn pop?
=Exercise 129.=--I. Explain, with a diagram or drawing, the
mechanism of the following objects. Letter or number the
different parts of your diagram, and refer to them in that way.
Plan your exposition as if trying to make the matter clear to a
younger brother or sister.
A pump, lamp, candle, stove, furnace, cistern, switches on
a railroad track, city waterworks, refrigerator, ice-cream
freezer, silo, limekiln.
II. Explain how a book is bound; how a horse is harnessed; how
windows are hung; what makes a window shade go up when you pull
the string; how thread is spun and cloth woven; how grain is
ground into flour; how salt is obtained.
III. Give instructions (using, if necessary, a lettered
diagram): for making a snare for rabbits; a mouse trap; a
bear trap; a mole trap; a box; a basket; a bow and arrow; a
needlebook; a cover for a book; a kite; a baseball diamond; a
tennis court; a doll's hat; a springboard; a picture frame; a
toboggan slide; a hasty shelter of boughs for camping; a doll's
dress (with pattern).
=81. Explanation of Games=.--One form of exposition which you have
often used is the explanation of games and contests; and you have
probably suffered from having other people give you imperfect and
confused directions for playing a game unfamiliar to you, finding
at some critical time in the contest that a detail or rule has been
forgotten.
The following is an exposition of a game which will almost certainly
be unfamiliar to you, but which is a great favorite in Spain:--
Pelota is an old Basque game, resembling hand ball, which of
late years has come greatly into fashion in Spain. It is given
over to professionals, and it is said that none can continue
it more than three or four years, so severely does it tax the
constitution.
Pelota is played in large glass-roofed buildings, one side of
which is devoted in all its breadth to the asphalt court. The
side wall of the court at Madrid is 175 feet long and the end
walls are 50 feet broad and 40 feet high.
The wall fencing the players has a rib of metal along it, about
a yard from the pavement, and another near the top, which limit
of height is carried along the longitudinal wall opposite the
spectators.
A ball is only in play when it hits the first wall between these
lines or the long wall below the prescribed limit. The court is
marked off by lines at regular distances of about four yards.
The spaces from four to seven are important, for the ball when
first played must drop from the wall between these two spaces.
The ball, which weighs about four ounces, is thrown from a
basket-work gauntlet or cesta, with a leather glove attached
for fastening to the hand, and during a game I have seen the
ball sent with such terrific force that it has rebounded from
the wall at one end of the court against that at the other.
There are usually four players, two on each side, and the aim of
the players is to cause the ball to rebound from the wall into
so remote or unexpected a place in the court that it will be
impossible for their opponents to reach it in time to return it
again to the wall. The time that the ball is in play, that is,
the time that both sides are successful in keeping the ball in
motion, is called a "rally." There are frequently, between good
players, rallies of sixteen strokes or more. During a match game
of fifty up, the players will wear their shoes right through.
Pelota is popular in most Spanish towns and villages, and one
frequently sees notices on church walls to the effect that it
is forbidden to play pelota against them.--E. MAIN: _Cities and
Sights of Spain._
Are there any questions that you would like to ask about pelota
after reading this explanation? Do you feel that you would need to
know more about it before trying to play? If so, remember to make
your own treatment of the following subjects complete enough to
satisfy a child in the Philippines, who knows no more about marbles
than you do about pelota.
=Exercise 130.=--Tell how to play baseball; football; checkers;
dominoes; basket ball; marbles; tag; hide-and-seek; drop the
handkerchief; any game peculiar to your neighborhood. Explain
how a field-day is conducted. What is a handicap? How do little
girls play keep house? What do you mean by "playing Indians"?
=Exercise 131.=--I. Following the model below, give good
instructions for learning how to swim, to sail a boat, to ride a
bicycle, to drive, to shoot a rifle, a revolver, to fish, to run
a sewing machine, to paddle a canoe, to ride horseback, to go on
snowshoes.
Use a diagram, if necessary, and give all the information
you yourself would like to have in beginning a new process,
mentioning mistakes usually made by beginners and telling how to
avoid them.
II. Tell as well as you can how to bandage a cut, how to treat a
burn, how to make a road, how to lay asphalt, brick, or macadam
pavements, how to shoe a horse.
The first thing in learning to skate is to be sure that your
skates are properly attached to your foot. If you fasten them on
with straps, do not pull the buckle too tight, as this stops the
circulation of the blood and may end in frozen toes; if by clamps,
see that they are very firmly fastened, or the skate may be wrenched
off in some sudden movement, giving you a fall. Also be sure that
the blades are sharp, as it is very hard to skate with dull blades.
After you have attended to these matters, one of the best ways to
begin is to skate with some one who is strong enough to hold you
up, or if you cannot arrange this, to push a chair in front of you,
until you have confidence enough to go alone.
The feet are placed at right angles to each other with the toes
turned out and the body bent slightly forward. Each foot is then
raised alternately and set down slightly on the inside edge. It
slides forward of its own accord and this motion is increased by
pushing on the other foot, which is at right angles to your forward
movement and so does not slide. You should keep your feet perfectly
level when raised and set down, turning the forward foot a little
on the outer edge as it slides, and keeping the other foot turned
to the inside edge. A great help in keeping your balance is to
swing your arms across your chest, with each forward slide, to the
opposite side from the foot which is advancing. Never look at your
feet, as it is almost impossible to keep your balance when doing so.
Look straight in front of you at a spot about level with your eyes.
There are various ways of stopping yourself. One is to dig the heel
of your skate in the ice and turn the other foot sidewise. Another
is to direct your course around a circle and to stop your forward
pushing; but perhaps the best way is to turn your toes in, thus
putting the line of your skate across the direction of your forward
movement.
Try to take as long strokes as possible and not to use the right leg
more than the left, keeping your stroke steady and even. Always lean
a little forward in ordinary skating and far forward if you wish to
go fast.
It is a good thing for beginners to force themselves to turn the
advancing foot on the outer edge of the skate. It is a little more
difficult to keep your balance in this way, but if once you become
fixed in the habit of using the inner edge only, you will never be
able to do any fancy or figure skating.
=82. Exposition of Abstract Ideas.=--All the exercises in
explanation you have had thus far have been with regard to simple,
material things, that is, things you can touch or see. There
are, however, very many subjects which need clear and accurate
explanation, but which deal with abstract ideas, with principles,
or with emotions. These are much harder to write of than material
things, largely because it is harder to think of them quite clearly
in your own mind. This is not because you do not have all the
information you need, but because you have never tried to think out
clearly and analyze the knowledge that you have. For instance, if
some one should ask you, What is cheerfulness? although you would
feel that you knew perfectly well what that quality is, you might
have some difficulty in expressing it.
=83. Exposition by Example.=--There are many ways to bring out the
meaning of an abstract term. One good device is the use of examples.
If it is someone in your family who asks you the question, you can
give at once a good idea of what cheerfulness is by saying, "Aunt
Kate is a cheerful person." But if you are speaking to some one who
does not know your Aunt Kate, you must then proceed to describe the
quality in her which you call cheerfulness. You will find this use
of example a very convenient method of exposition.
Another device is comparison with something that is similar but not
quite the same. In explaining the exact difference between the two
you define the subject of your exposition. For instance, suppose
you are asked by a child to explain the meaning of _parsimony_.
You can take a word which he knows, like _saving_ or _economy_,
and by showing the difference between the two, you can give him
a clear notion of the meaning, explaining that economy is wise
and reasonable saving of expense, and parsimony is foolish and
exaggerated saving. The following paragraph shows the use of this
method, the author comparing _cheerfulness_ to _mirth_.
I have always preferred cheerfulness to mirth. The latter I
consider as an act, the former as a habit of the mind. Mirth is
short and transient, cheerfulness fixed and permanent. Those
are often raised into the greatest transports of mirth who
are subject to the greatest depressions of melancholy. On the
contrary, cheerfulness, though it does not give the mind such an
exquisite gladness, prevents us from falling into any depths of
sorrow. Mirth is like a flash of lightning that breaks through
a gloom of clouds and glitters for a moment. Cheerfulness keeps
up a kind of daylight in the mind and fills it with a steady and
perpetual serenity.--JOSEPH ADDISON: _The Spectator._
=Exercise 132.=--Using this device of comparison, and adding to
it examples, try to explain the following subjects:--
1. Courage. Compare with rashness or foolhardiness, using as
example the character of Hobson as compared with that of a man
who goes over the Niagara Falls in a barrel.
2. Joy. Compare with contentment, using as example a mother
perfectly contented with her home and children, who is suddenly
overjoyed by a heroic deed of a son.
3. Perseverance. Compare with obstinacy, using as examples a hen
sitting patiently till her chicks are hatched out; and another
sitting week after week on china eggs.
4. Extravagance. Compare with liberality, using as example a man
who gives away so much to strangers that he has not enough left
to care for his family.
5. Industry. Compare with drudgery, using as examples a man who
carries stone for road-mending, and the military punishment of
making an offender carry stones from one side of the road to
another.
=84. Exposition by Repetition.=--Another good method of explaining
an abstract idea is to repeat in several different ways your
first statement or definition. First, you define your subject as
accurately as possible, by telling to what kind or order of thing
it belongs, and then by pointing out differences between this
individual example and others of the same kind. For instance, you
are asked by a child to define a snob. First, you give some general
idea of the meaning of the term by saying, "A snob is a vulgar
person with bad manners." But there are vulgar persons with bad
manners who who are not in the least snobs, so that after stating
the general order of the persons to which a snob belongs, you must
separate him from all other varieties of that class. You go on,
therefore, "He pays a foolish and exaggerated respect to social
position and money, and cannot understand that a noble character has
any value in a poor or uncultivated person."
You have now given a general definition of your subject, and one
good way to proceed with your explanation is, as stated above, by
means of repetition in other words of your first statement, thus:--
A real snob values the opinion of an ignorant rich person more
than that of an intelligent poor one. He is fawning and meanly
polite to influential men, and rude and overbearing to those who
have no recognized position. A snob will run hat in hand to open
a door for a wealthy woman of rank, and will not give a helping
hand to a poor woman who has fallen down.
This sort of repetition serves to make perfectly clear the idea
involved in your first statement.
=85. Exposition by Contrast.=--A further device in explanation is
contrast, showing the ways in which the subject of your exposition
differs from its opposite. The explanation of the snob might be
continued by contrasting him with a perfect gentleman, thus bringing
out more clearly the offensive qualities. Or, you might go back to
the sort of comparison you used in explaining courage, perseverance,
etc., and compare the snob to a person thoroughly rude, a boor,
showing how he differs: the snob is rude only to people who, he
thinks, have no means of punishing him for it; whereas a boor is
rude to every one.
=Exercise 133.=--1. Bearing in mind these two new methods for
explanation (repetition and contrast), as well as the methods
previously explained (comparison and examples), explain the
use and value of the study of geography, arithmetic, history,
manual training, music, drawing, gymnasium work, military drill,
sewing, reading aloud, spelling, a foreign language.
2. Explain (as if to a boy or girl younger than you, who asks,
"What is it for?") the purpose and value of the following:--
A debating society; a literary club; a nature study club; a
"Do as you would be done by" association; amateur theatricals;
athletic contests; an aquarium; zoological gardens; city parks;
public libraries; foreign travel; picture galleries.
=86. Exposition by a Figure of Speech.=--One of the most forcible
and graceful means of exposition is by the development of a figure
of speech,--a simile or metaphor.
I consider the human soul without education like marble in the
quarry, which shows none of its inherent beauties until the
skill of the polisher fetches out the colors, makes the surface
shine, and discovers every ornamental cloud, spot, and vein that
runs through the body of it. Education, after the same manner,
when it works upon a noble mind, draws out to view every latent
virtue and perfection, which without such helps are never able
to make their appearance.... Aristotle tells us that a statue
lies hid in a block of marble, and that the art of the statuary
only clears away superfluous matter and removes the rubbish.
The figure is in the stone; the sculptor only finds it. What
sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to a human soul.
The philosopher, the saint, the hero, the wise, the good, or
the great man, very often lie hid and concealed in a plebeian,
which a proper education might have disinterred and brought to
light.--JOSEPH ADDISON: _The Spectator._
=Exercise 134.=--I. Proverbs are really only figures of speech,
and explanation of these should be based to some degree on
the model above. Try to explain fully, as if to your younger
brother or sister, the true meaning of any of the following
expressions, using all the devices for exposition which you
have been studying. Think carefully before you begin to write
and make sure that you fully grasp the real meaning. You will
find examples and anecdotes illustrating your point particularly
useful in this sort of explanation.
1. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. 2. Don't count
your chickens before they are hatched. 3. A rolling stone
gathers no moss. 4. The more haste the less speed. 5. Birds of
a feather flock together. 6. Better an empty house than a bad
tenant. 7. Make hay while the sun shines. 8. Enough is as good
as a feast. 9. A burned child dreads the fire. 10. Strike while
the iron is hot. 11. He laughs best who laughs last. 12. He that
lives in a glass house should not throw stones. 13. Necessity is
the mother of invention.
II. Expound in the same way the following quotations, as if you
were trying to give a full realization of all that they mean to
some one who sees them for the first time and does not quite
understand them:--
1. Sweet are the uses of adversity.--SHAKSPERE.
2. He who loses wealth loses much; he who loses a friend loses
more; but he who loses his courage loses all.--CERVANTES.
3. He who knows most, grieves most for wasted time.--DANTE.
4. The wicked flee when no man pursueth.
5. A soft answer turneth away wrath.
6. A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches.
7. Books are the best things well used; abused, among the
worst.--EMERSON.
8. Charity is a virtue of the heart, not of the hands.
=Exercise 135.=--I. Try to explain what Washington's Birthday
means to us; St. Valentine's Day; April Fool's Day; Commencement
Day at a school; Arbor Day; Thanksgiving Day; Christmas; New
Year's; Labor Day; Fourth of July; Decoration Day. An exposition
of this sort may be very straightforward and simple, only a
paragraph long, or it may be as elaborate a composition as
you can make it; but in either case you should try to express
sincerely the deep feeling which underlies most of these
festivals. Choose some favorite of yours in the above list and
try to express why you are fond of it and impressed by it.
II. Following the same method, look up the facts in regard to
some foreign customs, and write an explanation of what you
imagine to be the feeling underlying All Souls' Day in Paris;
the pilgrimage to Mecca of the Mohammedans; the pilgrimage in
India to the Ganges; cherry-blossoming time in Japan; Primrose
Day in England; the Fourteenth of July in France; and other
festivals of which you can learn.