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Types of Paragraphs

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Types of Paragraphs

Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Types of paragraphs

descriptive, narrative, expository, and persuasive


Descriptive paragraph
This type of paragraph describes
something and shows the reader what a
thing or a person is like. The words chosen
in the description often appeal to the five
senses of touch, smell, sight, sound, and
taste.
The lights grow brighter as the earth lurches away from the
sun, and now the orchestra is playing yellow cocktail music,
and the opera of voices pitches a key higher. Laughter is easier
minute by minute, spilled with prodigality, tipped out at a
cheerful word . The groups change more swiftly, swell with
new arrivals, dissolve and form in the same breath; already
there are wanderers, confident girls who weave here and there
among the stouter and more stable, become from a sharp,
joyous moment the center of a group, and then, excited with
triumph, glide on through the sea-change of faces and voices
and color under the constantly changing light.
• This excerpt is taken from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Narrative paragraph
This type of paragraph tells a story. There's
a sequence of action or there's a clear
beginning, middle, and end to the
paragraph.
It's been almost ten years since I first ran for political office. I was
thirty-five at the time, four years out of law school, recently
married, and generally impatient with life. A seat in the Illinois
legislature had opened up, and several friends suggested that I
run, thinking that my work as a civil rights lawyer, and contacts
from my days as a community organizer, would make me a viable
candidate. After discussing it with my wife, I entered the race and
proceeded to do what every first-time candidate does: I talked to
anyone who would listen. I went to block club meetings and
church socials, beauty shops and barbershops. If two guys were
standing on a corner, I would cross the street to hand them
campaign literature. And everywhere I went, I'd get some version
of the same two questions.
• This opening paragraph from Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope
Expository paragraph
This type of paragraph explains something or
provides instruction. It could also describe a
process and move the reader step by step
through a method. This type of paragraph
often requires research, but it's possible that
the writer is able to rely on his or her own
knowledge and expertise.
All toilet flush tanks work about the same. When the
toilet is flushed, the trip handle lifts the tank ball,
opening the outlet and letting water flow into the bowl.
When the tank is nearly empty, the ball falls back in place
over the outlet. The float falls with the water level,
opening the water-supply inlet valve just as the outlet is
being closed, and the tank is refilled through the filler
tube. Water also flows through the bowl refill tube into
the overflow pipe to replenish trap-sealing water. As the
water level in the tank nears the top of the overflow pipe,
the float closes the inlet valve, completing the cycle.
Reader's Digest Complete Do-it-yourself Manual
Persuasive paragraph
This type of paragraph tries to get the
reader to accept a particular point of view
or understand the writer's position. This is
the type of paragraph that many teachers
focus on because it's useful when building
an argument.
Immigration contributes to the overall health of the American
economy. Despite recent concerns related to the costs created by
illegal and some legal immigration to the United States, this
country has largely benefited from the skills, talents, and ambition
that immigrants bring with them. American businesses gain from a
good source of affordable labor, while town and cities are
revitalized by immigrant families who strengthen communities
through civic participation the generation of new economic activity.
The United States must continue to welcome new arrivals and help
those who already here; otherwise, the country will lose the
advantages it has over other industrialized countries who compete
against us in the global marketplace and seek to recruit from a vast
pool of unskilled and skilled global workers.
• Unknown

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