Types of paragraphs: definitions, features and exmples

1. TYPES OF PARAGRAPHS
M I L A D Y C A S T A Ñ E D A
VA L E R I A R O D R I G U E Z
K A R E N C H AV E R R A
U N I V E R S I D A D E A N
T E O R Í A D I S C U R S I V A
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2. PARAGRAPH
A paragraph can be defined as a group of
sentences related to the same topic, even
though it could be formed just by a single
sentence.

3. TYPES OF PARAGRAPHS
According to the writing propose, paragraphs
may be classify into four main categories:
Descriptive
Persuasive
Expository
Narrative
To describe something or someone
To tell stories or sequence of events
To explain something, give information or
instructions
To convince the reader

4. Descriptive paragraphs aim to:
Show the reader what a thing or person is
like without physical contact.
Allow the reader to experience the
phenomenon, item or event described in
detail.
DESCRIPTIVE PARAGRAPHS

5. Their feature are:
Words usually appeal to the five senses of
touch, smell, sight, sound, and taste.
They normally include modifiers (e.g.,
adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases)
Figurative language are very common as
well (e.g., metaphors, personification,
similes)

6. “I climb up on the loading platform in back of the small
country hardware store somewhere off Route 13 near
Nassawadox on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. I am
looking for the proprietor. The air is cool in the shadows
of the storeroom and redolent of fresh-sawn lumber. I
hear voices behind me. The proprietor, middle-aged with
skin leathered by the sun, is taking to two young white
men in bib overalls. The young white men are leaning on
a rusting 1962 Ford station wagon of indeterminate
color. From the shadows of the storeroom, I move in
their direction.”
Defending the spirit by Randall Robinson
EXAMPLE

7. NARRATIVE PARAGRAPHS
Narrative paragraphs aim to tell about a
sequence of actions.
Their feature are:
There is always a clear beginning, middle
and end.
They usually follow a plot line

8. EXAMPLE
“John Payton, an old friend and brilliant Washington lawyer, told
me recently that UCLA Law School’s large entering class for fall
1997 would likely include not a single black , owing to general
retreat from affirmative action. This is the new and disturbing
national trend. In 1996 President Clinton signed a mean-spirited
welfare reform bill that promised to push millions of children,
black, brown, and white, into poverty. Month later, the President,
with much pomp and fanfare, called from a platform in
Philadelphia for mass volunteerism as an answer to our nation’s
growing social ills. Sharing the platform with the president, were
former presidents Carter and Bush. General Colin Powel
provided something of a black imprimatur for the idea of
substituting volunteerism for federal assistance to the poor.”
Defending the spirit by Randall Robinson

9. EXPOSITORY PARAGRAPH
Expository paragraphs aim to:
Help the reader understand following a
process or a method.
Provide information either explaining it
or giving instructions.

10. Their feature are:
They often require research.
An exposition usually includes techniques
such as examples or illustrations to
support a statement.
Also, ordinal sequence are often used (e.g.
chronological or numerical)

11. EXAMPLE
“A sentence is a group of words that make sense when
used together. A sentence expresses a complete thought. If
a sentence does not express a complete thought, it is an
incomplete sentence. A sentence begins with a capital letter
and ends with a period(.), an exclamation point(!), or a
question mark(?). Every sentence has a subject and a verb.
Sentences are the basic units of all writing. Below you will
see examples of incomplete sentences and complete
sentences.”
Clear writing: step by step by Diana Bonet

12. PERSUASIVE PARAGRAPHS
Persuasive paragraphs aim to get the reader
reaction, accepting or understanding the
writer’s position or proposal.
Their feature are:
They often require the gathering of facts
and research.
Usually, rhetorical devices are employed in
order to influence the reader's opinion.

13. EXAMPLE
“We believe that we can change the things around us in
accordance with our desires—we believe it because otherwise
we can see no favorable outcome. We do not think of the
outcome which generally comes to pass and is also favorable:
we do not succeed in changing things in accordance with our
desires, but gradually our desires change. The situation that
we hoped to change because it was intolerable becomes
unimportant to us. We have failed to surmount the obstacle, as
we were absolutely determined to do, but life has taken us
round it, led us beyond it, and then if we turn round to gaze
into the distance of the past, we can barely see it, so
imperceptible has it become.”
In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust

14. REFERENCE LIST
Basics: Language Art-English. (2015). Retrieved from:
https://sites.google.com/site/basicslanguagearts/home/compone
nts-of-a-paragraph/different-type-of-paragraphs
Bonet, D. Clear Writing : A Step by Step Guide. Menlo Park, CA,
USA: Course Technology / Cengage Learning, 1991. ProQuest
ebrary.
Learn English Online. (2015). Types of paragraphs. Retrieved
from:
http://www.learnamericanenglishonline.com/Write_in_English/W
L10_types_of_paragraphs.html