Explanatory writing

Explanatory writing is an article genre that explains and clarifies things with explanation as the main expression. It explains the content, form, essence and law of things by explaining their sources, causes, properties, phenomena, organizational structure, scope and categories, functions and functions, and their relationship with other things. Including advertisements, brochures, rules, articles of association, comments, scientific sketches, etc.

2. The beginning of the explanatory text

There are usually five ways to start an explanatory text:

(1) Cut to the chase

Straight to the point is the object of direct explanation, which is in charge of the full text at the beginning, so that readers can "see at a glance" what the author wants to explain, and then explain it layer by layer.

Such as the beginning of the work Squirrel by the French scholar Buffon:

"Squirrel is a beautiful little animal, docile, intelligent and very pleasing."

Another example is the beginning of my favorite book, written by a middle school student in Jiangxi:

"Maybe everyone has his favorite book, so do I. Diary is my favorite book at first."

(2) Overview

At the beginning, this form gives a comprehensive and general explanation of the object of explanation in concise language. This is only the outline of this explanatory article, and then it will be explained in detail.

For example, at the beginning of Digital Miscellany:

"Even illiterate people generally count, such as a tree, two books, three yuan and so on. However, even a well-read person may not know the origin, taste or even regret of the numbers. "

(3) Using rhetorical questions

Explanatory articles are generally plain and simple, but pointing out the main idea of the article with questions at the beginning can attract readers' attention and thinking, and then stimulate readers' interest in reading.

For example, "Don't screw the clock on yourself":

"Do you want to save time and study efficiently? Then please don't mess up the' clock' on yourself anyway. "

Another example is the beginning of the excellent composition "Life is Wonderful because of the Internet" by middle school students:

"When the network becomes a bridge between you and me, when the network makes lonely people find happiness, some people will ask-why are so many teenagers able to travel freely on the network? Answer:' Because life is wonderful because of the Internet!' "

The beginning of a wonderful desktop:

"The sky is culture-astronomy, and the earth is culture-geography. Our desk is actually a kind of culture-called desk culture. Why? Because our desk is like an encyclopedia, its content is not only rich and colorful, but also reflects the personality characteristics of the desk owner. "

(4) Instructions for use

At the beginning of this form, appropriate rhetorical devices, such as verbs, adjectives, metaphors and personification, are often used to describe the things to be explained, making them vivid and intriguing and arousing readers' interest in reading.

For example, the beginning of the Language of Nature:

"After beginning of spring, the earth gradually woke up from a deep sleep. Snow and ice melt, vegetation germinates and all kinds of flowers bloom. Two months later, the swallow came back. Soon, the cuckoo came ... "

(5) the beginning of the definition

At the beginning, the things to be explained are defined concisely to reveal the characteristics of the objects to be explained. At the beginning of this form, readers can first have a clear, definite and scientific understanding of the object to be explained.

For example, at the beginning of a large-scale mudslide:

"In some ravines, due to the continuous erosion and excavation of hillsides and gully beds by surface runoff, the mountain often collapses and landslides, and a large number of solid substances such as sediment and stones fall down, which are carried and stirred by the current and become viscous mud, which is quickly washed down under the action of gravity and inertial force. This is what people often say about mudslides. "

3. Explain the end of the text

There are usually five ways to end the explanatory text:

(1) natural ending

The so-called natural ending means that what the author wants to express is natural and ends with the end of the article.

Such as the end of the article "Squirrel":

"Squirrels can usually have three or four children at a time. Their hair is grayish brown and changes after winter. The new hair is darker than the lost hair. They comb their hair with their claws and teeth, leaving it bare and clean and odorless. Squirrel is also a useful small animal. Their meat can be eaten, their tail hair can be used as brushes, and their skin can be used as sweaters. "

(2) Prospects

At the end of the explanation, after explaining a certain technology or new thing, the author often makes a scientific prediction of the possible scenes of the explanation object from the perspective of the future, which makes people have infinite reverie and pursuit.

For example, at the end of What's in the Universe:

"... today, the manned spacecraft has successfully flown around the earth, and the future will surely reveal more secrets of the universe and accelerate the process of human conquest of the universe. "

(3) Discussion and conclusion

This kind of ending is to explain the development and change of something, and at the same time, through the evaluation and discussion at the end, it helps readers to improve their understanding of the significance of the development and change of something, thus playing a role in attracting people's attention.

For example, the end of Jinci:

"Jinci Temple is really a pearl among the beautiful rivers and mountains in China."

Another example is the excellent composition "Olympic Mascot" written by middle school students:

"Fuwa represents the dreams and aspirations of the people of China. Their prototypes and headdresses contain their connection with the ocean, forest, fire, earth and sky. Their image design uses the expression of traditional China art and shows the splendid culture of China. "

(4) Give instructions and opinions

Everything is always divided into two parts. After we fully explain the advantages and disadvantages of a thing, we can point out the shortcomings of the explained thing at the end, or comment on some reasons for this deficiency, which can make readers understand more comprehensively and profoundly.

For example, at the end of The Weather from the Clouds:

"... but the weather changes are extremely complicated, and there is a limit to understanding the weather from the clouds. We must accurately grasp the weather changes and rely on the weather forecast. "

Another example is the end of the excellent composition "Yellow River" by middle school students:

"Chairman Mao once said:' To despise the Yellow River is to despise our nation.' Friends, cherish this magnificent and weak ancient river, and don't let that stormy scene become a permanent memory in people's hearts. "

(5) Summary

At the end of the article, the content of the full text is summarized, which is called summary.

For example, at the end of Why the shadow at noon is shorter than that in the morning and evening:

"It can be seen that the formation of graphics involves knowledge of geography, physics, mathematics and so on, and it needs careful study to find a scientific answer."

Another example is the end of the excellent composition "MSG" by middle school students:

"Although monosodium glutamate will increase the delicious food, it is also harmful. Generally, the daily intake of each person should not exceed 6 grams. Too much can increase the content of sodium glutamate in blood, causing short-term headache, rapid heartbeat, nausea, dry mouth and other symptoms; Because monosodium glutamate can produce sodium pyroglutamate at 155℃, it loses its flavor and produces toxicity, so monosodium glutamate should not be cooked with food for a long time, nor should it be used for frying, frying and baking food. Without violating the above two principles, you can enjoy the delicious food brought by monosodium glutamate. "

4. Explanatory summary

(1) Explanatory writing is a style that objectively explains things, aiming at giving readers knowledge. The biggest headache for middle school students is expository writing, which is often entangled. In fact, expository writing is not what students are afraid of. As long as the messy things are sorted out, the reading expositions are combined with the writing expositions, and the reading texts are taken as examples of writing, and more observation, analysis and practice are made, you can gradually learn to choose the appropriate interpretation methods and explain the characteristics of things correctly and orderly.

First, to write expository texts, we must first distinguish between expository texts and narrative texts. Explanatory writing is to teach people to know and understand, and the purpose of narrative writing is to make people feel and feel. Explanatory text only explains the characteristics of things, clarifies principles, introduces knowledge, and explanation is the means. The difference between expository writing and argumentative writing is that the purpose of expository writing is mainly explanation, while the purpose of argumentative writing is mainly reasoning; Explanatory writing requires that the actual things or abstract things themselves be made clear, while argumentative writing requires that personal views or opinions be put forward on the object of discussion.

Second, to complete an expository essay, you must memorize its characteristics. The characteristics of expository writing are mainly descriptive, knowledgeable, scientific and practical. Only by mastering these characteristics of expository writing can we write expository writing.

Third, the types of expository texts must be clearly distinguished. If divided from the content, expository texts can be divided into things expository texts and things expository texts. If it is divided by expression, it can be divided into simple explanatory text and scientific text.

Interpretation of things: taking specific things as the object of explanation, focusing on what things are, scientifically explaining the characteristics of things such as state, nature, function, structure, development and change.

Explanatory text: Explanatory text that takes the occurrence, development and change of things and the reasons of their mutual relationship as the object of explanation, and makes "how" and "why" clear so that people can know not only why, but also why.

Plain descriptive writing refers to an objective description of the appearance, internal structure, function and species relationship of things in plain, concise and clear language. Generally speaking, words are not emotional and subjective, and descriptions are rarely used, let alone rhetorical devices.

Scientific Essay: It is an essay full of love and words with scientific knowledge as its content and explanation as its main form of expression. Different from other expositions, this kind of expositions is very literary, which is a dual product of science and literature, and contains science in interest.

If you master the characteristics of the above types of expositions, you can face them easily.

(2) Writing method

The general requirement of expository writing is to grasp the characteristics and essence of things. Everything has its own characteristics, explain it slowly; Secondly, it is often complicated to reflect the order of things themselves. To write its characteristics and essence, it is necessary to understand the order of things themselves and the relationship between parts; Introduce and explain the characteristics and functions of things in sequence; The text should be accurate, popular and simple, and the language of the text should be particularly accurate and thorough. Popularity and simplicity means that readers can better understand what you have written, make what you have written concrete and popular, and thus "fly into the homes of ordinary people."

In addition to the above general methods, expository writing has its own unique interpretation methods, which is of great benefit to training writing at ordinary times.

(3) Problems that are easy to appear when writing explanatory articles

There are two main problems in expository writing: first, the characteristics of the explanatory object are not accurately grasped, mainly because the purpose is not clearly stated and the aspects that need to be explained are not seriously considered. Its concrete manifestation is that when the article expounds a certain aspect of things, it does not closely focus on the characteristics of this aspect, which makes this aspect unclear and not prominent. Just like writing a narrative, there is a deviation from the "theme".

For example, the overpass near my home is made of cement. The bridge deck is very wide, and seven or eight cars can run side by side. Bridge opening is also bigger than other bridges, so the road is very wide, and at least four or five cars can walk side by side. The bridge builder braved the heat to build the bridge. They have been working day and night since the beginning of the project and have never seen them take a holiday.

This passage does not accurately grasp the characteristics of the object. In this paper, "the shape of the bridge" and "the builder of the bridge" are explained, so that people don't know which one to explain. Through the full text, we know that what the author wants to explain is "the shape of the bridge". In this case, he should focus on this point and write from different aspects of "form", instead of writing something that has nothing to do with "form" and involves "bridge builder"

Revision text: The overpass near my home was built on the original pavement. The bridge is all made of cement, which is more than 200 meters long. The horizontal road passes through the top of the bridge and the vertical road passes through the bottom of the bridge. The bridge deck is very wide, and seven or eight cars can walk side by side. Although the road under the bridge is a little narrow, at least four or five cars can walk side by side. On both sides of bridge opening, there is a space the size of a blue stadium, like a half fan, which gradually descends from the roadside to one end ... From a distance, the bridge is very spectacular.

The little author abandoned one aspect and concentrated his pen and ink on one point, which made the reader have a clearer understanding.

Secondly, the description of the characteristics of things is not clear, mainly because the article is not well organized and the explanation method is not appropriate. Its concrete manifestation is that when explaining the characteristics of things, we don't pay attention to the methods of explanation, or put several aspects of things together, or talk about another aspect before one aspect of things is clear, resulting in both being unclear.

For example, the so-called "putting on airs" means thinking about theme refinement and material arrangement before writing. When writing an article, you should refine the theme according to the materials and arrange the materials reasonably. After determining the theme, it depends on whether the material can explain the theme well; The arrangement of materials should meet the needs of the theme.

This is an explanation of "putting on airs" in the process of conception. Judging from the author's definition of "putting on airs", he grasped the characteristics of the object of description more accurately. However, the following explanation confuses "theme extraction" with "material arrangement", which is somewhat vague and confusing and cannot give people a clear understanding. Since "putting on airs" is a reflection on "theme refinement" and "material arrangement", it is necessary to separate the two aspects when explaining, and make one clear before telling the other. Only in this way can we be coherent and concentrate on making the problem clear.

Revised text: The so-called "putting on airs" means to refine the theme and arrange the materials before writing. To refine the theme, we must first start with all the materials and extract a general theme from them. Then, go back and see if the existing materials are in line with the theme and need to be added or deleted. The arrangement of materials, that is, the structure of the article, is mainly based on the needs of expressing the theme, and the materials are organically arranged and combined in a certain order to achieve the purpose of expressing the theme.

(4) Writing practice of expository writing

The purpose of explanation is to "benefit people with knowledge", which largely shows a person's knowledge level and the accuracy, clarity and order of thinking. To use the explanation method accurately, we must have a clear mind, keen observation ability and rich knowledge reserve.

In addition, the following points should be noted:

(1) Grasp the characteristics to explain things.

Everything has its own characteristics, which is the most essential and main aspect that distinguishes this thing from other things. Therefore, to introduce this thing clearly, we must grasp its characteristics and be accurate; Not only writing expository articles, but also reading expository articles should grasp the characteristics of things in order to clearly understand the things introduced by the author.

(2) Choose a good interpretation angle

Things are often characterized by diversity. If you look at the same thing from different angles, you will find that it has more than one feature. There are countless examples of the diversity of things. Because of this, we are required to choose a good angle, determine the key points and tell things in detail according to different writing purposes and readers.

(3) Reasonably arrange the explanation sequence.

In order to explain the characteristics of things accurately and clearly, we must choose a reasonable order for analysis according to the organization of things themselves and their inherent characteristics. The so-called rationality refers to an explanation sequence that is based on the characteristics of things, conforms to the cognitive law, and is easy to explain and understand.

Common command sequences are:

(1) Explain the structure of things, often according to the combination of things' components or the order in which people observe things;

(2) To explain the development process of things, it is often necessary to explain them according to the time sequence of things;

(3) when explaining the relationship between certain things and their characteristics, they are often explained first by the whole and then by the parts;

(4) Explanatory articles that mainly explain scientific experiments are often explained in the order of the experiments themselves.

Finally, it needs to be pointed out that the reasonable order has certain flexibility and needs more practice, diligent summary and extensive accumulation.

(4) Reasonable use of various interpretation methods.

Appropriate and flexible use of various interpretation methods is conducive to introducing things or things clearly and analyzing them vividly. The commonly used explanation methods are: general explanation; Definition description; Explain; Classification description; For example; Citation description; Contrastive description; Digital description; Chart description; Image description and so on. Which method to choose depends on the needs and the author's own writing habits, but most of them use various interpretation methods to make the article vivid and convenient for readers to know and understand the things (or things) introduced.

(5) Use accurate and concise language.