8 paragraph essay answering the following questions

1 The Useful Manipulation of Language

Skillful writers implement a variety of strategies to establish a connection with their audiences. Some of the strategies that follow work well in creating that connection through artistic phrasing, colorful description, or clear explanations of difficult or abstract concepts. Other strategies (such as some of those found in the “Shortcuts” subdivision) listed in this section should be avoided by the judicious writer. (1)

Directions: Select each topic below to reveal information on each one.

Using Picturesque Language

It is often useful for writers to explain a concept through artistic or descriptive prose. This strategy can serve as an icebreaker for a full argument, or it can bring clarity to a simple subdivision of a larger piece. For instance, if a writer wanted to discuss the effects of homelessness on a community or a population of people actually living outdoors, he or she might begin an essay with an extended description of what a homeless camp might resemble. Lizzy Acker, a reporter for Portland’s The Oregonian newspaper, does just this in her piece “Life on ‘Tweaker Island’”:

On a peninsula that juts out into the Columbia Slough sits a homeless camp that underscores the contradictions, challenges and beauty of living outside.

The area, known to some longtime residents as "Tweaker Island," is not an island and doesn't really contain any "tweakers." Instead, it's home to a fluctuating family of roughly 30 men and women, a community built around a core group of older homeless people, many in their 50s, struggling to make it together among the blackberry bushes across the slough from the Portland International Raceway.

Acker’s story then uses both photography and written text to illustrate the juxtaposition between a harsh standard of living and the natural beauty of one of Portland’s many urban parks.

Another useful way of employing picturesque language is to literally manipulate an audience into visualizing a concept being explored in the text. In her award-winning article “The Really Big One,” Kathryn Schulz does an admirable job of coaxing her audience into understanding how the movement of tectonic plates might ultimately spell disaster for the people of the Pacific Northwest:

Tectonic plates are those slabs of mantle and crust that, in their epochs-long drift, rearrange the earth’s continents and oceans. Most of the time, their movement is slow, harmless, and all but undetectable. Occasionally, at the borders where they meet, it is not.

Take your hands and hold them palms down, middle fingertips touching. Your right hand represents the North American tectonic plate, which bears on its back, among other things, our entire continent, from One World Trade Center to the Space Needle, in Seattle. Your left hand represents an oceanic plate called Juan de Fuca, ninety thousand square miles in size. The place where they meet is the Cascadia subduction zone. Now slide your left hand under your right one. That is what the Juan de Fuca plate is doing: slipping steadily beneath North America. When you try it, your right hand will slide up your left arm, as if you were pushing up your sleeve. That is what North America is not doing. It is stuck, wedged tight against the surface of the other plate.

Without moving your hands, curl your right knuckles up, so that they point toward the ceiling. Under pressure from Juan de Fuca, the stuck edge of North America is bulging upward and compressing eastward, at the rate of, respectively, three to four millimetres and thirty to forty millimetres a year. It can do so for quite some time, because, as continent stuff goes, it is young, made of rock that is still relatively elastic. (Rocks, like us, get stiffer as they age.) But it cannot do so indefinitely. There is a backstop—the craton, that ancient unbudgeable mass at the center of the continent—and, sooner or later, North America will rebound like a spring. If, on that occasion, only the southern part of the Cascadia subduction zone gives way—your first two fingers, say—the magnitude of the resulting quake will be somewhere between 8.0 and 8.6. That’s the big one. If the entire zone gives way at once, an event that seismologists call a full-margin rupture, the magnitude will be somewhere between 8.7 and 9.2. That’s the very big one.

Flick your right fingers outward, forcefully, so that your hand flattens back down again. When the next very big earthquake hits, the northwest edge of the continent, from California to Canada and the continental shelf to the Cascades, will drop by as much as six feet and rebound thirty to a hundred feet to the west—losing, within minutes, all the elevation and compression it has gained over centuries. Some of that shift will take place beneath the ocean, displacing a colossal quantity of seawater. (Watch what your fingertips do when you flatten your hand.) The water will surge upward into a huge hill, then promptly collapse. One side will rush west, toward Japan. The other side will rush east, in a seven-hundred-mile liquid wall that will reach the Northwest coast, on average, fifteen minutes after the earthquake begins. By the time the shaking has ceased and the tsunami has receded, the region will be unrecognizable. Kenneth Murphy, who directs FEMA’s Region X, the division responsible for Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Alaska, says, “Our operating assumption is that everything west of Interstate 5 will be toast.”

Her harrowing piece won a Pulitzer Prize as a keen example of what the agency called an “elegant scientific narrative.” Much of that elegance stems directly from Schulz’s use of picturesque language in literally guiding her audience through a potential geological catastrophe.

2 Using Concrete Language

When writers describe the literal, physical dimensions of a subject or concept, they are using concrete language. This compositional style surfaces often in technical writing, where engineers, architects, assessors, or appraisers must carefully record and describe details and dimensions of a building project or a plot of land. Location, size, and topography are often chronicled in a straight-forward passage of concrete description, which should be reported without subjective or personal influences. (1)

Directions: Select each topic below to reveal information on each one.

Concrete and Abstract Language

Experienced writers develop a knack for using both concrete and abstract language in advancing their arguments. Concrete language describes actual objects, circumstances, and events, and these passages are typically laden with adjectives. In The Structure of Argument, Annette T. Rottenberg and Donna Haisty Winchell note:

…arguments use abstract terms far more extensively than other kinds of writing. Using abstractions effectively, especially in arguments of value and policy, is important for two reasons:

1. Abstractions represent the qualities, characteristics, and values that the writer is explaining, defending, or attacking.

2. Abstractions enable the writer to make generalizations about his or her data. (282)

Remember that inductive reasoning relies heavily on generalizations about a specific body of supporting materials. Terms like “beauty” or “altruism” are subjective, which can make it difficult to advance a line of reasoning in describing them. A writer might use concrete language (velvety, dark crimson roses), for instance, to describe an abstraction (natural beauty).

While writers should, where appropriate and applicable, incorporate picturesque, concrete, and abstract prose in their writing to inspire reader interest and describe concepts accurately, there are also some strategies they should avoid when it comes to the manipulation of language. Many of these strategies are what we might call argumentative “shortcuts,” and they often fall into the categories of logical fallacies due to their brevity or irrelevance.

3 Some Common Shortcuts

Clichés

Clichés are expressions, phrases, or idioms that have grown stale through overuse. Relying on a cliché as part of the rhetorical process can be viewed as weak or lazy argumentation, simply because many of these statements are too “common” or antiquated. Who in modern life, for instance, actually has to avoid anything “like the plague”? Common clichés include phrases such as “opposites attract,” “as old as the hills,” and “time heals all wounds.” If a writer finds himself or herself resorting to a cliché to drive home a particular point, it might be time to go back to the well. Oh, wait…hold your horses while I revise the conclusion of this segment…

Slogans

Slogans are used to deliver brief, truncated messages. They are designed to become memorable, although they represent underdeveloped and overly simplistic ideas or solutions. Companies often attempt to brand themselves with slogans. Wal-Mart, for instance, implores its potential audience of shoppers to “Live better.” The message is concise, optimistic, and instructive (the inverse of the message would be to “Live worse,” so the slogan implies that shopping at Wal-Mart is an intelligent choice), although it never delves into the actual experience of visiting a Wal-Mart store. It doesn’t address Wal-Mart’s business model or trade practices.

Think of slogans as “bumper-sticker” arguments. If an ideology can be summarized on a bumper sticker (and many can, unfortunately), then it probably shouldn’t find its way into your collegiate writing.

Euphemisms

Sometimes, a writer can use language to sanitize an unpleasant or unmentionable act or ideology. The most common example we encounter is using the phrase “passing on” in the discussion of death and mortality. Astute job seekers exchange boring, ordinary phrasing in their resumes for more dynamic choices. Oregon, for instance, is one of two states (along with New Jersey) that prohibits self-service at gas stations. In Oregon, the workers that pump gasoline are called “petroleum-transfer technicians.”

A recent, high-profile example of the public use of euphemisms occurred in Texas in 2015. The state board of education voted to unilaterally revise their K-12 textbooks to refer to the slave trade as the “Atlantic triangular trade” (Moser).

The use of euphemism can be, depending on the intent of the writer and the context of the rhetorical situation, viewed as a fallacy of diversion. Arguers need to carefully deliberate on how they position certain subjects in their work and which terms they use to advance their arguments. (1)

4 Conclusion

Each of these tactics is an example of the thoughtful use of language. As always, writers should step back and appraise the communication situation, the size and context of the argument being advanced, and the piece’s intended audience before making critical choices on how to incorporate them into an argument.

Another important component of advancing successful arguments is the author’s use of definition. Definition is, of course, important for clarifying the grounds of an argument, but it can also be used as an organizational approach to writing about such vague and ambiguous terms as “success,” “terrorism,” and “abuse.” Courses in rhetoric, philosophy, and political science often include definition essays as assignments so that students can practice the activity of applying specific criteria to a vague concept. (1)

5 Definition and Meaning

The sloppy or misleading use of ordinary language can seriously limit our ability to create and communicate valid reasoning. As philosopher John Locke pointed out three centuries ago, the achievement of human knowledge is often hampered by the use of words without fixed signification. Needless controversy is sometimes produced and perpetuated by an unacknowledged ambiguity in the application of key terms. We can distinguish disputes of three sorts:

· Genuine disputes involve disagreement about whether or not some specific proposition is true. Since the people engaged in a genuine dispute agree on the meaning of the words by means of which they convey their respective positions, each of them can propose and assess logical arguments that might eventually lead to a resolution of their differences.

· Merely verbal disputes, on the other hand, arise entirely from ambiguities in the language used to express the positions of the disputants. A verbal dispute disappears entirely once the people involved arrive at an agreement on the meaning of their terms, since doing so reveals their underlying agreement in belief.

· Verbal—but also fundamentally genuine—disputes can occur as well, of course. In cases of this sort, the resolution of every ambiguity often only reveals an underlying genuine dispute. Once that's been discovered, it can be addressed fruitfully by appropriate methods of reasoning. In the backyard barbecue setting, for instance, sometimes it is important to deconstruct the verbal argument all the way back to its definitive grounds. Sometimes, this means looking a term up in a dictionary or clarifying the history of a concept or idea.

We can save a lot of time, sharpen our reasoning abilities, and communicate with each other more effectively if we watch for disagreements about the meaning of words and try to resolve them whenever we can. (1)

6 Kinds of Definition

The most common way of preventing or eliminating differences in the use of languages is by agreeing on the definition of our terms. Since these explicit accounts of the meaning of a word or phrase can be offered in distinct contexts and employed in the service of different goals, it's useful to distinguish definitions of several kinds:

A lexical definition simply reports the way in which a term is already used within a language community. The goal here is to inform someone else of the accepted meaning of the term, so the definition is more or less correct depending upon the accuracy with which it captures that usage. In these passages, my definitions of technical terms of logic are lexical because they are intended to inform you about the way in which these terms are actually employed within the discipline of logic.

At the other extreme, a stipulative definition freely assigns meaning to a completely new term, creating a usage that had never previously existed. Since the goal in this case is to propose the adoption of shared use of a novel term, there are no existing standards against which to compare it, and the definition is always correct (though it might fail to win acceptance if it turns out to be inappropriate or useless). If I now decree that we will henceforth refer to Presidential speeches delivered in French as "glorsherfs," for instance, I have made a (probably pointless) stipulative definition. The idea of “national security” is a concept of stipulation. If a federal agent felt that he needed to commandeer my vehicle, he might do so under an edict of “national security.” Whether he took my car to pursue a criminal or he used it to run to the corner store for a sandwich, the wide-reaching qualities of the term allow for a stipulative use of the vehicle.

Combining these two techniques is often an effective way to reduce the vagueness of a word or phrase. These rhetorical definitions begin with the lexical definition of a term but then propose to sharpen it by stipulating more narrow limits on its use. Here, the lexical part must be correct and the stipulative portion should appropriately reduce the troublesome vagueness. If the United States Postal Service announces that "proper notification of a change of address" means that an official form containing the relevant information must be received by the local post office no later than four days prior to the effective date of the change, it has offered a (possibly useful) valid definition.

Theoretical definitions are special cases of stipulative or rhetorical definition, distinguished by their attempt to establish the use of this term within the context of a broader intellectual framework. Since the adoption of any theoretical definition commits us to the acceptance of the theory of which it is an integral part, we are rightly cautious in agreeing to it. Newton's definition of the terms "mass" and "inertia" carried with them a commitment to (at least part of) his theories about the conditions in which physical objects move.

Finally, what some logicians call a persuasive definition is an attempt to attach emotive meaning to the use of a term. Since this can only serve to confuse the literal meaning of the term, persuasive definitions have no legitimate use. (1)

7 Extension and Intension

A rather large and especially useful portion of our active vocabularies is taken up by general terms, words, or phrases that stand for whole groups of individual things sharing a common attribute. But there are two distinct ways of thinking about the meaning of any such term.

The extension of a general term is just the collection of individual things to which it is correctly applied. Thus, the extension of the word "chair" includes every chair that is (or ever has been or ever will be) in the world. The intension of a general term, on the other hand, is the set of features which are shared by everything to which it applies. Thus, the intension of the word "chair" is (something like) "a piece of furniture designed to be sat upon by one person at a time."

Clearly, these two kinds of meaning are closely connected. We usually suppose that the intension of a concept or term determines its extension—that we decide whether or not each newly-encountered piece of furniture belongs among the chairs by seeing whether or not it has the relevant features, for instance. Thus, as the intension of a general term increases, by specifying with greater detail those features that a thing must have in order for it to apply, the term's extension tends to decrease, since fewer items now qualify for its application. (1

8 Denotative and Connotative Definitions

With the distinction between extension and intension in mind, it is possible to approach the definition of a general term (concerning any of the types of previously discussed definitions) in either of two ways:

A denotative definition tries to identify the extension of the term in question. Thus, we could provide a denotative definition of the phrase "this rhetoric class" simply by listing all of our names. Since a complete enumeration of the things to which a general term applies would be cumbersome or inconvenient in many cases, though, we commonly pursue the same goal by listing smaller groups of individuals or by offering a few examples instead. In fact, some philosophers have held that the most primitive denotative definitions in any language involve no more than pointing at a single example to which the term properly applies.

But there seem to be some important terms for which denotative definition is entirely impossible. The phrase "my grandchildren" makes perfect sense, for example, but since it presently has no extension, there is no way to indicate its membership by enumeration or example. In order to define terms of this sort at all, and in order to more conveniently define general terms of every variety, we naturally rely upon the second mode of definition.

A connotative definition expresses the contemporary attitudes that adhere to a term through long usage. Language is fixed, so a term like “gay” has a continuous meaning that expresses such ideas as “happily exuberant” or “brilliant in color” (from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary), but it also has come to describe aspects of the homosexual community in the last half-century. Terms like “intimate” and “familiar” have remarkably similar denotative definitions, but the word “intimacy” carries connotations with it that society often equates with sex or romance. In many instances, arguments hinge on both the denotative (literal) definitions of terms as well as their connotative (social) definitions, and this can become a tricky point of contention for establishing the grounds of a debate. It is important for a speaker or writer to clearly define how they view a particular term, and this should happen fairly early in the argument that is being advanced. (1)

9 Definition by Genus and Differentia

Classical logicians developed an especially effective method of constructing connotative definitions for general terms, by stating their genus and differentia. The basic notion is simple: we begin by identifying a familiar, broad category or kind (the genus) to which everything our term signifies (along with things of other sorts) belongs; then we specify the distinctive features (the differentiae) that set them apart from all the other things of this kind. My definition of the word "chair" earlier in this learning module, for example, identifies "piece of furniture" as the genus to which all chairs belong and then specifies "designed to be sat upon by one person at a time" as the differentia that distinguishes them from couches, desks, etc.

Logicians Irving M. Copi and Carl Cohen list five rules by means of which to evaluate the success of connotative definitions by genus and differentia. A successful definition should:

1. Focus on essential features. Although the things to which a term applies may share many distinctive properties, not all of them equally indicate its true nature. Thus, for example, a definition of "human beings" as "featherless bipeds" isn't very illuminating, even if does pick out the right individuals. A good definition tries to point out the features that are essential to the designation of things as members of the relevant group.

2. Avoid circularity. Since a circular definition uses the term being defined as part of its own definition, it can't provide any useful information; either the audience already understands the meaning of the term, or it cannot understand the explanation that includes that term. Thus, for example, there isn't much point in defining a "cordless 'phone" as "a telephone that has no cord."

3. Capture the correct extension. A good definition will apply to exactly the same things as the term being defined, no more and no less. There are several ways to go wrong. Consider alternative definitions of "bird":

· "warm-blooded animal" is too broad, since that would include horses, dogs, and aardvarks along with birds.

· "feathered, egg-laying animal" is too narrow, since it excludes those birds who happen to be male.

· "small flying animal" is both too broad and too narrow, since it includes bats (which aren't birds) and excludes ostriches (which are).

Successful intentional definitions must be satisfied by all and only those things that are included in the extension of the term they define.

4. Avoid figurative or obscure language. Since the point of a definition is to explain the meaning of a term to someone who is unfamiliar with its proper application, the use of language that doesn't help such a person learn how to apply the term is pointless. Thus, "happiness is a warm puppy" may be a lovely thought, but it is a lousy definition.

This doesn’t refute the value of figurative language in the argumentative process, as outlined earlier in the module. Figurative (picturesque and abstract) language is still important for clarifying concepts, reporting and describing features, and creating reader interest. It only means that most successful definitions, in and of themselves, take the form of direct and straightforward explanations.

5. Be affirmative rather than negative. It is always possible in principle to explain the application of a term by identifying literally everything to which it does not apply. In a few instances, this may be the only way to go: a proper definition of the mathematical term "infinite" might well be negative, for example. But in ordinary circumstances, a good definition uses positive designations whenever it is possible to do so. Defining an "honest person" as "someone who rarely lies" is a poor definition. Instead, an “honest person” might be “someone who does the just and truthful thing whenever possible” is more convincing.

In the interests of advancing a personal (subjective) definition for a concept, however, negation can also be a useful tool in explaining an ideology or the boundaries of a standpoint. Negation is the act of defining something by illustrating what it is not. In a political debate on expanding social programs, for instance, a candidate might enumerate those areas in which expansion might be appropriate while also indicating which programs should either be untouched or reduced. He or she might make a statement as follows: “While I agree that our current budget is inadequate in funding programs to reduce homelessness, I am not advocating that we expand our spending on blight reduction or transportation.” Sometimes, explicitly stating any aspects of a subject that are being excluded during a contentious debate can be a positive move toward Rogerian compromise. (18)

10 Writing the Definition Essay

Definition essays attempt to bring a measure of clarity to difficult or abstract concepts. The online writing lab at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, describes the purpose of the genre as follows:

In assigning definition essays, we hope that you will sharpen certain skills. First and foremost, we hope that you will practice supporting assertions with textual evidence (quotes and detailed examples). Second, we want you to develop your organizational skills. Definitions are a good place to do this since they provide a model of synthesis. Rather than starting with details (the roots, branches, leaves) and asking you to imagine a whole (the tree), we ask you to examine a whole with respect to its parts. In this sense, the definition essay prepares you to do a close reading of a passage, since it shows how details can come together to create a larger image.

· A useful strategy to begin a definition essay might be to open your work with a broad, general definition of a concept that is directly related to your subject. Consider a hypothetical example, for instance, in which you are learning about Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in a course on human growth and development. Perhaps your instructor asks you to write a definition essay outlining your personal concept of self-actualization. Maslow has a particularly nebulous definition of self-actualization’s features, noting that it generally describes the fulfillment of the highest human needs—such as one’s personal potential. For each of us, potential is a subjective term. Identifying and defining what “potential” is as a general concept would then create grounds for a writer to begin identifying the various categories of potential to be discussed in the body of the essay.

· Identify a debatable thesis. Because we often disagree on the connotative features of certain terms, it is important for the writer to establish his or her main ideas on a subject early in the process. “Heroism” can take any number of forms, of course, and a writer might very well equate the daily sacrifices of a single parent with the traditional definition of a person that acts decisively in a dangerous environment.

· Cast a wide net in distinguishing your definition from any alternative views on your subject. There are any number of different types of “love,” for instance, so your definition of the term might very well benefit from the process of isolating it and contrasting it with those alternatives.

· • Carefully consider your argumentative approach:

· You can use induction to chronicle a series of specific, relevant examples.

· You can compare and contrast a series of terms or concepts.

· You can reason by use of analogy, designing a suitable comparison that illustrates your view on the component parts of a whole (writing an essay is like building a house, and the introduction is like the foundation of the…).

· Take some time to isolate the various parts that comprise your definition, and arrange your supporting details accordingly.

Definition essays are often personally illuminating works because they both illustrate a process of synthesis (the logical tying together of examples and materials) and represent a definitive statement of a writer’s opinion or philosophy at a given point in time. While knowledge and human growth are evolutionary processes and it is natural for our beliefs to change as we accumulate life experiences, writing a philosophical essay in your first year of college on the nature of kindness, for instance, can illustrate precisely how you felt about a given subject during that time in your life. (1)