Nonfiction is prose that

1. Nonfiction is prose that • is based on fact. • can be verified.

2. Fact vs. Truth • Although nonfiction IS based on fact, it is false to assume that “fact” and “truth” are the same thing.

3. The Truth • It is impossible to tell the “whole truth” about any experience.

4. Nonfiction • The very act of putting something into words changes it.

5. Diction • The particular words an author chooses to use – Word Choice - They tell something about • the actual experience • our personality • our personal beliefs or prejudices • our background and MOST IMPORTANTLY • our purpose as the writer (*)

6. Purpose • Every good writer of nonfiction has a purpose when he or she writes.

7. Purpose • The purpose may be • to explain or inform • to create a mood or emotion • to tell about a series of events • to persuade the reader to believe something or to do something.

8. Forms of nonfiction: Reports: Factual accounts of places or events

9. Personal essays: - Reveal a great deal about the writer - Tone: conversational, sometimes humorous - Focus: writer’s feelings and responses to an experience- May be no attempt to be objective

10. Article: A prose composition, usually comparatively brief and always nonfiction, which deals with a single topic. An article is • a direct, expository or descriptive factual statement • a type of formal essay • usually considered to have less dignity and weight • frequently considered journalistic

11. Speech: A form of communication in spoken language made by a speaker before an audience for a given purpose

12. Biographies/Autobiographies/Memoirs: • Biography: an account of a person’s life, written or told by someone else. • Autobiography: an account of the writer’s own life, as told by the writer.

13. Memoir (form of autobiography) • Record of facts and events • concerns a particular subject or period • usually written from the writer’s personal knowledge, experiences, and observations

14. Nonfiction • All types of nonfiction include literary methods and devices.

15. Nonfiction • Four major methods used in nonfiction: • Description • Narration • Exposition • Persuasion

16. Methods used in Nonfiction • Description: • establishes a mood or emotion • uses images – words that appeal to our senses (see, hear, smell, taste, or touch)

17. Methods used in Nonfiction • Narration: - tells about a series of events - usually chronological order

18. Methods used in Nonfiction • Exposition purpose: - to explain or inform - to define - to clarify an idea

19. Methods used in Nonfiction • Persuasion purpose: • to convince the reader or listener to think or act in a certain way.

20. All essay forms answer certain questions: Expositoryanswers: “What is it and how does it work?” Descriptionanswers: “What does it look, sound, smell, feel, and/or taste like?”

21. All essay forms answer questions: • Narration answers: “What happened?” • Persuasion answers: “What should I feel or do about it?”

22. Nonfiction purpose • The writer tries to interest us with the purpose of the piece.

23. Nonfiction elements • To interest us, he/she uses many elements also found in fiction: Conflict Irony Suspense Comedy Characters Figures of SpeechDialogue

24. Other terms to learn in this unit: • Other nonfiction terms: • Objective Allusions Subjective PropagandaPurpose Evidence Inference Anecdotes Rhetoric Attitude/ToneRhetorical Appeals GenreLogos FactPathos OpinionEthos AnaphoraRhetorical Questions Editorial Jargon Exaggeration/Overstatement