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Jun 13, 2024 · What is a Writing Style? A writing style is like your unique fingerprint. It’s the distinct way you weave words together, the tone you set, the vibe you create. Think of it as the secret sauce that makes your writing stand out from the crowd. But why should you care? Because mastering different writing styles allows you to:
- Expository Writing. Expository writing is written with the intent of explaining or describing something. (That may seem easy to confuse with descriptive writing, but we’ll clarify the difference in the next section.)
- Descriptive Writing. Descriptive writing allows much more creative freedom than expository, because writers are free to use imaginative language to describe a subject.
- Narrative Writing. Narrative writing includes most novels and works of fiction. Unlike most poems or other types of descriptive writing, narrative style involves a much more developed plot and characters.
- Persuasive Writing. Persuasive techniques are often used by politicians, salespeople, critics, and—most likely—by you, if you’ve ever wanted to convince someone of something.
In this guide, we explain the four styles of writing, provide examples for each one, go over the one thing you need to know to identify writing style, and give tips to help you develop your own unique style of writing.
- Expository. The definition of expository is this: “intended to explain or describe something.” Most types of written work that fall into this category explain something in more detail, or provide insight and instruction in regards to a particular topic.
- Descriptive Writing. Descriptive writing goes deeper than expository writing. While expository writing might have some descriptive details and factual information, descriptive writing will make use of many writing elements and literary devices such as metaphors and similes.
- Narrative Writing. Narrative writing is far more complex that simple descriptive writing. While a poem for example may describe a scene or even events or people – generally you do not get into the deep inner thoughts of the characters or even get a full story with a clear middle, beginning, and end complete with conflict and dialogue.
- Persuasive Writing. Persuasive writing is a type of writing style where the purpose is to influence someone into believing or doing something.
- Narrative. Purpose: A narrative text aims to tell a story to the reader. It isn’t always just about telling a story for entertainment, though. The purpose of narrative text also lies in its capacity to engage the reader’s imagination, impart a moral lesson, or just simply pass on a tale through generations.
- Descriptive. Purpose: A descriptive text is designed to describe something in a detailed manner. The writer attempts to paint a vivid image in the reader’s mind, often by intricately describing an object, person, place, experience, or situation.
- Expository. Purpose: The main goal of an expository text is to inform or explain. It aims to provide the reader with comprehensive information about a specific topic.
- Argumentative / Persuasive. Purpose: An argumentative or persuasive text is structured to persuade the readers by presenting a point of view. It defends a position regarding an issue or topic, using reasoned arguments, facts, statistics, and real-life examples to convince readers and lure them into adopting this point of view.
Sep 1, 2021 · Writing is no different. While it’s difficult to define writing style, don’t make the mistake of conflating it with the types of writing. For example, narrative writing is a type of writing, but you can do it in any number of styles: playful, somber, clinical, casual, etc. The same can be said for expository, persuasive, and descriptive ...
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Mar 26, 2021 · Learn the four different types of writing styles, including expository, narrative, persuasive, and descriptive. See examples of writing styles and get tips.
