ENG 101A

Classification
Schools
Different students attend various types of schools; however, they can usually
be classified as either public, private religious, private non religious, or alternative.
Public schools are funded by the state, and the majority of students in the United
States attend them. Private religious schools are based around a particular faith,
such as Catholicism, Judaism, and so forth. The religion is part of the every day lives
of the students and they also learn about the faiths. All types of private schools do
not receive state funding. Therefore, private non religious schools are simply just
that: schools which do not receive state funding and have the ability to make their
own rules. Alternative schools can be made up of a variety of different categories,
such as the Montessori program or technical schools. Most students who attend
class in an actual school building go to one of these types of institutions.
Source: http://examples.yourdictionary.com/what-are-examples-classificationparagraphs.html
Comment:
Although the description of each classification is short, the thought is brought up
well. The way the different kinds of schools were categorized were straight to the
point and direct. The subcategories were not much described but the categories
were described well.
Order of Location
"Our new home was one of a number of wooden single-story units huddled
together in a horseshoe enclosing a courtyard. Our new apartment was toward
the rear center of the horseshoe, away from the entrance to the courtyard. To
reach the kitchen, one had to pass through a small windowless anteroom made of
loosely arranged planks. Anybody inside could easily look through the chinks
without being observed. Against the wall opposite the entrance to the kitchen
was a large stove, which took up about one fifth of the room. Right next to the
stove was a bench with a bucket of water resting on it. Past the bench, in the
middle of the wall, was a door leading to the only other room. To the right of the
door stood a cupboard for pots, dishes, and food. Next to the cupboard, leaning
against the wall on the right, was old Helena's bed. The kitchen was too small to
accommodate another bed. There was just enough room for a table and chairs,
which had to be placed next to the kitchen window. It was a strategic window,
affording a view of the entire courtyard."
(Nechama Tec, Dry Tears: The Story of a Lost Childhood. Oxford Univ. Press, 1984)
Source: http://grammar.about.com/od/rs/g/Spatial-Order.htm
Comment:

With the way the locations were illustrated, one could picture out the image of the
location easily. The locations were properly arranged and described.
Chronological order
The Life of a Star
The life and death of a star begins somewhere in space. Astronomers claim
that a star begins as a cloud of hydrogen and helium. As the cloud moves about it
collects bits of dust and more floating gases. Then the cloud begins to warm as
more dust and gases are pulled into it. After a long period of time as the cloud
becomes denser, heat and friction cause the atoms to explode. That is how a star is
born. The star will burn for about ten billion years as it radiates heat and energy.
When the hydrogen begins to burn out the star becomes even larger. At this stage,
it gives off a lot of light but not much energy. The star may continue to burn brightly
but dies when it runs out of hydrogen. This is the life cycle of a star.
Source: http://www.sponsoravillage.ca/2010/01/chronology-sample-paragraph/
Comment:
The general public would get the point easily with the way the life of a star was
described, and with the way the life cycle were arranged and illustrated. Transitional
devices to introduce new ideas were properly used, making the order of the stages
of the life cycle of star connected and understandable.

Illustrative Paragraph
Friendship
There are many types of friendship, but a true friendship that stands the test
of time requires patience, sacrifice, and shared experiences. Friends must be patient
with each other. Even though friends may be alike in many ways, they will be
different in other ways. So if you are a fast eater, but your friend is a slow eater, you
may have to wait for him or her to finish eating if you go out to a restaurant. You
might also have to compromise on the air temperature or the music level if you and
your friend go on a road trip. Friends must also sacrifice for each other. If you want
to go to the Marilyn Manson concert, but your friend is having his or her birthday
party at Chuck E. Cheeses at the same time, youre going to have to just suck it up
and go to the party. If you make a lame excuse to get out of the birthday party,
youre really not a good friend. Besides, Marilyn Manson is pretty pass now. Lastly,
friends rely on shared experiences to bond them together and give them things to

talk about later in life. My friends and I still laugh about the time we decided to
climb Mt. Washington at nine oclock at night and luckily only made it one-quarter of
the way up before camping. If we had gone any higher we might have frozen to
death! Shared experiences like this, as well as patience and sacrifice, make
friendships what they are.

Source: http://englishcompost.wordpress.com/2011/04/25/sample-illustrativeparagraph/
Comment: The descriptions used had shown well the characteristics needed for a
good friendship. After the topic sentence, not only details but also experiences and
examples were used, making the paragraph clear and neat.

Climax
Consider the potential effect of just a small increase in the earth's
atmospheric temperature. A rise of only a few degrees could melt the polar ice
caps. Rainfall patterns would change. Some deserts might bloom, but lands now
fertile might turn to desert, and many hot climates could become uninhabitable. If
the sea level rose only a few feet, dozens of coastal cities would be destroyed, and
life as we know it would be changed utterly.
(Toby Fulwiler and Alan Hayakawa, The Blair Handbook. Prentice Hall, 2003)
Source: http://grammar.about.com/od/c/g/Climactic-Order.htm
Comment:
The way the paragraph was withheld was very dramatic. It strated off with a
question followed by details, then a very intense end. Thoughts were arranged well,
which would then make the reader have a realization at the end.
Cause-and-effect
Effects of Alcohol
Letting alcohol take control over your life has many negative effects on a
person and the people around them. One important effect is the damage you can do
to your body. Drinking can lead to severe illness and even eventual death; some
health consequences to consider might be liver disease, kidney failure and, for
pregnant women, the loss of their unborn child. Another detriment is that an
addiction could lead to drinking and driving; possibly causing a fatal car accident for
either yourself and/or an innocent by stander. Another concern to consider is the
relationships alcohol can destroy. Alcohol abuse can have very serious affect on a
persons temperament, which can lead to spousal and even child abuse. Alcohol

often is the number one cause in divorce and spending time in jail. It can also affect
relationships outside of the family; many people have lost life long friends whether
it is due to foolish arguments and behavior or possibly death. Lastly, drinking has
negative effects on self-esteem and rational thinking. People become more selfcentered, develop low self-esteem, doing things or behaving in ways that they
would not normally. They have little or no regard to the outcomes of what is said or
done when they grow reliant on getting that alcohol high. The negative effects of
alcohol abuse are overwhelming when considering the many consequences that
drinkers and the people around them have to deal with.
~ Racheal Guza 2005~

Source: http://english120.pbworks.com/w/page/19006810/cause%20and%20effect
%20paragraphs
Comment:
With each statement having a transitional device, the paragraph appears to be
formal and academic in nature. The different effects were shown clearly one by one
and followed by a conclusion at the end. Altough the different effects were not
arranged by its intensity, the said effects were shown clearly making it a magazineworthy article.

Comparison and contrast

Acoustic and Electric Guitars
As broad as their sounds are, there are several very distinct similarities and
differences between electric and acoustic guitars. For instance, both utilize the use
of a body for the neck to attach to and a neck with frets for finger placement. The
strings attach to the lower end of the body and go all the way to the head, or the
top of the neck. They both use strings that vary in gauge, or size, which are vital to
produce sound when they are picked, hammered on, or strummed as a group.
Similarly, each is tuned in the same manner to produce the proper tone desired. An
acoustic guitar needs no amplifier to make its sound loud enough to be heard. An
acoustic guitar uses the body of the guitar as its amplifier. Because the body is very
thick and hollow it is able to project its own natural sound loudly. This makes it very
portable and capable of being played virtually anywhere. An acoustic guitar doesnt
need any foot pedals, volume and tone knobs, or any other hardware like that to

produce the sound it makes. An electric guitar is very hard to hear without an
amplifier. An electric guitar requires the use of an amplifier to transport the sound
though pickups that are secured in the body. These sounds are transferred through
a cable connected to the guitar. The cable then goes to the amplifier which
produces the sounds out of the speakers. Volume and tone knobs on the electric
guitar can make it louder or change the sound of the strings being played.
Additionally, foot pedals can be added to produce even more different sounds so
that the musical capabilities of the electric guitar are almost limitless. Theres not a
lot of music that I listen to that doesnt have some sort of electric or acoustic guitar
in the mix, either as the main instrument or as small as a fill in for a certain sound.
The genre of the music frequently dictates which type of guitar should be used.
~ 2005 Jessi Johnson~

Source: http://english120.pbworks.com/w/page/19006833/contrast%20and%20comparison

%20paragraph

Comment:
More than comparison and contrast type of paragraph, it is also a descriptive and
chronological type of essay. The article is very intelligible; someone who wanted to
know something about guitars would be glad reading this informative paragraph.
The different and similar characteristics of the two guitars were compared well,
although its functions werent.