One effective way to develop a complex subject is to divide it into classes or categories according to some shared characteristics and then go on to explain each class or category separately.This method is called classification.Now read the following model essay carefully.
Types of Learners
Students seem to have a variety of learning styles.While some have to write down everything in order to learn, some seldom jot anything down but can also learn perfectly well.Why is this so? The simple answer is that people have different learning styles.Generally speaking, students can be put into three distinct groups on the basis of the ways they learn: visual learners, auditory learners, and kinesthetic learners.
Visual learners need to see words, diagrams, charts, outlines, or pictures in order to truly understand and remember the material.These people remember a page in a book like a photograph.For example, a biology student who is a visual learner has to listen and take notes at long lectures in his field.The way he remembers the lecture material is by transforming his notes to diagrams when he gets home.A line drawing or a diagram tells him more than pages and pages of text.For a visual learner, this is the best way to study.
The second type of learner is the auditory learner.This kind of person needs to hear words or sounds in order to master new material.For a student like this, silent reading is not the best way for him to learn, but he will be excellent at following oral directions.For instance, an auditory learner may ask the lecturer's permission to record words, phrases, and sentences—sometimes even whole pages of lecture on his MP3.He has to listen to the recording over and over again in order to grasp what is taught.A person with this learning style should make sure to recite everything he studies so he can listen to his own words.
Finally, there are the kinesthetic learners.People with this learning style like“learning by doing”.Sometimes they learn best by manipulating (操控、把玩) objects, moving around, or doing role-play.A piano player says that he learns English by pretending that grammar rules are laid out on a piano keyboard.To remember one of them, he often moves his fingers up and down on the desk.He“plays”English as he plays the piano.Kinesthetic learners especially enjoy laboratory classes since they can use their whole bodies in the learning process.To study effectively, they find it necessary to try to act out the material they are learning.
In conclusion, while most people use a combination of these three styles, one style may work best for one individual.Students may do better in schools or universities if they can figure out which style works best for them and then adapt their learning method to that style.
Now, let's read a classification essay written by a Chinese student.
Why People Collect Stamps
Almost everyone has one or two hobbies to get his mind off study or work.Some like gardening；others enjoy listening to music.For a collector, however, stamp collecting is one of the most rewarding experiences in life.The traits of such a hobby can generally be categorized into three aspects: getting to know more people, broadening one's scope of knowledge, and enabling one to accumulate money.
The initial advantage is that stamp collecting can help a person make a lot of new friends.For example, if a person has just started such a hobby, he may not have enough stamps.So, he has to buy stamps.When he lines up for a newly issued stamp in front of a post office, he can meet and talk with other people who have the same hobby.Besides, if a collector has some extra stamps, he will exchange those stamps with his classmates, colleagues, or even strangers.During his trade, he can also exchange his opinion about a certain stamp with others, and he may eventually find that he has more to share with them than just stamps.
What is more, stamps are like an encyclopedia that can help to widen a collector's horizons.Stamps cover almost every field of our lives: from endangered species to Olympic Games, from a celebrity in history to science ＆ technology in modern era, etc..When a stamp collector is studying the stamp of the Statue of Liberty, his curiosity can be aroused: when this structure was built, who designed it, and how tall it is.To find all the answers, he may either go to the library or surf the Internet.Every drop of knowledge he acquires from stamps will be accumulated to make him wiser.
Keeping some rare stamps is also a good method for the collector to make money.Since most stamps will no longer be reprinted, they will never devalue in the future.In the long-term view, a stamp will probably increase in value if a stamp collector keeps the right stamp.For instance, the face value of a Chinese special stamp named Monkeywas only eight cents when it was first issued in 1980, but now the value of this well-known stamp is over 4000 Yuan! That is to say, the owner of such a stamp can certainly get much more interest from this stamp than from his savings deposited in a bank.
In summary, stamp collecting can enrich a collector's life, serve him as an eye-opener, and bring him wealth.This is why stamp collecting is becoming so popular with many people.By buying a stamp-album and a magnifying glass, anyone can start such a hobby and benefit endlessly from it.
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To write a well-organized classification essay, you should follow the guidelines below.
1.Select one principle of classification and stick to it.Most subjects can be divided in a number of ways according to various principles.For example, a university can be divided according to its physical areas into classrooms, offices, recreational facilities, and cafeterias.Or a university can be divided according to its human components into administrators, teachers, students, and support staff.Each of these divisions is distinct because only one principle of classification is used at a time.However, if you were to divide a university into classrooms, offices, teachers, and students, you would be mixing two principles of classification at the same time；that is, the physical areas and the human components.So, when you classify your subject, your principle of classification should be consistent throughout your essay.The principle of classification is sometimes stated in one of these phrases:
according to (whether) … based (up) on… on the basis of…
depending (up) on…in terms of…
2.Do not let classes or categories overlap.This means that two items cannot belong to the same class or category at the same time even if you are using only one principle of classification.For example, if you were to classify all sports into two categories according to season of the year in which each is played: summer sports, and winter sports, where would you put table tennis? There is an overlap between the two classes because table tennis can be played all year round.
3.Avoid a shift in rank.For example, Japan, Britain, France, Canada, and California cannot be grouped together as a class or a category because they do not belong to the same rank.While Japan, Britain, France, and Canada are the names of four countries, California is just the name of a state inside America.As a result, California is not parallel to the others.To achieve equality among the five items, you should change California into America or the United States.
4.Do not leave out an obvious class or a category in a formal classification.This means that all the components of the subject should be included.For example, if you were to divide all animals into two categories according to what they eat: meat-eaters and plant-eaters, you would be making a mistake.Since some animals (such as bears and wild boars) eat both meat and plants, you should divide all animals in the following way: those who eat meat, those who eat plants, and those who eat both.Now your classification is complete because all animals fall into one of these three categories.
Practice 5-2-1
There are four possible problems that result in a poor classification.Read each of the following sentences carefully, then identify and explain the classification problem that each sentence has.For example:
In the world of track and field, there are two types of runners: sprinters (短跑运动员) and distance runners.
Problem: An obvious category-middle distance runners-is left out and should be a third type.
Answers are provided only for the first four sentences as suggestions.
1.All kinds of watches are available today: round, square, rectangular, oval, and thin.
2.There are three major kinds of restaurants according to what they serve: local food, foreign food, and fast food.
3.Our travel agency has offices in America, Japan, Thailand, and Beijing.
4.Different people have different attitudes towards Barack Obama: supporters and opponents.
5.Three types of TV shows are quite popular: entertaining, artistic, and comic.
6.The result of a football match for a team can have two possibilities: to win or to lose.
7.Lifelong learning requires people of all ages and in all walks of life to learn at work, on weekends, and during the leisure time.
8.There are two groups of people depending on their attitudes towards movies: those who like movies and those who hate movies.
9.University students can be classified as follows: freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors, and graduate students.
10.To discuss a proposal during a UN conference, every UN member has one of the two choices: to vote for it and to vote against it.
11.Most drivers belong to one of the four types: careful, careless, polite, and rude.
12.All materials can be divided into two categories according to whether they can transmit electric current: conductors and insulators.
Practice 5-2-2
Read the items in each of the following groups carefully, and then classify those items in each group into three main categories.For example:
Europe
Brazil
Germany
Rome
Shanghai
China
Ottawa
Kuwait
Boston
Bangkok
London
Asia
Africa
Mexico
Havana
Norway
Montreal
Egypt
Category 1.names of the continents
Category 2.names of the countries
Category 3.names of the cities
Answers are provided only for the first two groups as suggestions.
Group one:
bed, table, coffee, forks, orange juice, sofa, tea, chopsticks, beer, a chest of drawers (五斗柜) , chair, knife, bookshelf, cup, wardrobe (衣柜) , bowl, spoon, Coca-Cola, plate, mineral water
Category 1_________Category 2_________Category 3_________
Group two:
hours, calendar, north, June, the Middle East, map, minutes, south, Tokyo, the Gulf of Mexico, seconds, morning, Global Position System (GPS) , west, the North Pole, month, future, east, year, century
Category 1_________Category 2_________Category 3_________
Group three:
sweet, red, taste, touch, blue, yellow, sour, sight, purple, salty, bitter, smell, black, green, hearing, white, hot, pink
Category 1_________Category 2_________Category 3_________
Group four:
oil, mudslides, square, tornado, hydropower, flood, earthquake, hail, storm, rectangular, circle, triangle, wood, drought, nuclear power, coal, solar heat, oval, hurricane, natural gas
Category 1_________Category 2_________Category 3_________
Group five:
turkey, chimney, Indians, harvest, trick or treat, red, ghosts, presents, reindeer, Santa Claus, mask, pilgrims, wreath, Jesus, jack-o'lantern, carols, scary, costumes, feast, pumpkin pie
Category 1_________Category 2_________Category 3_________
Practice 5-2-3
Read each of the following subjects, and find at least three different principles of classification for each.For example:
Subject
Principle of Classification
University
a.tuition
b.courses offered
c.quality of teachers
Answers are provided only for the first five subjects as suggestions.
1.people
2.magazines
3.money
4.methods of transportation
5.methods of communication 6.college students
7.jobs
8.hotels
9.holidays
10.diseases
Practice 5-2-4
Read the following sentences, and then write a thesis statement in which people with different attitudes towards rain are divided into three groups.Listed below are some useful expressions to help write your thesis statement.
1) _________can be divided (classified, categorized, grouped, put) into three (two, four, several) parts (types, kinds) : _________.
2) There are three (two, four, several) classes (parts, kinds, types, divisions, categories) of_________.
3) We can divide (classify, categorize, group, put) _________into three (two, four, several) parts (types, kinds) : _________.
Answers are provided only as suggestions.
1.“Most countries have four distinct seasons, but some countries only have two seasons: rainy season and dry season.”
2.“Driving in rain is scary.I don't feel that I can control my car very well.”
3.“I hate everything about rain.I hate wet shoes and wet hair.I hate wet streets and sidewalks.”
4.“Rain makes people feel peaceful.”
5.“Rain makes me feel angry because it keeps me from doing what I want to do.”
6.“Walking in the rain with my girlfriend is very romantic.It's as if we were the only people in the world.”
7.“It rains frequently in winter in the west coast of the U.S.and Canada.”
8.“Rain is a great treat for us because it doesn't rain very often in my country.”
9.“We get most rain in summer in this region.”
10.“When I was a child, I hated rain.I had to walk a long way to school and on rainy days my books and papers got soaked.Then my teacher would yell at me.Now I still feel the same way about rain even though nobody yells at me any more.”
Practice 5-2-5
Read the following subjects, and write a thesis statement in which each subject can be roughly classified into three categories that do not overlap.Note: the three categories should also share a consistent principle of classification, have no shift in rank, and have a relatively complete classification.For example:
Traffic lights: Traffic lights can be divided into yellow, red, and green according to the messages they signal to road users: get ready to stop, stop, and go.
Answers are provided only for the first five subjects as suggestions.
1.English learners in China
2.medals in the Olympic Games
3.air crashes
4.people's attitudes towards death
5.books in any good library
6.neighbors
7.marriages
8.families
9.shoppers
10.clothes
Practice 5-2-6
The following essay entitled A Time to Live and a Time to Diehas neither the introductory paragraph nor the concluding paragraph.Read the three body paragraphs carefully, and then write an appropriate introductory paragraph and a concluding paragraph for this essay.Answers are provided only as suggestions.
A Time to Live and a Time to Die
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For a young person, death is often an abstraction；it is like color to someone blind from birth.For a spirited adolescent barely able to deal with all the personal concerns that arise or a young adult desperately trying to succeed professionally, death has no place in life.It is something totally unrelated to what the person thinks or does.When a sudden death does occur, one that strikes close to home, the young person is stunned.“Why did it have to happen? ”a girl asks in a demanding voice.“It's not fair.God is cruel! ”a boy says angrily.Depression often follows.But then the anger and the depression both pass, and the pressing agendas of the adolescent and the young adult again take over, pushing the very idea of death out of the conscious mind.
When the young person grows older and begins to see the body functioning less and less well, he is more inclined to think that death is approaching him.Hair falls out；teeth loosen；wrinkles can no longer be hidden under make-up；bifocals replace regular glasses；the memory slips；aches and pains in the joints set in.The specter (缭绕心头的恐惧或忧虑) of death thus pushes its way into the consciousness like an unwelcomed visitor from a strange planet.A woman says, “I don't want to get old, and I don't want to die.”Some people in their middle years start drinking when they think about death.Others long to relive their youth so they will not have to think about what is going on.Still others try to build monuments to themselves by achieving great wealth and power so that they will never be forgotten.But none of these things works in the long run.Denial can only postpone one's despair.
While the middle-aged person grows into an old man, he begins to accept death as a natural rule.He has noticed that something remarkable happens.Death joins the family table, not as a stranger now, but as an old acquaintance, not a friend exactly, more like your childhood doctor-strict but gentle.Death smiles and makes you know that one of these days it will be your turn, just as it has been the turn of everyone else before you.“It is going to be okay, ”Death says, “Don't worry.”And the old person finds that he is ready.“No, I'm not afraid of death, ”he says to his grandson who bounces on the bed.“There are many things in the world worse than death, ”he explains.“When you get to be my age, you start counting your many blessings, and you come to realize that death is part of life.I wish I could help you understand.”
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Practice 5-2-7
Read the following three topic sentences from the essay topic Modern Techno-logical Advances Have Made Many Changes in Our Lives.Develop each topic sentence with examples.Answers will vary.
Modern Technological Advances Have MadeMany Changes in Our Lives
The greatest influence of modern technological advance is the application of computers.
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_______________________________________
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Another change in people's lives is that highly developed telecommunication system and modern transportation vehicles have made our world smaller and smaller.
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
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Household electrical appliances also make our daily lives more convenient and colorful.
_______________________________________
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Practice 5-2-8
In a classification essay, you must choose detailed examples and descriptions to convince your reader that your categories are reasonable.For instance, let's divide“your friends”into three categories: the worrywarts (people who worry all the time about everything) , the bookworms (people who study all the time) , and the fatalists (people who feel that life is outside their control). After you classify“your friends”into three groups in the thesis statement, you need to show your reader exactly what makes the people in one group different from those in the other two in your body paragraphs.To do this, you should think: “How does a worrywart act? How does this person feel and behave in certain situations where the others would feel and behave very differently? ”Now write three body paragraphs in which you describe what the people in each group do in one of the following situations.Answers will vary.
Situation one:
1) It's 7: 30 a.m., and the writing class starts at 8 a.m..The bus should have left at 7: 45 a.m., but it's late, and your friend won't get to class on time.What would this person do?
a.A worrywart. b.A bookworm. c.A fatalist.
Situation two:
2) Your friend was in a car accident.He was not hurt badly, but the insurance company said it was his own fault, and it won't pay for the damages to his car.What would this person do?
a.A worrywart. b.A bookworm. c.A fatalist.
Situation three:
3) IELTS test is two weeks from now.You friend must get a high score on it to be accepted to the university he wants to go to.What would this person do?
a.A worrywart. b.A bookworm. c.A fatalist.
Practice 5-2-9
Study the following essay topic carefully, and complete the tasks below.
Step 1.Brainstorm to gather as many ideas as you can about this essay topic.
Step 2.Divide all your ideas into three general groups (cross out the ideas that do not fit any of the groups) , and then write a good thesis statement.
Step 3.Write the introductory paragraph, the three topic sentences of the body paragraphs, and the concluding paragraph.
Essay topic: Discuss the types of problems that Chinese students experience when writing in English.
Answers are provided only as suggestions.
Practice 5-2-10
In actual writing, a classification essay can vary in length on the basis of how many classes or categories that a subject can be divided into.Choose one of the following essay topics, and write a classification essay with appropriate number of body paragraphs.After you finish your essay, check it against the Classification Essay Checklist at the end of this practice.
1.I have three dreams (or wishes, goals).
2.Discuss the three best things (or worst things) about your campus (or workplace).
3.While China is trying hard to catch up with developed countries, many foreigners also come to China to visit or to learn.Discuss why modern-day China is so fascinating to foreigners.
4.Discuss what people take into consideration when choosing a job.
5.Types of mothers or fathers.
6.Types of problems that men (or women, teenagers, the elderly) are facing in modern-day China.
7.What kind of men (women) make the best husbands (wives) ?
8.Types of education.
9.Types of holidays (or festivals).
10.Types of friends (or classmates, roommates, bosses, colleagues).
11.Discuss the problems that modern technological advances have brought to human beings.
12.What, in your view, are some of the potential problems associated with the Internet?
13.Classify lifestyles among your peers.
14.We often say that a person is“typical”of the people from his/her region of the country.Discuss how the geographical, economic, and cultural features of a region might combine to produce a distinct regional type.Some points you may need to explain are:
—What makes a“typical Shanghainese”or a“typical Beijinger”, etc.?
—What is the relative importance these regional features have in forming his/her character?
15.A utopia is an imaginary society with a perfect political and social system.In your essay, discuss some significant aspects of a utopia.
Classification Essay Checklist
1.Is the principle of classification maintained consistently throughout the essay?
2.Is each class or category distinct, with no overlap among classes or categories?
3.Is there a shift in rank among the classes or categories of a subject?
4.Are all the components of the subject included in the formal classification?
5.Is each class or category developed with sufficient specific detail? Where might more details be effectively added?
Practice 5-2-11
1.Find an essay topic with which you are quite familiar, and write a classification essay.
2.Find an essay topic related to your study, your job, or your field of research, and write a classification essay.