CHAPTER X

EXPOSITION

Exposition is the kind of speech or of writing that makes clear the meaning of terms or of propositions.

The purpose of exposition is to convey ideas with such clearness and exactness that they cannot be misunderstood. Excepting as exposition occurs in oratory and in persuasion, it usually appeals to the intellect rather than to the emotions. Whatever may be explained or commented upon is material for exposition.

Explanation by Synonym. - The simplest form of exposition is explanation by synonym (sometimes called definition. by synonym); i.e., the explanation of a term by means of another term that will be more easily understood by the person addressed; as, for example, to comprehend means to grasp with the mind; to like means to have a taste for; likeness means similarity. More frequently, however, exposition takes the form of extended explanation.

Extended Explanation. Many words and statements are so complex in nature or so rich in meaning that they cannot be explained in a single word or phrase. They can be made clear only by means of analysis or of illustrations or comparisons given at some length and familiar to the person addressed. Exposition developed by details is extended explanation.

Read the following expositions:

1. More than two thousand years ago Hero of Alexandria produced the first apparatus to which the name of steam engine could rightly be given.

Its principle was practically the same as that of the revolving jet used to sprinkle lawns during dry weather, steam being used in the place of water. From the top of a closed caldron rose two vertical pipes, which at their upper ends had short, right angle bends. Between them was hung a hollow globe, pivoted on two short tubes projecting from its sides into the upright tubes. Two little L-shaped pipes projected from opposite sides of the globe, at the ends of a diameter, in a plane perpendicular to the axis. On fire being applied to the cauldron, steam was generated. It passed up through the upright, through the pivots, and into the globe, from which it escaped by the two L-shaped nozzles, causing rapid revolution of the ball. In short, the first steam engine was a turbine.

The Steam Turbine, ARCHIBALD WILLIAMS.

After introducing the subject, the author at once makes clear the principle of the first steam engine by an example of the working of the principle familiar to nearly every one. He follows this by an explanation of the mechanism of the engine, so simple and so clear that any one can understand it, and then ends by classifying the machine as a primitive form of what every one knows to be the most highly developed modern engine. The language used is a help to a clear understanding of the subject because it is the familiar language of everyday life.

2. He (Charles the Fifth) was an enormous eater. He breakfasted at five, on a fowl seethed in milk and dressed with sugar and spices. After this he went to sleep again. He dined at twelve, partaking always of twenty dishes. He supped twice, at first soon after vespers, and the second time at midnight or one o'clock, which meal was, perhaps, the most solid of the four. After meat he ate a great quantity of pastry and sweetmeats, and he irrigated every repast by vast draughts of beer and wine. His stomach, originally a wonderful one, succumbed after forty years of such labors.. - The Rise of the Dutch Repubiic, MOTLEY.

The proposition, "Charles the Fifth was an enormous eater," is made so vivid as to be unforgettable by exhibiting to the reader the amount and the richness of the food eaten, the frequency of the meals, and the duration and the final