Elaboration

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Language Network
Elaboration
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Elaboration
Elaboration
Elaboration is the addition of supporting details
and explanations to develop a description, a
narration, or an argument.
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Elaboration
Imagine that you would like to get a dog.
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Elaboration
Here are two ads you might see in the local
paper. Which ad is better? Why?
DOGS FOR SALE
Dog for sale. 150. Lucky Call 555-8652
FUN-LOVING Golden/Yellow Lab named Spot loves
cats and children, plays catch. Spot is 1 1/2
years old, weighs 55 pounds, and is in good
health. Shots current. 150.Call 555-3223.
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Elaboration
Types of Elaboration
DOGS FOR SALE
Dog for sale. 150 Lucky Call 555-8652
Facts and Statistics
FUN-LOVING Golden/Yellow Lab named Spot loves
cats and children, plays catch. Spot is 1 1/2
years old, weighs 55 pounds, and is in good
health. Shots current. 150.Call 555-3223.
Descriptive Details
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Elaboration
As you write and revise, remember to elaborate.
Consider using...
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Elaboration
Sensory Details
Facts and Statistics
Incidents or Anecdotes
Specific Examples
Quotations
Visuals
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Sensory Details
Sensory details are bits of information you can
collect through your five senses.
Use details to enrich your descriptive and
narrative writing.
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Sensory Details
The black stove, stoked with coal and firewood,
glows like a lighted pumpkin. Eggbeaters whirl,
spoons spin round in bowls of butter and sugar,
vanilla sweetens the air, ginger spices it
melting nose-tingling odors saturate the kitchen.
. . . Truman Capote, A Christmas Memory
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Facts and Statistics
Facts are statements that can be proved, and
statistics are facts expressed as numbers.
Use facts and statistics to support your
opinions, arguments, and ideas.
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Facts and Statistics
The Panama Canal is among the greatest
engineering feats in the world. Begun in 1904, it
took ten years to build. By 1913 more than 43,400
workers were employed on the canal. They had to
drain swamps and cut through jungles. In all,
5,600 workers died from accidents or disease.
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Incidents or Anecdotes
Incidents or anecdotes are brief accounts of
single events.
Use them to round out your descriptions of people
or events.
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Incidents or Anecdotes
Show business tradition holds that whatever
happens, the show must go on. . . . Once
flutist James Galway was performing in an outdoor
concert at Ravinia, just north of Chicago. At one
point in the show, when Galway opened his mouth
to take a breath, a large bug flew into it. For a
moment, he stopped playing and considered what he
might do. Then realizing the show must go on, he
took a great gulp and continued with his
playing. Bob Sheperd, The Show Must Go On
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Specific Examples
Use specific examples to illustrate general
statements or to show the characteristics of a
group.
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Specific Examples
The insurance industry has been burned recently
by earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornadoes.
Floridas Hurricane Andrew alone bankrupted nine
insurance companies. John F. Ross, Risk Where
Do Real Dangers Lie?
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Quotations
Direct quotations are records of peoples exact
words.
Use quotations to illustrate ideas or to lend
authority to your opinions.
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Quotations
The author Ambrose Bierce knew how to put people
in their place. In his humorous dictionary, he
defined edible as good to eat and wholesome to
digest, as a worm to a toad, and a toad to a
snake, a snake to a pig, a pig to a man, and a
man to a worm.
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Visuals
Use charts, graphs, and other visuals to present
complex information more simply.
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Visuals
Gestation Periods for Mammals
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Practice and Apply
Use an example to elaborate the following
sentence.
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Practice and Apply
Provide facts or statistics to support the
following statement. To see statistics you can
use, click here.
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Practice and Apply
Source The World Almanac, 1999
Use back button to return to Practice.
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Practice and Apply
Add an incident to the following story idea.
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Practice and Apply
Add sensory details to the following statement.
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Practice and Apply
Use a quotation to support the following essay
topic.