Extended Definitions in Essays and Speeches

In a paragraph, essay, or speech, an extended definition is an explanation and/or illustration of a word, thing, or concept. Randy Devillez in Step by Step College Writing says that an extended definition can be as short as a paragraph or two or as long as several hundred pages (such as a legal definition of obscene). Examples Seek out the following for some good examples of extended definition in writing: A Definition of a Gentleman by John Henry Newman from a lecture given in Ireland in 1852. A Definition of a Jerk, is a 1961 essay written by Sydney J. Harris. Gifts, is an 1844 essay written by Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet, philosopher, and essayist. Happiness, was first published in 1961 in the Report to Greco, by Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis. Lists and Anaphora in Pioneers: A View of Home by Yolande Cornelia Nikki Giovanni Jr., an award-winning African-American poet, writer, and activist. The Meaning of Home was published in 1984 by John Berger, poet, essayist, novelist, and screenwriter.   Observations An extended definition may explain the words etymology or historical roots, describe sensory characteristics of something (how it looks, feels, sounds, tastes, smells), identify its parts, indicate how something is used, explain what it is not, provide an example of it, and/or note similarities or differences between this term and other words or things, notes Stephen Reid in The Prentice Hall Guide for College Writers. Introduction to an Extended Definition: Family In The Death of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought, Marilynne Robinson points out that We are all aware that family is a word which eludes definition, as do other important things, like nation, race, culture, gender, species; like art, science, virtue, vice, beauty, truth, justice, happiness, religion; like success; like intelligence. The attempt to impose a definition on indeterminacy and degree and exception is about the straightest road to mischief I know of, very deeply worn, very well traveled to this day. But just for the purposes of this discussion, let us say: one’s family are those toward whom one feels loyalty and obligation, and/or from whom one derives identity, and/or to whom one gives identity, and/or with whom one shares habits, tastes, stories, customs, memories. This definition allows for families of circumstance and affinity as well as kinship, and it allows also for the existence of people who are incapable of family, though they may have parents and siblings an d spouses and children. An Extended Definition of Damned In the film, Cold Comfort Farm, actor Ian McKellen plays the part of Amos Starkadder, who says: Youre all damned! Damned! Do you ever stop to think what that word means? No, you dont. It means endless, horrifying torment! It means your poor, sinful bodies stretched out on red-hot gridirons in the nethermost, fiery pit of hell, and those demons mocking ye while they wave cooling jellies in front of ye. You know what its like when you burn your hand, taking a cake out of the oven, or lighting one of them godless cigarettes? And it stings with a fearful pain, aye? And you run to clap a bit of butter on it to take the pain away, aye? Well, Ill tell ye: therell be no butter in hell! Composing an Extended Definition of Democracy Sometimes,...particularly when we are thinking seriously about a complicated concept, such as democracy, we use a definition as the basis for an entire theme; that is, we write what may be called an extended definition, says Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren in Modern Rhetoric. Purposes of an Extended Definition Barbara Fine Clouse explains that an extended definition can also serve a persuasive purpose. More often than not, an extended definition informs. Sometimes you inform by clarifying something that is complex.... A definition can also inform by bringing the reader to a fresh appreciation of something familiar or taken for granted.... Sources Brooks, Cleanth and Robert Penn Warren. Modern Rhetoric. Abridged 3rd ed., Harcourt, 1972. Clouse,  Barbara Fine. Patterns for a Purpose: A Rhetorical Reader. 3rd ed., McGraw-Hill, 2003. Devillez, Randy. Step by Step College Writing. Kendall/Hunt, 1996. McKellen, Ian, actor as Amos Starkadder in â€Å"Cold Comfort Farm.† BBC Films, 1995. Reid,  Stephen. The Prentice Hall Guide for College Writers. Prentice Hall, 1995. Robinson, Marilynne. â€Å"Family.†Ã‚  The Death of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought. Houghton  Mifflin, 1998.

Pericles’ Funeral Oration Athenian Exceptionalism Essay

The first year of fighting between Athens and Sparta is drawing to a close. As is customary during war, Athens holds a public funeral to both celebrate and mourn their fallen soldiers. Such ceremonies typically featured an oration given by a respected Athenian – with this year’s coming from renowned statesmen Pericles. Previous orations had focused on celebrating the Athenian military by recounting their trials and accomplishments. Pericles decided to depart from this convention, believing it was no longer novel, nor necessary, â€Å"That part of our history which tells of the military achievements which gave us our several possessions, or of the ready valor with which either we or our fathers stemmed the tide of Hellenic or foreign†¦show more content†¦Pericles takes time to laud democracy as a form of government. He believes the division of political power equally amongst citizens inevitably leads to laws that benefit the Athenian people as a whole. This in turn increase overall equality, and by extension, social mobility. Such a government is a just government in the eyes of Pericles, and thus, a shining example of Athenian superiority. â€Å"[Athens’] administration favors the many instead of the few; this is why it is called a democracy. If we look to the laws, they afford equal justice to all in their private differences; if no social standing, advancement in public life falls to reputation for capacity, class considerations not being allowed to interfere with merit; nor again does poverty bar the way, if a man is able to serve the state, he is not hindered by the obscurity of his condition.† (2.37.1). Though a democratic government is great in theory, without educated and capable voters it’s potentially inefficient and incompetent. However, Athenian democracy thrives due to an informed public. Accordingly, so does the society it governs. â€Å"Our public men have, besides politics, their private affairs to attend to, and our ordinary citizens, though occupied with the pursuits of industry, are still fair judges of public matters; for, unlike any other nation, regarding him who takes no part in these duties not as unambitious but as useless, we Athenians are able to judge at all events if we cannotShow MoreRelatedWhat Defines Greekness? What It Is Greekness? Essay2285 Words   |  10 Pagesthe city-states of Attica and the Persian empire (between 492 - 480 BCE). Herodotus tells of the Spartan envoy receiving word from Athens that there are a great many reasons why Hellas being under Persian rule would not be ideal. Per Herodotus the Athenians respond with: â€Å"first and foremost, the burning and destruction of the †¦ temples of our gods†¦, and next the kinship of all Greeks in blood and speech, and the shrines of gods and the sacrifices that we have in common, and the likeness of our way of

Hermaphroditism Essay Example For Students

Hermaphroditism Essay HermaphroditismHermaphroditism, in biology, is the union of the two sexes in the same individual,or the combination of some of their characteristics or organs in one individual.1 Ahermaphrodite individual is sexually unfinished or partly male and partly female. Due to the similarities between male and female sex organs, it may be difficult to tell whether ahuman hermaphrodite is a female with overdeveloped clitoris or a male with underdeveloped penis, cleft scrotum, and nondescendant testes.2 Recently, many persons have undergone surgical or hormone treatment to modify their nonfunctioning sex characteristics and emphasize the sex indicated by those that are functional. Hermaphroditism occurs in the great majority of flowering plants, and sometimes occurs in many invertebrate animals. It occurs occasionally in other fishes, in frogs, toads, and certain newts among the amphibians.True functional Hermaphroditism is rare or absent in higher animals.3 Very few cases of human hermaphrodit e have been reported. The term Hermaphroditism derived from the legend of Hermaphroditus. He was the son of Hermes and Aphrodite. When he was fifteen years old, the nymph of the fountain Salmacis fell in love with him, but he rejected her. One day, Salmacis pulled Hermaphroditus into the fountain and she wrapped herself around him and prayed that they would never be separated. The gods granted her prayer that they never be separated. Their two bodies were joined together, and they no longer were boy or girl but share of both sexes.4 1. Funk Wagnalls New Encyclopedia. Hermaphroditism. Hermaphroditism Online,http://www.funkandwagnalls.com/encyclopedia/low/articles/h/h011000803f.html (1998). 2. Ibid. 3. Ibid. 4. Mark Morford, The Homeric Hymn to Hermes. Classical Mythology Online Online,http://longman.awl.com/mythology/chaptertopics/summary_10.asp (1995)