Modes of discourse

The modes of discourse, sometimes known as rhetorical modes, are a broad classification of the major kinds of formal and academic writing (including speech-writing) by their purpose. Traditionally, this refers to these four modes—exposition, narration, description, and argumentation—as first classified by Samuel P. Newman in A Practical System of Rhetoric in 1827. Newman's modes of discourse have long influenced US writing instruction and particularly the design of mass-market writing assessments, despite critiques of the explanatory power of these classifications for non-school writing. Other scholars have devised alternative ways for categorizing writings by purpose.