하나의 단락이 이상적으로 이루어지려면 중심 내용과 이를 뒷받침해 주는 내용이 있어야 한다.
하나의 단락이나 글은 중심 생각을 나타내는 부분인 일반적 진술(general statement,G)과 예시,비유,이유 제시,해명,상세화 등을 통해 중심 생각을 뒷받침하는 구체적 진술(specific statement,S)로 이뤄진다.
대체로 단락에서는 중심 문장이 일반적 진술이 되고,보조 문장은 구체적 진술이 되기 쉽다.
대부분 단락의 처음에서 글쓴이가 말하고자 하는 주제 또는 요지가 진술되고,그 주장을 뒷받침해 주는 구체적 근거가 제시되는 방식은 두괄식이라 할 수 있다.
먼저 구체적 사항을 기술한 후 그것을 근거로 글쓴이가 전달하고자 하는 요지나 주장을 도출해 내는 는 미괄식에 해당한다.
경우에 따라 도 있고,,도 있다.
이제 주어진 세 단락의 글을 읽고 각 글의 진술 방식을 생각해 보자.
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[1] Disaster is rarely as pervasive as it seems from recorded accounts. The fact of being on the record makes it appear continuous and ubiquitous whereas it is more likely to have been sporadic both in time and place. Besides, persistence of the normal is usually greater than the effect of disturbance, as we know from our own times. After absorbing
the news of today, one expects to face a world consisting entirely of strikes, crimes, power failures, broken water mains, stalled trains, school shutdowns, muggers, drug addicts, neo-Nazis, and rapists. The fact is that one can come home in the evening-on a lucky day-without having encountered more than one or two of these phenomena. This has led
me to formulate Tuchman's Law, as follows: "The fact of being reported multiplies the apparent extent of any deplorable development by five- to tenfold"(or any figure the reader would care to supply).
- Barbara Tuchman, A Distant Mirror
[2] I don't understand why people confuse my Siamese cat, Prissy, with the one I had several years ago, Henry. The two cats are only alike in breed. Prissy, a quiet, feminine feline, loves me dearly but not possessively. She likes to keep her distance from people, exert her independence, and uphold the cat's right to be finicky. She observes decoru
m and is never so rude as to beg, lick, or sniff unceremoniously. Her usual posture is sitting upright, eyes closed, perfectly still. Prissy is a very proper cat. Henry, on the other hand, was a disturbingly vocal tom cat who, before he died, loved me dearly but possessively. He was my shadow from morning until night. He expected me to constantly e
