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Expository writing is one of the most common styles of oral and written communication. The four types of expository writing are expository, persuasive, narrative, and descriptive. Despite that it is commonly taught in secondary schools in the U.S., there have not been previous studies on how expository writing can lead to useful features and metrics for natural language understanding. This thesis found that there are significant differences in the semantic and syntactic features among corpora representing the four styles. These results inspired a new communication style categorization for chatbots dialog designs. It also suggests a new approach for conversational agent architecture.

This dissertation examines the development of narrative consciousness and narrative writing abilities by analyzing the actual narrative writings of children (ages eight to eleven) and adolescents (ages fifteen to eighteen) from public schools in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Using as general framework Arthur Applebee's categories of story structure, Samuel Taylor Coleridge's theory of the imagination, James Moffett's modes of narrative discourse, and William Labov's concept of evaluation, it compares and contrasts the narratives of children with those of adolescents. Some of the topics discussed include the content and structure as well as the psychological, philosophical and moral dimensions of the stories; the growth of a sense of audience; the development of the writers' concepts of themselves and their words through narrative; the differences between the imaginative worlds created by children and by adolescents; and how narrative sensibility and technique change as writers mature and become exposed to more experiences. The dissertation also investigates the role of the imagination in composition, with emphasis on the Romantic theory of fancy and imagination. It supports Coleridge's assertion that the child is only capable of fancy and is incapable of the synthesizing powers of the intellect which he calls "secondary imagination." In addition, it compares and contrasts Blake's, Wordsworth's, and Coleridge's concepts of the child with the image of the child which emerges from the narratives. As writers mature, they gain narrative competence and use more complex narrative techniques. They demonstrate a growing underst and ing about reality as well as a growing sophistication and self-consciousness about narrative. However, there is almost always a loss of narrative innocence. What the adolescent gains in experience and competence, he or she usually loses in fancy, spontaneity and sense of wonder. The study concludes with some recommendations on teaching writing in the classroom and advocates that educators help their students maximize their creative and narrative potential.