Objectives fi nding a • basis for classifi cation

Answers will vary.
CHAPTER 25
DEVELOPING PARAGRAPHS: CLASSIFICATION 
487
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5.
The courses offered in one of your college’s departments
Basis of Classifi cation:
Distinct categories:
MAKING THE CLASSIFICATION COMPLETE
A classifi cation must also be 
complete.
For example, if you classifi ed motorcycles 
into the two categories of 
new
and 
used,
your classifi cation would be complete 
because all motorcycles have to be either 
new
or 
used.
If this is your choice for 
classifying motorcycles, your classifi cation is complete. There is no other possible 
category. Depending on your purpose, however, there could be other possible bases 
for classifi cations that would also have distinct and complete categories.
The following paragraph, taken from Judith Viorst’s essay “Friends, Good Friends—
and Such Good Friends,” shows the writer classifying different kinds of friends.
There are medium friends, and pretty good friends, and very good friends 
indeed, and these friendships are defi ned by their level of intimacy. And 
what we’ll reveal at each of these levels of intimacy is calibrated with care. 
We might tell a medium friend, for example, that yesterday we had a fi ght 
with our husband. And we might tell a pretty good friend that this fi ght with 
our husband made us so mad that we slept on the couch. And we might tell 
a very good friend that the reason we got so mad in that fi ght that we slept 
on the couch had something to do with that girl who works in his offi ce. But 
it’s only to our very best friends that we’re willing to tell all, to tell what’s 
going on with that girl in his offi ce.
In this paragraph, the writer not only gives us the basis of classifi cation (levels of 
intimacy) but she names the levels: 
medium friends,
pretty good friends, very good
friends,
and 
very best friends.
Her classifi cation is complete because it covers a full 
range of friendships.
MAKING SURE THE CLASSIFICATION 
HAS A USEFUL PURPOSE
Finally, a classifi cation should serve some 
useful purpose.
For a person thinking about 
buying a motorcycle, classifying motorcycles into the categories of 
new
or 
used
may 
be a helpful way to make a wise decision.
Making Sure the Classifi cation Has a Useful Purpose
In each example, suggest a reason why a writer might want to classify the 
following topics:
1. 
Chairs
2. 
Divorces
EXERCISE 
3
Topic sentence