Page 361 - Wordsmith A Guide to College Writing

However, subjectivity is perfectly appropriate in many types of
writing—letters to the editor, personal essays, and journal

entries, to name a few. The best subjective writing is backed up

by facts, so it’s not “just” an opinion—it’s a well-supported, well-

thought-out opinion.

A subjective definition, on the other hand, is a personal definition—

one that reflects your attitude toward your subject. It may still follow
the same general pattern as the objective definition, but it goes

beyond the merely factual. If you were defining a mosquito

subjectively, you might say that it is a pesky insect that spoils summer

evenings by hovering around its innocent victims, waiting for an

opportunity to suck their blood.

A subjective definition, the kind found in personal essays and

paragraphs, always reflects the writer’s feelings about the subject. In a

personal definition, a new parent might define love as a feeling that is

overwhelmingly tender, yet fierce and protective. In contrast, someone

who has recently been disappointed in romance might define love as a
risky game that too often ends in disappointment.

Exercise 9-1 Objective and Subjective

Definitions

Read the following paragraphs and answer the questions that follow.

Paragraph A