Empoword

Part One: Description, Narration, and Reflection 62 Activities Specificity Taxonomy Good description lives and dies in particularities. It takes deliberate effort to refine our general ideas and memories into more focused, specific language that the reader can identify with. A taxonomy is a system of classification that arranges a variety of items into an order that makes sense to someone. You might remember from your biology class the ranking taxonomy based on Carl Linnaeus’ classifications, pictured here. To practice shifting from general to specific, fill in the blanks in the taxonom y 21 below. After you have filled in the blanks, use the bottom three rows to make your own. As you work, notice how attention to detail, even on the scale of an individual word, builds a more tangible image. More General General Specific More Specific (example): animal mammal dog Great Dane 1a organism conifer Douglas fir 1b airplane Boeing 757 2a novel Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire "Taxonomic Rank Graph" b y Annina Breen is licensed unde r CC BY-SA 4.0