If you wish to clarify the concept for your students, you might prefer to help them âfeelâ what a âunit of analysisâ is, rather than give them a rhetorical explanation. As hinted by Simone de Beauvoir, in âThe Ethics of Ambiguityâ, the Bible offers a good example!
exâ¢erâ¢tion. 1. vigorous action or effort. 2. an effort: a great exertion to help others. 3. exercise, as of power or faculties. 4. an instance of this.
That's where exert gets its meaning of physical force â consider that when you try hard at something, you put forth effort to do it, you push yourself. But exert can refer to other ways you push: you exert your influence to convince others to think your way; when one nation exerts its power on another; and gravity exerts its force on us, holding us down on earth.