UNDERSTANDING TEXT TYPES

A text can come in any form and be any kind of writing. Letters, adverts, user-guides,
emails, postcards, notes and magazine articles are all different types of text.

When reading something, it helps to know what type of text it is. It also helps to know
why it has been written. For example:

 An advert is written to persuade you to buy something.

 A user-guide is instructive and is written to tell you how to use something
(such as a video recorder or washing-machine).
 A formal (business) letter might be written to inform you about school dates.
 A personal letter might be written by a friend, describing a holiday.

Persuasive texts

A persuasive text tries to encourage you to do something. It may:

 Use capital letters, exclamation marks, questions and repeated words to catch
your attention.
 Use adjectives to make something sound attractive.
 Give only one side of an argument.
 Take the form of an advert; but it may also be a letter from a friend trying to
persuade you to go to a class.

For example, the following text is written to persuade the reader to take a holiday:

Enjoy an Enchanting Holiday in the Maldives

Scattered across the Indian Ocean lie islands with the finest white sand
beaches and clearest crystal blue waters. These are the MALDIVES! Over
1,000 coral islands. Temperatures here are always in the 80s.
What can our holiday offer you?
Luxurious accommodation aboard the fabulous Orient Explorer.
Water sports for the entire duration of your holiday.
Drinks and entertainment included at no extra charge.
Chauffeur-driven limousine to and from the airport.
Combine this with another seven-night holiday in our opulent apartments at
the Kelai Country Club.
Prices start from just £899 per person.

Have a go at spotting all the persuading words that are used in the text.
It’s important to understand the difference between what is a fact and what is the
writer’s opinion. Try and work out what is fact and what is opinion in the text above.

Instructive texts

An instructive text tells you how to do something. It will often use commands and
pictures. It will be direct, without extra words, like adjectives. For example:

Cut the bread into small squares. Arrange in layers and sprinkle with sugar and
raisins.

Informative texts

An informative text should give facts, information or news in a clear, step-by-step way.
For example:

Your course will start with an initial assessment in week 1, followed by a guided
tour of the building.

Descriptive texts

A descriptive text tells you what something is like. The writer is trying to help you
imagine or ‘see’ a person, place or thing.

Describing words, such as adjectives and adverbs are used, as well as descriptions of
the five senses: look, sound, smell, touch, taste. For example:

He was a big man with short curly hair, brown teeth and a flat nose. A scar
crossed his right cheek from ear to chin.

Letters

Texts such as letters often look the same but can have different purposes. For
example:

 A personal letter from a friend can be set out in whatever way the writer
wishes and will often describe a person, place or thing.
  A circular letter is sent to many people and, like an advert, will often try to
persuade the reader to buy something.

Text Types

There are 5 major texts types:

Narrative, Descriptive, Directive, Expositor and Argumentative

Text types vs text forms

Text types are general semantic-functional concepts and are not to be confused with text forms
(advertisements, editorials, sermons, shopping lists, poems, telephone books, novels, etc.)

Narrative texts

Narrative texts have to do with real-world events and time.

They may be fictional (fairy tales, novels) or nonfictional (newspaper report).

They are characterised by a sequencing of events expressed by dynamic verbs and by adverbials
such as “and then”, “first”, “second”, “third”

Example: First we packed our bags and then we called a taxi. After that we… etc.

Descriptive texts

Descriptive texts are concerned with the location of persons and things in space. They will tell
us what lies to the right or left, in the background or foreground, or they will provide background
information which, perhaps, sets the stage for narration.

It is immaterial whether a description is more technical-objective or more

impressionisticsubjective.

Descriptive texts

State or positional verbs plus adverbial expressions are employed in descriptions

Examples:

1) The operation panel is located on the right-hand side at the rear;

2) New Orleans lies on the Mississippi.

Directive texts

Directive texts are concerned with concrete future activity. Central to these texts are imperatives
(Hand me the paper) or forms which substitute for them, such as polite questions (Would you
hand me the paper?) or suggestive remarks (I wonder what the paper says about the weather).

Narrative, descriptive and directive texts have grammatical forms associated with them which
may be expanded to form sequences of a textual nature They are all centred around real-world
events and things. In contrast, expository and argumentative texts are cognitively oriented, as
they are concerned with explanation and persuasion, which are both mental processes.

Expository texts

Expository texts identify and characterize phenomena. They include text forms such as
definitions, explications, summaries and many types of essay.

Expository texts

may be subjective (essay) or objective (summary, explication, definition) may be analytical

(starting from a concept and then characterizing its parts; e.g. definitions) or synthetic
(recounting characteristics and ending with an appropriate concept or conclusion; e.g.
summaries) are characterized by state verbs and epistemic modals (Pop music has a strong
rhythmic beat; Texts may consist of one or more sentences) or by verbs indicating typical
activities or qualities (fruitflies feed on yeast)

Argumentative texts

Argumentative texts depart from the assumption that the receiver’s beliefs must be changed
They often start with the negation of a statement which attributes a quality or characteristic
activity to something or someone (esp. scholarly texts). They also include advertising texts,
which try to persuade their readers that a product is somehow better, at least implicitly, than
others. Few texts are pure realizations of a single type: Advertisements may be both
argumentative persuasive (this is good because…) and directive (So buy now!)

Expository texts can be neutral or contain evaluative elements (reviews, references, letters to the
editor…)

Laws regulate some aspects of society, directing the behaviour of its members, but also inform
on these aspects (they are both directive and exposito[