Text types

For text types of the New Testament, see Categories of New Testament manuscripts.

Textual types refer to the following four basic aspects of writing: descriptive, narrative, expository, and argumentative.

Descriptive text type

Based on perception in space. Impressionistic of landscapes or persons are often to be found in narratives such as novels or short stories. Example: About fifteen miles below Monterey, on the wild coast, the Sido family had their farm, a few sloping acres above the cliff that dropped to the brown reefs and to the hissing white waters of the ocean...

Purpose

Description is used in all forms of writing to create a vivid impression of a person, place, object or event e.g. to:

• describe a special place and explain why it is special
• describe the most important person in your life.

Descriptive writing is usually used to help a writer develop an aspect of their work, e.g. to create a particular mood, atmosphere or describe a place so that the reader can create vivid pictures of characters, places, objects etc.

Features

Description is a style of writing which can be useful for a variety of purposes:

• to engage a reader's attention
• to create characters
• to set a mood

Language

• aims to show rather than tell the reader what something/someone is like
• relies on precisely chosen vocabulary with carefully chosen adjectives and adverbs.
• is focused and concentrates only on the aspects that add something to the main purpose of the description.
• sensory description - what is heard, seen, smell, felt, tasted. Precise use of adjectives, similes, metaphors to create images/pictures in the mind e.g. their noses were met with the acrid smell of rotting flesh.
• strong development of the experience that "puts the reader there" focuses on key details, powerful verbs and precise nouns.

Narrative text type

Based on perception in time. Narration is the telling of a story; the succession of events is given in chronological order.

Purpose

The basic purpose of narrative is to entertain, to gain and hold a readers' interest. However narratives can also be written to teach or inform, to change attitudes / social opinions e.g. soap operas and television dramas that are used to raise topical issues. Narratives sequence people/characters in time and place but differ from recounts in that through the sequencing, the stories set up one or more problems, which must eventually find a way to be resolved. The common structure or basic plan of narrative text is known as the "story grammar". Although there are numerous variations of the story grammar, the typical elements are:

• Setting — when and where the story occurs.
• Characters — the most important people or characters in the story.
• Initiating event — an action or occurrence that establishes a problem and/or goal.
• Conflict/goal — the focal point around which the whole story is organized.
• Events — one or more attempts by the main character(s) to achieve the goal or solve the problem.
• Resolution — the outcome of the attempts to achieve the goal

The graphic representation of these story grammar elements is called a story map. The exact form and complexity of a map depends, of course, upon the unique structure of each narrative and the personal preference of the teacher constructing the map.

Types of Narrative

There are many types of narrative. They can be imaginary, factual or a combination of both. They may include fairy stories, mysteries, science fiction, romances, horror stories, adventure stories, fables, myths and legends, historical narratives, ballads, slice of life, personal experience.

Features

• Characters with defined personalities/identities.
• Dialogue often included - tense may change to the present or the future.
• Descriptive language to create images in the reader's mind and enhance the story.

Structure

In a Traditional Narrative the focus of the text is on a series of actions:

Orientation

(Introduction) in which the characters, setting, and time of the story are established. Usually answers who? When? Where? E.g. Mr. Wolf went out hunting in the forest one dark gloomy night.

Complication or problem

The complication usually involves the main character(s) (often mirroring the complications in real life).

Resolution

There needs to be a resolution of the complication. The complication may be resolved for better or worse/happily or unhappily. Sometimes there are a number of complications that have to be resolved. These add and sustain interest and suspense for the reader.

Further more, when there is plan for writing narrative texts, the focus should be on the following characteristics:

• Plot: What is going to happen?
• Setting: Where will the story take place? When will the story take place?
• Characterization: Who are the main characters? What do they look like?
• Structure: How will the story begin? What will be the problem? How is the problem going to be resolved?
• Theme: What is the theme / message the writer is attempting to communicate?

Expository text type

It aims at explanation, i.e. the cognitive analysis and subsequent syntheses of complex facts. Example: An essay on "Rhetoric: What is it and why do we study it?"

Argumentative text type

Based on the evaluation and the subsequent subjective judgement in answer to a problem. It refers to the reasons advanced for or against a matter.

See also

• Conflation of Readings
• Text linguistics

Literature

• W. Rotter / H. Bendl, Your Companion to English Texts: Comprehension - Analysis - Appreciation - Production (Kollegstufe/Abitur/Universität), München: Manz 1978, ISBN 3-7863-0299-5. pp. 91 – 102.