HIGHLAND LITERACY PROJECT

www.hvlc.org.uk/hlp

Genres of Writing

K. Bentley May 2008

 Genres of Writing

Imaginative/Personal
Genre Purpose Framework Language Features

Recount To tell what • Orientation • use of nouns to identify people, animals and
• Personal retellings, happened, to retell (who, where, when) things
eg. Diary, events • Series of events in time-order • linking words to do with time eg ‘later’, ‘after’,
autobiography, some • Personal comment ‘before’
letters • simple past tense
• Imaginative • action verbs
recounts

Descriptive To portray a person, • Introduction • elaborate use of sensory language

• Description of a place, or thing in • Supporting descriptive details • rich, vivid, and lively detail
person, place or such a way that the • Summary • figurative language such as simile, hyperbole,
thing: character reader can visualise metaphor, symbolism and personification
sketch, description the topic and enter • showing, rather than telling through the use
of setting, object into the writer’s of active verbs and precise modifiers
• poem experience.
•

Narrative To entertain, create, • orientation (introduce main • defined characters

Eg fairytales, legends, stimulate emotions, characters in a setting of time • descriptive language
plays, science fiction, motivate, guide, and place) • dialogue
myths, cartoons, teach • complications/problems
adventure stories (main characters find ways to • usually past tense
solve the problem)

• resolution
 Functional
Genre Purpose Framework Language Features

Recount To tell what Orientation • use of nouns to identify people, animals

• Factual retellings, eg. happened, to (who, where, when) and things
science experiment or retell events Series of events in time-order • linking words to do with time eg ‘later’,
news article Personal comment ‘after’, ‘before’
• simple past tense
• action verbs

Information Report To organise • general statement identifying the • generalised participants

• topic based school and present subject of the information report • impersonal objective language
project information • bundles of information relating to such • timeless present tense
• tourist guide book about a class things as: habits, behaviour, colour • technical terms
• encyclopedia entry of things. shape
• information leaflet • summary(optional) • paragraphs with topic sentences
• magazine article
• non-fiction book
• science textbook

Procedure/instructions To tell how to • goal • use of action verbs (turn, put)

Eg. recipes, craft do or make • materials • linking words to do with time
instructions, game rules, something • method or steps • tense is timeless
science experiments,
instruction manual • evaluation (optional) • use of precise vocabulary
Explanation
Eg. explain how soil erosion
occurs, explain how a volcano
is formed
Discussion
• Leaflet/article giving
balanced account
• Non-fiction book
• Business reports
• Politicians’ briefing
documents
• News article
Persuasive Texts/arguments
Eg. a letter of
protest/complaint; poster
advertising sun-smart
behaviour; propaganda;
advertisements; suggestions
for environmental
improvements; magazine
article
To explore how • a statement about what is to be explained • cause and events relationships
things work or • explanation sequence (several statements of • simple present tense
how something reason explaining and elaborating on the • generalised non human participants
came to be - to topic) • passive voice eg ‘is driven by’
explain • concluding statement (optional) • complex sentences
phenomena
• Explanations may include visual images such • technical language
as flow charts or diagrams
To present • Statement of the issue + a preview of the • simple present tense
arguments and main arguments
information • Arguments for + supporting evidence • use logical connectives, but usually more
from different • Arguments against + supporting evidence formal ones than Persuasion texts, e.g.
viewpoints(non- (Alternatively, argument/counter-argument, ‘therefore’, ‘however’, ‘nevertheless’
biased), and one point at a time)
then, usually, to • Recommendation – summary and conclusion
conclude in
favour of one
point of view
To argue (or • statement or position • generalised participants
persuade) a case • points in the argument with evidence and
for or against a examples (elaboration) • linking words associated with reasoning eg
particular point ‘therefore’
of view or • reiteration - restate the position in light
position of the arguments presented • nominalisation (actions become things).
Eg. ‘to pollute’ becomes ‘pollution’
• evaluative language eg ‘important’,
‘significant’, ‘valuable’
Forms/formats of Writing Genres

• advertisement
• article
• advice column
• autobiography/biography
• ballad
• comic strip
• letter of complaint/request/inquiry
• campaign speech
• diary/journal
• readers theatre/role play/monologue
• book review
• report/essay
• fable/fairy tale
• greeting card
• game rules
• directions
• horoscope
• interview
• obituary/eulogy
• news article/editorial
• poem/song
• anecdote/personal experience story
• sports column
• short story
• research report
 Genres of Writing

These are the typical features of the main genres found in written English. However, there
are many examples of mixed genres: for example, advertisements are often descriptive
followed by persuasion, or a mixture of the two, as the product is described in persuasive
terms. A biography can also be a narrative text.

The notion of genre includes: purpose and features of layout as separate things ie. a letter
may be written in very similar format for very different purposes (description, recount,
persuasion, even instruction – if we give the reader directions to reach our house), and the
language used will reflect these different purposes.

Poetry is sometimes viewed as a separate genre.

Note: most of the functional writing genres could appear in an imaginative context, e.g.
writing the recipe for a witch’s spell would involve the genre of Instructions. This sort of
Functional writing for imagined purposes is recognised in the National Assessment
arrangements for Writing 5-14.