The 13 types of text and their characteristics

Written texts can have different origins, objectives and characteristics. Which ones?

Reading not only improves our knowledge, but it can also be a great entertainment or help to increase memory. Surely throughout your life you have read many texts; however, reading a romance novel is not the same as reading an instruction manual.

Types of text and what differentiates them

So, there are different types of text. But what are the differences between them? What characterizes them? In the following lines you can find a classification with the different types of text.

Narrative text

Narrative text is a text that relates events, stories, tales, facts or myths.It can be fictitious or non-fictitious. It is characterized by a sequence of events expressed by dynamic verbs and adverbs and spatial connectors such as: "and then", "first", "second", "third".... For example: "First we filled our bags and then we got into a cab and went to the airport. After that...".

The most commonly used verb form in this type of text is the past tense. Usually preterite perfect but others are also used: he lifted the salt shaker, he lived in that home, he had walked, he was clear, he said what he thought, etc. However, when dialogues are reproduced directly, that is, transcribing what the characters say verbatim, the most usual verb form is usually the present tense: -Get out of here, let me be on my way! -said the man.

Descriptive text

This type of text, called descriptive text, has the purpose of defining something, be it an object, a person, an animal, a situation or a description of another type of text.whether it is an object, a person, an animal, a situation or a description of another type of text. It is also used to express feelings. The text usually revolves around the attributes of a thing and usually uses the third person pronoun forms.

There are two types of descriptive text:

• Technical descriptive text.Technical descriptive text: it is characterized by emphasizing the accuracy of the data.
• Literary descriptive textLiterary descriptive text: descriptions are more personal and it is the author who gives them the intentionality.

Expository text

The purpose of this type of text is to explain. The expository text is oriented to expose a topic but in which the author does not give his personal opinion, that is, he usually provides relevant facts and figures, but does not include his opinions. These types of text are usually found in many textbooks such as those for a school or university subject. They usually include definitions, explanations, etc.

The structure of these texts is usually very clear, starting with an introduction to introduce the topic; the development, in which the objective analysis, examples or data are highlighted; and the conclusion, in which the most important aspects of the topic are summarized. Its purpose is to inform.

4. Argumentative text

Argumentative texts are based on an assumption, in which a style of writing is used that aims to persuade the reader.The reasons for or against a certain "position" or "thesis" are presented.

To achieve this, the text usually begins with an exposition that helps to understand the arguments proposed. In other words, it is necessary to put the reader in context before going on to explain the benefits or characteristics of the subject matter. To add credibility, this type of text may contain bibliographical references to demonstrate its validity, but also reasoning of cause and effect, authority (i.e., experts on the subject) or popularity (e.g., everyone is doing it), among others.

5. Directive text

The directive text incites the reader to do something, so it is an instructive text.Therefore, it is an instructive text that explains how to carry out an activity or achieve an objective. In this type of text, the order is very important, as well as the logical order, with cause-effect relationships, and the order from most to least important. An example of this type of text would be an instruction manual.

6. Scientific texts

If you are one of those people who have studied at university, you have surely read a scientific text, which is a type of text that aims to show research advances.This is a type of text whose purpose is to show the progress of research. It is characterized by formal writing, in which technical language is used. The structure is coherent, and the information must always be referenced.

7. Legal texts

These are texts used in the judicial fieldThey contain numerous technical terms, old terms (e.g. from Greek or Latin) and a formal and conservative language. They are characterized by the logical and progressive arrangement of the contents, and their content is characterized by its objectivity, which is intended to avoid misinterpretation or ambiguity.

The sentences are in the third person singular, impersonal and reflexive passive. Compared to other types of text, repetition of words is common and, in fact, key concepts in the document are often repeated over and over again to avoid ambiguity.

8. Administrative texts

Administrative texts are similar to legal texts. In fact, they are often referred to as legal-administrative texts. However, they are usually less rigid than legal texts. Certificates are an example of this.

9. Literary texts

These are texts with great literary aesthetics, and are therefore considered works of art.. Metaphorical language stands out, rich in expressiveness and emotionality. Poetry, stories, tales and some essays are examples of literary texts.

10. Humanistic texts

Humanistic texts are those that deal with the subject matter of human relations (e.g., philosophy or philosophy of the humanities). (for example, philosophy or sociology), but which is not formal, as is the case with scientific texts.

11. Advertising texts

As the name suggests, the content of these texts is advertising.The aim is to persuade the reader to contract a service or purchase a product. Copys and slogans are examples of this type of text.

12. Journalistic texts

Journalistic texts are those which aim to inform, although they can also provide opinion.. Their purpose is journalistic communication, and they can be found both in print newspapers and on websites.

13. Digital texts

New technologies have changed the way we relate and communicate. This change has also affected texts, which have a lot of power in the digital world.

This type of text, for example, is what we can find in blogs or digital magazines.. The immediacy of the information that characterizes this medium and the ease of access to the content that can be found, means that the reader does not read many of these texts in their entirety, but tends to scan them to go directly to the information that interests him.

Bibliographical references:

• van Dijk, T.A. (1980). Macrostructures. Hillsdale: N.J. Erlbaum, cited in: Marinkovich Ravena, Juana, Una propuesta de evaluación de la competencia textual narrativa. Signos 1999.