Reading not only better our knowledge, but it can be great entertainment or help give us the necessary inspiration to undertake a project. Surely throughout your life you have read many texts; However, reading a romantic novel is not the same as reading an instruction manual.
And it is that there are many types of text , some of whom have little in common beyond their superficially similar appearance. Let’s see what they are.
The types of text that exist (and what differentiates them)
There are different types of text that adapt to different functions and purposes But… What differences exist between them? What characterizes them? On a daily basis, understanding this can help us know how to interpret what we read and how to identify which texts are directed at us and which are not. Thus, in the following lines you can find a classification with the different types of text.
1. Narrative texts
The narrative text is one that relates events, stories, tales, facts or myths , so it can be fictional or non-fictional. 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 fill our suitcases and then we get on a taxi and we went to the airport. After that…”.
The most used verbal form in this type of texts is the past Usually past perfect but others are also used: he raised the salt shaker, he lived in that home, he had walked, he was clear, he said what he thought, etc. However, when dialogues are played directly, that is, transcribing what the characters say verbatim, the most common verbal form is usually the present: -Get out of here! Let me continue on my way! -said the man.
2. Descriptive texts
This type of text, called descriptive text, is intended to define something , 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.
The goal of this type of text, sometimes also called “instructional text,” is to explain The expository text is aimed at exposing the topic, but in which the author does not give his personal opinion; That is, it 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, beginning with an introduction to introduce the topic; development, which highlights objective analysis, examples or data; and the conclusion, which summarizes the most important aspects of the topic at hand. Its purpose is to inform.
On the other hand, this type of text is usually adapted to a level of knowledge that is not specialized in the topic being addressed. So, it is common to use a disclosure register in which relatively complex concepts are explained using simple language, or explaining technicalities without assuming that the reader omits those terms.
4. Argumentative texts
Argumentative texts start from an assumption, in which a writing style is used that aims to persuade the reader since the reasons for or against a certain “position” or “thesis” are presented.
To achieve this, the text usually begins with an exposition that helps understand the arguments proposed. That is, it is necessary to put the reader in context before going on to explain the benefits or characteristics of the topic at hand. To add credibility, this type of text can contain bibliographic references that allow it to demonstrate its validity, but also cause-effect reasoning, authority (that is, experts on the subject) or popularity (for example, everyone does it), among others. .
5. Directive texts
The directive text encourages the reader to do something , so it is an instructive text that explains how to develop an activity or carry out an objective. In this type of texts, 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.
If you are one of those people who has studied at university, you have surely read a scientific text at some point , which is a type of text that has the purpose of showing research progress. It highlights formal writing, in which technical language aimed at other researchers is used. The structure is coherent, and the information must always be referenced.
7. Legal texts
They are texts used in the judicial field , which contain numerous technicalities, ancient terms (for example, from Greek or Latin) and formal and conservative language. They are characterized by the logical and progressive ordering of the contents, and their content stands out for its objectivity, which aims to avoid erroneous or ambiguous interpretations.
The sentences are in the third person singular, impersonal and passive reflexive. 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 ones In fact, they are usually called legal-administrative texts. However, they tend to be less rigid than legal ones. Certificates are an example of this.
9. Literary texts
They are texts with a great literary aesthetic, which is why they are considered works of art The metaphorical language stands out, rich in expressiveness and emotionality. Poems, stories, stories and some essays are examples of literary texts.
10. Humanistic texts
Humanistic texts are those that deal with the topic of human relationships (for example, philosophy or sociology), but they do not necessarily use formal language, as occurs with scientific texts.
11. Advertising texts
As its name indicates, the content of these texts is advertising , and aims to persuade the reader to hire a service or make a purchase of a product. Copies and slogans are examples of this type of text.
12. Journalistic texts
Journalistic texts are those that aim to inform, although they can also provide opinion Their objective is journalistic communication, and they can be found both in paper newspapers and on web pages.
As their name indicates, historical texts allow information to be transmitted about facts relevant to the discipline of History as an area of research and dissemination. They have not always been prepared with the intention of nurturing the profession of historians themselves; Sometimes, they become historical texts with the passage of time and regardless of the will of the person who wrote them, simply because They become important when understanding History
On the other hand, although many historical texts are also narrative, not all of them are. For example, a document in which a territory is described for the first time after being explored is a historical text even though there is technically no narration in it.
14. Digital texts
New technologies have allowed our way of relating and communicating to change. This change has also affected texts, which have a lot of power in the digital world. Here, the information is not contained in the formal aspect of the letters and digits , but in a code that allows the generation of characters on a screen. In this way, in digital text it is to automatically change the font (the visual style of letters and numbers) and preserve the information that was had.
15. Analogous texts
Analog texts are all those produced in analog format, that is, they are not digital texts. They are always printed on a material, and it is not possible to modify their shape automatically. Furthermore, in this type of text, the characters are exposed to erosion or being damaged by physical phenomena (exposure to corrosive substances, tears in the paper, etc.).
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 rather usually scans them to go directly to the information that interests them.
