The 13 types of text and their characteristics

Reading not only better our knowledge, but it can be great entertainment or help 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.

• Related article: "5 amazing benefits of reading books for your brain”

Types of text and what differentiates them

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

1. Narrative text

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 packed our suitcases and then we got into a taxi and headed to the airport. Thereafter…".

The most used verb form in this type of text is the past tense

. Usually past perfect but others are also used: he picked up the salt shaker, lived in that home, had walked, was clear, said what he thought, etc. However, when dialogues are reproduced they are directly, that is, transcribing what the characters say verbatim, the most common verb form is usually the present: -¡Vete de here! Let me go on my way! -said the man.

• Related article: "The 5 differences between a myth and a legend"

2. Descriptive text

This type of text, called descriptive text, is intended to define something, be it 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 often uses the forms of the third person pronoun.

There are two types of descriptive texts:

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

3. Expositive text

The objective of this type of text is to explain. The expository text is aimed at exposing the subject but in that 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 often found in many textbooks such as a school or university subject. They usually include definitions, explanations, etc.

The structure of these texts is usually very clear, which begins with an introduction to publicize the subject; development, which highlights objective analysis, examples or data; and the conclusion, which summarizes the most important aspects of the subject at hand. Its purpose is to inform.

4. Argumentative text

The argumentative texts start from an assumption, in which a writing style is used that aims to persuade the reader, as the reasons for or against a certain "position" or "thesis" are exposed.

To achieve this, the text usually begins with a presentation that helps to understand the arguments that are proposed. That is, it is necessary to put the reader in context before going on to expose the benefits or characteristics of the topic at hand. To add credibility, this type of text can contain bibliographic references that allow to demonstrate its validity, but also reasoning of cause and effect, of authority (that is, experts on the subject) or of popularity (for example, everyone does), among others.

5. Directive text

The directive text prompts 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 text, the order is very important, as well as the logical order, with cause-effect relationships, and the order from more to less importance. An example of this type of text would be an instruction manual.

6. Scientific texts

If you are one of those people who has studied at the university, surely you have ever read a scientific text, which is a type of text that is intended to show research progress. In it, formal writing stands out, in which a technical language is used. The structure is consistent, 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 a 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.

Sentences are in the third third person singular, impersonal and passive reflexes. 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 often 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, so they are considered works of art. The metaphorical language stands out, rich in expressiveness and emotion. Poems, stories, stories, and some essays are examples of literary texts.

10. Humanistic texts

Humanistic texts are those that deal with the subject of human relations (for example, philosophy or sociology), but which is not formal, as is the case 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 claim to inform, although they can also provide opinion. Its objective is journalistic communication, and can be found both in paper newspapers and on web pages.

13. Digital texts

New technologies have allowed our way of relating and communicating to have changed. 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, makes the reader does not read many of these texts in their entirety, but usually scans them to go directly to the information that interested.

Bibliographic references:

• van Dijk, T.A. (1980). Macrostructures. Hillsdale: N.J. Erlbaum, cited in: Marinkovich Ravena, Juana, A proposal for the evaluation of narrative textual competence. Signs 1999.