Analysis: key features of a text type
In all written languages, there are different styles of writing for different purposes and situations. Depending on the topic and the audience, we choose different levels of formality, different vocabulary and different grammatical structures. We call these different text types ‘genres’. The differences in rules can often be confusing in another language. Becoming familiar with the features of different text types will help you identify what you need to do when you write a text of that type. Let’s read and analyse an example text about a manufacturing process.
How people make matches.
Loggers cut down trees. They cut off all the branches and they leave logs. They haul the tree trunks to a wood mill on trucks. Workers at the wood mill process the logs into timber (they cut the logs into smaller pieces). Truck drivers transport the timber to a match factory. People at the match factory unload the wood and put it into a machine. The machine cuts the wood into very small pieces. Workers put the matchsticks into a machine which contains a chemical mix. The machine applies a small amount of this chemical to one end of each matchstick. This makes the head of the match.
Exercise 1
Think about other texts you have read in English that describe manufacturing processes. Do you think that this text is well written and written in a style suitable to describe a manufacturing process? Why?/Why not? When you have decided, click the “Show Answer” button below.
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