Text structure and organisation

1. Text structure and organisation How to write about this in a test paper

2. In your tests, you will be asked questions about the structure and organisation of a text. But what should you be looking for? Here are some ideas – but can you work them out? pa_a_rap_s paragraphs _en_en_es sentences co_ _ec_i_es connectives _or_ or_er o_e_in_s word order openings _n_ings _un_tua_ion endings punctuation

3. Sometimes you need to be able to compare two different parts of a text – explaining how and why they are different. • Here are two sentences. You should: • spot as many differences as you can in the way they are written • explain how the order of the sentences helps the reader appreciate the creature. The red kite has a wingspan of 185 centimetres and has large white wing patches. This graceful bird, with rich reddish plumage, soars and glides elegantlyon slightly arched wings.

4. an information text most factual more descriptive using ‘powerful’ verbs using opinion using adverbs Think about which is: The red kite has a wingspan of 185 centimetres and has large white wing patches. This graceful bird, with rich reddish plumage, soars and glides elegantlyon slightly arched wings. • The order of the sentences helps to provide the reader with: • a basic image, followed by a more refined, detailed picture • an appreciation of its basic points, followed by idea of its more sophisticated qualities • a static picture, followed by the bird in motion

5. What she wanted, more than anything else, was chocolate. Chocolate was what she wanted more than anything else. More than anything else, it was chocolate that she wanted. These sentences all say the same thing, but how does the order change the message? Which sentence emphasises – most – that nothing else will do? Which sentence delays the revelation of what she wants and, therefore, adds a little intrigue? Which sentence makes chocolate the focus of the sentence? (You may disagree about the answers – this is okay as long as you can explain your decision.)

6. Paragraphs are another feature of text structure. Look for the differences in these two paragraphs? Aid for Action works in many countries throughout the world, helping to support those living in poverty. We help people in crisis, offering food, water and shelter where they are needed. Jovati lives in a small village in Malawi, with his mother and three brothers. He lives in a house with mud walls and a thatched roof. His family must walk more than half a kilometre to fetch clean water.

7. Did you notice… Aid for Action works in many countries throughout the world, helping to support those living in poverty. We help people in crisis, offering food, water and shelter where they are needed. Jovati lives in a small village in Malawi, with his mother and three brothers. He lives in a house with mud walls and a thatched roof. His family must walk more than half a kilometre to fetch clean water. highlighting general problems? the focus on the charity? the focus on an individual? detailing specific problems? The second paragraph elaborates on the first, and at the same time contrasts with the first.

8. When looking at a whole text, pay particular attention to openings and endings. Read this opening, and discuss how it makes the reader want to read more. TRUE! - nervous - very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses - not destroyed - not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily - how calmly I can tell you the whole story. • Comment on • the first word • the use of repetition • rhetorical questions • the use of the second person (you) • the use of punctuation • how the reader is hooked The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe

9. ______the judge of the Michael Jackson trial banned cameras from the courtroom, he couldn’t have expected to see the trial on television each day. _____that is precisely what has happened, _____TV companies have found their way around the ban.________, it is not the real courtroom that it is being viewed, ____ rather a fake court room. _____everyday a cast of lookalikes re-enacts the proceedings. When But as However but So Read this passage. The connectives are missing. Insert connectives to help make the meaning flow more smoothly.

10. There are lots of ways of looking at structure and organisation in texts. Can you remember some of them? sentences punctuation connectives paragraphs word order openings endings Look out for them in your reading