Instructions, Reports, and Literary Devices
Instructions
Purpose and Structure
Instructions guide individuals to achieve a specific result. They outline the stages of a process in a clear order, enabling the receiver to perform the task effectively. Instructions can utilize various organizational methods, such as numbered paragraphs, diagrams, and illustrations. It’s crucial to consider the recipient’s level of expertise when crafting instructions.
Language
Instructions should employ simple vocabulary. Technical terms can be included if necessary, but they must be clarified for non-experts. The imperative mood is commonly used, often at the beginning of sentences. Adverbs and adverbial phrases help indicate order and provide details. Short sentences and paragraphs enhance readability.
Rhythm and Rhyme in Literature
Rhythm
Rhythm is the pleasing effect produced by the repetition of sounds at regular intervals. It adds a special quality to compositions and can evoke emotions. Rhythmic effects are achieved through the repetition of sounds, words, and structures.
Rhyme
Rhyme is the repetition of sounds, typically at the end of lines in poetry. There are different types of rhyme:
- Consonance: All sounds (vowels and consonants) match.
- Assonance: Only vowels match.
Other Literary Devices
- Alliteration: Repetition of similar sounds in a verse or phrase.
- Anaphora: Repetition of a word or words at the beginning of two or more verses or phrases.
- Parallelism: Repetition of the same syntactic structure between two or more verses or phrases.
Meter in Poetry
Meter examines the length of verses and their combinations to determine the poem’s rhythm. Measuring a verse involves counting its syllables. Verses with two to eight syllables are considered shorter, while those with nine or more are longer.
Adverbial Phrases and Adverbs
Adverbial Phrases
An adverbial phrase is a group of words with an adverb as its core. It can stand alone or be accompanied by other adverbs or noun phrases with a preposition (e.g., very close, very close to my house).
Adverbs
An adverb is an invariable word that complements a verb, adjective, or another adverb.
Adverbials
An adverbial is an inseparable group of words that functions as an adverb (e.g., sometimes, blindly, in these wildly).
Circumstantial Complement
The circumstantial complement expresses the circumstances (time, place, manner, purpose, etc.) of the verbal action.
Task Reports
Definition
A task report documents the development of an activity, the results achieved, and the conclusions reached.
Structure
A task report typically includes the following sections:
- Contents: (Optional for easier reading)
- Introduction: Presents the case and the reason for the report.
- Body: Provides information on the work done, including the purpose, method, explanation of phases, analysis, evaluation of results, and data.
- Conclusions: Deduces general ideas from the analysis and data. May include recommendations.
- Annex: (Optional) Contains supplementary materials like texts, graphics, photographs, and maps.
Drafting
Task reports should use formal language and relevant technical terms. Short, clear paragraphs are preferred. Findings are often presented in the infinitive or present tense.
Stanzas and Strophic Poems
Stanza
A stanza is a group of lines in a poem with a fixed rhyme scheme.
Strophic Poems
Poems that can be divided into stanzas are called strophic poems. Those that cannot are non-strophic.
Traditional Lyric Poems
Characteristics
Traditional lyric poems are typically of unknown authorship and have been transmitted orally. They are easy to learn and remember due to their simple metrical form. They are often short compositions with fewer lines and assonance rhyme. The usual meter is octosyllabic, and common stanzas include the soleá, couplet, quatrain, and redondilla. These poems often feature a chorus (a group of verses repeated throughout the composition). The tradition of lyric poetry dates back to the Middle Ages, with texts like jarchas.
Influence
The beauty of traditional lyric poems has inspired cultured authors, who have imitated their themes and forms.
Impersonal Sentences
Definition
Impersonal sentences are those that do not have a subject. The subject can sometimes be inferred from the verb ending.
Construction
Impersonal sentences are constructed with:
- Verbs indicating weather, always in the 3rd person singular.
- The verb “be” as an auxiliary verb.
- The verb “do” in the 3rd person singular indicating chronological time.
Active and Passive Sentences
Active Sentences
Active sentences have an agent subject that performs the action expressed by the verb.
Passive Sentences
Passive sentences have a patient subject that receives the action expressed by the verb.
Attributive and Predicative Sentences
Attributive Sentences
Attributive or predicate sentences contain an attribute in the predicate.
Predicative Sentences
Predicative or verbal predicate sentences do not contain an attribute in the predicate.
Transitive and Intransitive Sentences
Transitive Sentences
Transitive sentences include a direct object in their predicate.
Intransitive Sentences
Intransitive sentences do not contain a direct object in their predicate.