Narrative and Expository Text Types: Structure and Characteristics
Textual Typology
Fitness, Consistency, and Cohesion
The form and content of a text should be tailored to the specific situation, including the sender, receiver, purpose, and subject matter. The content should be built around a central theme, with secondary information supporting it. The parts of the text must be connected using linguistic markers, such as additives (besides, too), opposition (however, on the other hand), consequence (therefore, so), temporal (later, while), spatial (adjacent, opposite), and reformulation (explanation, conclusion, exemplification).
Oral and Written Genres
Oral texts include conferences, symposiums, debates, gatherings, and conversations. Written genres include descriptions, stories, and narratives.
Description
Description portrays things as they are. Any reality can be described. There are two types of description:
- Technical Description: Informs the reader in a practical way. It presents information rigidly, focusing on the nature of the object, its qualities, and applications. It primarily uses the indicative mood.
- Literary Description: Focuses on aesthetics and uses literary devices. It offers more flexibility to the writer in organizing the material. Both types favor imperfective verb aspects and attributive or predicative verbs that signify states.
Story
A story presents a sequence of events in chronological order, following the principle of cause and effect.
- Plot: Covers events in the order chosen by the author.
- Theme: Expresses the fundamental idea the writer wants to convey.
- Tale: A short fictional story.
Narrative
Definition
Narrative is a type of discourse that presents a series of real or imagined events in time.
Theme
Narrated events can be based on real life or fiction. The events may or may not seem real, contributing to the story’s credibility.
Structure
A narrative typically has a closed structure with a beginning, middle, and end, respecting the chronological order of events. However, there can be alterations:
- In medias res: The story begins in the middle of the action to arouse the reader’s interest.
- Starting with the ending: Similar to in medias res, this technique aims to capture the reader’s attention from the start.
- Open structure: The story unfolds without a pre-determined plan. There may be a beginning, middle, and end, but they might not be clearly connected.
Characters
Characters are fundamental elements of a narrative. They have three key aspects:
- Creation: Characters can represent an idea, reflect the author’s personality, or be drawn from real life.
- Function: Characters can be principal (protagonist, antagonist), secondary, or fleeting.
- Characterization: Defining the character’s personality through techniques like portraiture. Characters can be flat or round, types or individuals.
Time and Space
Space is the setting where the action and characters exist, contributing to verisimilitude. Time refers to when the action takes place, either externally or internally.
Point of View
The point of view is the perspective from which the story is told. It determines the narrator’s degree of knowledge. Different perspectives lead to various narrative techniques.
Narrator in 3rd Person
The narrator is not involved in the story and uses the 3rd person grammatical form. This creates objectivity and distance.
- Omniscient Narrator: Knows everything about the story, including events, characters’ thoughts and feelings. This technique was favored by 19th-century novelists.
- Observer Narrator: Only recounts what can be perceived through the senses, like a camera recording events.
Narrator in 1st Person
The narrator is a character within the story and tells it from their perspective using the 1st person singular.
- Protagonist Narrator: The main character tells the story, increasing subjectivity and authenticity.
- Witness Narrator: A secondary character who witnessed the events narrates the story.
Linguistic Characterization
Narrative language focuses on action, using predicative sentences and action verbs. Time is often explicitly indicated through past tense verb forms, although the historical present can also be used.
Dialogue
Dialogue is a form of speech where two or more characters alternate speaking. In narrative, it can take three forms:
- Direct Dialogue: Reproduces the character’s exact words in 1st person.
- Indirect Dialogue: Reports the character’s words in 3rd person without quoting them directly.
- Free Indirect Dialogue: The narrator blends the character’s thoughts and feelings into their own discourse, using 3rd person but without introductory phrases.
Theatrical Dialogue
Theatrical dialogue consists of:
- Dramatic Discourse: Includes dialogue and monologue.
- Stage Directions: Instructions about the setting, time, and characters’ movements.
Exposition
Definition
Exposition is a brief text that explains a topic clearly and orderly, aiming for audience understanding. Expository texts address knowledge and culture using precise language and organization.
Structure
The structure depends on the text’s nature and purpose.
- Analyzing Structure: Starts with the main idea and then presents supporting facts and examples.
- Synthesizing Structure: Starts with concrete details and builds towards a conclusion.
Types
- Disclosure: Aimed at a general audience without specialized knowledge.
- Specialty: Aimed at a specialized audience with prior knowledge, offering a rigorous treatment of the topic.
Linguistic Characterization
Morphosyntactic Level
- Uses 3rd person singular and 1st person plural.
- Employs declarative and impersonal sentence structures.
- Utilizes passive reflexive constructions.
- Features adjective and adverbial subordinate clauses.
Lexicosemantic Level
- Uses denotative vocabulary.
- Employs abstract nouns.
- Favors timeless present and state verbs.
Textual Level
- Uses logical connectors, including additives, opposition, causative, and reformulation markers.