Understanding Expository Texts: Structure & Language
Expository Texts: A Deep Dive
An expository text objectively explains a topic, aiming to impart new knowledge. Its purpose is purely informative, prioritizing the referential function.
Classification by Receptor
Expository texts can be used in both spoken language (spontaneous or planned) and written language. The specific form varies depending on the sender’s intention and the receiver’s level of expertise.
- Informative Expository: Aims to inform a broad audience clearly and simply about a topic of
Text Properties and Linguistic Elements
Text Properties
Adaptation: Adaptation refers to ownership, selection, and linguistic properties most appropriate to the communication situation. It’s how well the text fits the specific context.
Consistency: Consistency is the property that allows a text to be interpreted as a single unit of information, where all elements relate to each other to create a global meaning. For a text to be consistent, it must also be appropriate for the situation and have cohesive elements.
Cohesion: Cohesion is the
Read MoreUnderstanding Figures of Speech: A Comprehensive List
Literary Devices and Rhetorical Terms
Alliteration. Repeating the same sound in two or more words.
Anadiplosis. The final word is repeated at the beginning of the next clause.
Anaphora and Epiphora. Repeating one or more words at the beginning (anaphora) or end (epiphora) in successive clauses.
Bimembración. A clause is divided into two parts (or three, called a tricolon) with the same grammatical structure.
Derivation. Use of two or more words coming from the same root.
Enumeration. Construction sequence
Read MoreLinguistics: Understanding Language Structure and Origin
What is Linguistics?
Linguistics is the scientific study of language in all of its complexity.
The part of linguistics that is concerned with the structure of language is divided into a number of subfields:
- Phonetics – This is the study of speech sounds themselves. Phoneticians study both the production of speech sounds by the human speech organs (articulatory phonetics) and the properties of the sounds themselves (acoustic phonetics).
- Phonology – This is the study of the organization of language sounds.
Linguistic Terms: Definitions and Examples
| Acronym | Words formed with the initial letters of other words. |
| Adjective | A word that modifies a noun or pronoun to identify or describe it. |
| Adverb | A word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. |
| Anaphora | A grammatical element that requires a background reference in a local syntactic domain. |
| Antithesis | Generally describes a denial of a proposition. |
| Antonym | Words that have opposite or contrary meanings. |
| C Semantic | A set of word meanings associated with a term. |
| Code | All that can be understood by the |
Nouns and Adjectives: Types, Functions, and Structures
Nouns: Types, Functions, and Constituents
Types of Nouns
Common Nouns: These group beings and objects with the same characteristics.
- Concrete Nouns: Refer to objects that have a real existence and are perceived by the senses.
- Individual: Designates singular beings or objects, or plural, which can be individualized (e.g., the chair, the car).
- Collective: Designates singular beings, yet are mainly perceived as a unit (e.g., military, school).
- Abstract Nouns: Do not refer to concrete objects; they are only