Understanding Text Types: Narrative, Descriptive, Argumentative, and Informative

Posted on Mar 16, 2025 in English Studies. Language, Literature, and Culture

Text Types: A Detailed Explanation

Narrative Text

The narrative is a type of text that includes factual or fictional stories. When analyzing narrative texts, it’s necessary to study the story, the actions that compose it, the characters involved, the time and space where it develops, how these elements are arranged, and the point of view from which it’s told. Narratives, especially in literary texts, are often interwoven with dialogue and description, resulting in complex texts with different sequences.

Descriptive Text

While narrative text unfolds successively in time, descriptive text captures an object statically, without the passage of time. The term “object” is used here in its broadest sense, encompassing all reality, whether human or not, concrete or abstract, real or fictional. Everything imaginable is describable. Descriptive text types include:

Argumentative Text

Argumentative texts present reasons for or against a certain position or thesis, aiming to convince the reader through different arguments. This approach often involves value judgments, positive or negative findings (good, bad, beautiful), and assessments of validity or appropriateness. Examples include essays, critical reviews, and political speeches. In argumentative texts, you can express your point of view, whether positive or negative, on a particular subject.

Informative Text

An informative text presents facts or realities in a neutral and objective manner. Unlike argumentative text, the goal is not to convince but to inform. However, this distinction isn’t always clear-cut, leading to the term “expository-argumentative.” Scientific texts are typical examples of informative text, with the primary aim of conveying information.


Coordination

  • Copulative: Indicates addition among propositions using links such as ‘and’, ‘or’.
  • Distributive: Indicates alternative actions with links such as ‘well…well…’ and ‘now’.
  • Adversative: Indicates contradiction with links such as ‘but’, ‘even’, ‘nevertheless’.
  • Disjunctive: Indicates exclusion, contradictory ideas, or possibilities with links such as ‘or’, ‘or’, ‘or’.
  • Explicative: Indicates equivalence with links such as ‘that is’, ‘i.e.’.

For coordination to be possible, the propositions must meet the following principles:

  • They must be compatible.
  • They must be consistent.

Subordination

Substantive Subordinate Clauses

Function: Can perform the same functions as a noun:

  • Subject
  • Direct Object (DO)
  • Indirect Object (IO)
  • Adjacent Noun
  • Adjacent Adjective
  • Adjacent Adverb
  • Complement
  • Attribute
  • Agent (CA)

Nexus: What, if (there may be no connection in direct/indirect speech and subordinate interrogative infinitives)

Adjectival Subordinate Clauses

Function: Performs the same functions as an adjective:

  • Adjacent to a nominal syntagma
  • Attribute
  • Predicative Complement

Links: Relative pronouns (who, what, which, where) and relative adverbs (where, how, when).

Adverbial Subordinate Clauses

Adverbial Proper:

They can be replaced by an adverb of manner, time, or place.

Adverbial Improper:

Cannot be replaced by an adverb; includes comparative, causal, final, consecutive, conditional, and concessive clauses.