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Text structure and organisation

How to write about this

in a test paper

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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

o_e_in_s

openings

_or_ or_er

word order

_n_ings

endings_un_tua_ion

punctuation

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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 elegantly

on slightly arched wings.

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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 elegantly

on slightly arched wings.

Think about which is:

most factual

more descriptive

using adverbs

an informationtext

using ‘powerful’ verbs

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

usingopinion

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These sentences all say the same thing, but how does the order change the message?

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.

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.)

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ature 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.

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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.

Did you notice…

the focu

s on th

e

charity

?

the focu

s on an

individual?

highlighting general problems?

detailing specific

problems?

The second paragraph elaborates on the first, and at the same time contrasts with the first.

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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

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Read this passage. The connectives are missing. Insert connectives to help make the meaning flow more smoothly.

______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

Butas

However

but

So

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There are lots of ways of looking at structure and organisation in texts.

Can you remember some of them?

para

grap

hssentences

connectives

openings

endi

ngs

word order

punctuation

Look out for them in your reading