Self test (B). Description - re-written as an Information Report
Social purpose: To classify and/or describe a whole class of natural, manufactured and/or social phenomena
Whales
| Text structure | Language features | |
| Paragraph 1. Subject |
1Whales 3are extremely large 2mammals which live in the oceans of the world, from Antarctica to the Arctic. | 1. Use of general nouns |
| Paragraph 2. Description |
There 3are about forty-one different species of whales, 4all members of the cetacean family. Some 3are toothed whales 4who eat a variety of marine life, while others are baleen whales who 6obtain their food 5through a filter, a 2baleen, which they 6use to sieve tiny 1food particles from the water. All whales 3have fore-limbs like fins and a tail with 4horizontal 2flukes, that is, parts which give a 4triangular shape to the tail. The largest of all the whales 3is the Blue whale which can grow to more than one hundred feet long and weigh more than 4one hundred and fifty tons. | 2. Use of technical terms
3. Use of relating verbs in the simple present tense (the 'timeless' present) to describe and classify 4. Use of adjectivals (factual and number adjectives, adjectival clauses and adjectival phrases) to build description in detailed noun groups. |
| Paragraph 3. Habitual behaviour |
Whales are found in open 1seas 4throughout the world and in coastal waters, some species 2migrate 5from their northern waters to southern waters in the winter months. It is then that they 6mate and 6calve and while they mate, different species have been heard singing 4long, beautiful, complicated songs. It seems that 1whale song is also used 5by the whales to socialise. | 5. Use of adverbials (time, manner, place, etc) to build description.
6. Use of action verbs in the simple present tense to describe behaviours |
Explanations
Text structure:
This reflects the purpose of the text which is to give generalised information of a class of things or phenomena, not particular people, places or things. Nevertheless the structure of these two text types is similar. The first paragraph identifies the subject of the Report, although this general orientation to the topic is optional in Descriptions which are often embedded in other longer text types.
The description stage is generalised rather than about a particular whale, again to suit the purpose of the text.
Language features:
Generalised nouns are used in Information Reports, and thiis differs from Descriptions which use particular nouns to describe the characteristics of particular people, places or phenomena.
Relating verbs are used in both Information Reports and Descriptions to describe characterisitics such as appearance.
Action verbs are used in both text types to describe behaviour, and they are in the simple present tense
There are also adjectivals and adverbials to build description - again these would be found in descriptive texts. In Information Reports, the description would be of typical characteristics of a whole class of things, e.g whales, sea captains, waves, etc.