How Structure Serves Purpose
Analyse how text structures and language features work together to meet the purpose of a text, and engage and influence audiences.
Read this first
Purpose comes first. Everything about a text is chosen to serve it.
Words you need
- Purpose
- What the text is trying to do: inform, persuade or entertain.
- Text structure
- The order and shape of the parts.
- Language feature
- A choice such as tense, person or vocabulary.
- Audience
- Who the text is written for.
Worked example
e.g. Why does a news report put the most important fact first?
- Step one: name the purpose. A news report informs.
- Step two: name the audience. Busy readers who may stop after one line.
- Step three: look at the structure. Most important fact first.
- Step four: connect the two. Readers who stop early still get the key fact.
- Now check a language feature. Reports use past tense and third person.
- That keeps the writer invisible, which makes it feel factual.
- Full answer: the structure and the language both serve the purpose of informing fast.
Purpose, audience, then how each choice serves them.
Practice
Name the purpose first. Then explain each choice.
1What is the purpose of a recipe?with a picture
AnswerTo instruct.
2Why does a recipe number its steps?with a picture
AnswerOrder matters. You must follow them exactly.
3Why does a story save the ending for last?with a hint
Need a hint?
What is the purpose of a story?
AnswerTo entertain. Holding back the ending keeps the reader going.
4Why do adverts use short lines and questions?with a hint
Need a hint?
Who is the audience?
AnswerTo hold a distracted reader and make them feel spoken to.
5A leaflet uses headings, bullets and bold. What is the purpose?on your own
AnswerTo inform quickly. The reader is scanning, not reading through.
6Why name the purpose before analysing anything else?on your own
AnswerEvery other choice exists to serve it. Without it you are just listing features.
Think about it
1
Why is the writer uses short sentences a weak answer on its own?
One good answerIt names a feature without saying what it achieves. The effect earns the mark.
2
Can one text have two purposes?
One good answerYes. An advert informs and persuades at once, but persuasion usually leads.
Common mistakes
Structure is just the order of paragraphs.
It is every shaping choice: headings, length, where information is held back.
You should list as many features as you can.
Two features explained well beat six merely named.